bakerstreet

I'm nailing down a trip to Africa and would appreciate it if folks knowledgeable about these areas would let me know if they see any "red flags" or problems with this proposed itinerary, for July or August 2025:

3 nights in Cape Town V&A hotel;
2 nights in the Cape Winelands;
2 nights in a safari camp in Zimbabwe - Hwange Nat'l Park;
3 nights at the Victoria Falls River Lodge

Many thanks.

LAX_Esq

Biggest red flag is a 2 nights of safari. Have you been on safari before? Not sure about your arrival and departure times, but 2 nights could basically amount to a very short and meaningless game drive on the arrival and departure days, giving you basically only one full day of game drives.

bakerstreet

Thank you -- good point. I'll add a third night.

Rhodie

Hello
I am planning a trip to Cape Town, Harare ,Vic Falls/hwange next year (March April2025) from San Francisco

Curious as to your flight paths?

To SA and then zim or other way around ?

thx

LAX_Esq

You should start your own thread on this, rather than hijacking OP's thread. OP doesn't say where s/he is flying from, and there's nothing to indicate they're flying from the US, let alone SF, such that OP's flight plans would have anything to do with yours. That being said, there are a million different flight options from SF to CPT; most likely, you'll have to return from ZIm via JNB or CPT. Use Google Flights or the like to check out prices and times, and choose what's best for you. What flights OP is flying on is irrelevant to you.

ekscrunchy

For OP, agree that more time needed in Hwange or other park; can you extend trip?


ME: I would eliminate Vic Falls totally to devote more time in the bush.

bakerstreet

I don't mind sharing my flight plans. I actually wish I had researched that a bit more before locking in my lodging plans, but I'm happy with how everything turned out.

We'll fly US (departing Dulles) to Cape Town nonstop direct, then some days later Cape Town to Victoria Falls, then at the end Victoria Falls to Johannesburg to Newark, all on United. Another choice I considered was to fly Delta through Atlanta.

Could not extend the trip, but I subtracted one night from Cape Town and added that to Hwange for more bush time.

I made a conscious choice to see Victoria Falls, which I know others don't like. Perhaps after going there I will regret my choice. But for now I'm considering this a trip of a lifetime and looking forward to it! Taking our adult children along and excited about the family time, just us, and experiences we will share together.

LAX_Esq

VF is great. 2 nights in CPT is just fine, provided you can get 2 full days of sightseeing -- 1 day for sites in the city (Table Mtn, etc) and 1 day for the classic peninsula drive.