I will be going to South Africa for the very first time in April and I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on things to do/see?

I will be going on a 4 day safari in the Kruger National Park and then I'll be staying for a week in Cape Town. Planning on doing many day trips.

Thanks!

Cape Town is a beautiful city. I found a little bit like San Francisco. What are your interests? There is much to see on the Cape. Also, will you be on your own or are you looking for group trips? I loved visiting the wine areas. I also enjoyed the drive to the Cape. Along the way, we stopped at Simonstown and saw the penguins at Boulders. In Cape Town, we enjoy aquariums and thought the Two Oceans Aquarium was well done. We also took the tram up to the top of Table Mountain. We are plants people we went to Kirstenbosch. We also did a drive out to Hermanus and stopped at several other botanical parks. Here are pictures of our week in Cape Town. Also Liz will be in South Africa at the end of January and will be blogging about it.

Tell us more about your interests and we can be a bit more specific.

I will be visiting Cape Town with a friend. We're mostly interested visiting places with great scenery. We are planning on hiring a private driver to visit Cape Point, the winelands and possibly Hermanus (even though it's not whale season). We also might try cage-diving with sharks if we don't chicken out. We thought about visiting a township but we're not sure. The aquarium and Table Moutain are definitely on our list.

Martha, your pictures are amazing! I can't believe I will actually be visiting those places!

Thanks! It does sound like a great trip. We went to South Africa for the plants for that was our main focus. We spent two or three nights in Cape Town when we arrived. Then we drove up the Western Cape for a week before returning for one week in Cape Town.

When we first arrived and did not have a car, we took the City Explorer bus to see the town. It will take you to up to the tram for Table Mountain, V&A and Camp's Bay. It was a rainy day when we took it but it is a good way to get around. It also stops near several of the museums. When we visited there wasn't an option for the Peninsula so we took a taxi to Kirstenbosch. We took taxis several times around the Central Business District. We were staying at the hotel which is now The Grand Daddy. It was a good location for us. We ate a couple of times at the restauants in the V&A Mall (Baia, Willoughby).

We rented a car and then toured up the Western Cape to Bushmans Kloof (excellent), Springbok, Nieuwoudtville. We were there in September when the Cape was in bloom and we were hunting for flowers. We returned to Cape Town and spent a week just outside and did several day trips. We drove around the cape stopping in Simonstown, Cape; Karoo Botanical Garden and Paarl wine tasting at Fairview (Goats Do Roam) Winery, a second trip to the wine country to visit Vergelegen winery and Franschhoek, a day trip drive to Hermaneus which has wonderful scenery. It was all wonderful. I don't have nerve enough to do the shark Cage dive but I don't have any problems self-driving around.

We did not do a trip to the township. I think it would be an interesting trip. I used Fodors and there are some good suggestions of township trips on their forums if you are considering a tour.

You will love it in Cape Town, it is our home away from home. You can't go wrong anywhere really, but note the trip to Hermanus is far and might not be worth your time. You can "see" townships in a lot of places from the road so unless your tour company actually helps people there (i.e. you buy stuff at shops, eat in a restaurant), there's little point in going to gawk. It's poverty. After you drive through Simonstown and Boulder's beach to visit Cape Point, make sure you leave time to drive the other way around, through Scarborough (our place Noordhoek and Chapman's Peak (which should be open now). Table mountain is definitely worth it. Winelands are lovely, have lunch at a wine farm, that's sort of the thing to do.