My South African Adventure, with Some Detours

After visiting Tanzania a few years back, I fell in love with Africa. In addition I’ve always wanted to visit Cape Town. This all boiled down to me planning a 4 week vacation exploring the southern part of the African continent. This was my itinerary, in case you’d like to embark on the same 30 day adventure. Click the links, if you’d like more info on what I was up to at the different stops. Happy travels!

1) Doha, Qatar

Day 1
First step was flying from Oslo to Doha. After killing a long layover with a free city tour, I boarded the flight off to Johannesburg.

2) Johannesburg, South Africa

Day 2 – 3
As I was here for the night only I booked a room at Aero Guest Lodge. Next day I left the country to start my adventure in Livingstone.

3) Livingstone, Zambia

Day 3 – 7
Here I spent 3 days, exploring the Victoria Falls area on both the Zam and Zim (Zimbabwe) side.

4) Johannesburg, South Africa

Day 7 – 8
After a great time at the falls, I headed back to South Africa, to Johannesburg, for yet another night at Aero Guest Lodge.

5) Upington, South Africa

Day 8 – 9
The next day I was off again. This time heading for Upington, the gateway to the South African part of the Kalahari Desert. Not liking to stress things, I stayed a night in Upington before my safari adventure kicked off.

6) Kalahari Desert, South Africa

Day 9 – 10
In the morning I was picked up by my guide, and we headed north towards the desert. After a long drive we made it to the campsite where I was going to stay for a night, on my 2 day safari of the Kalahari. Late in the afternoon the next day we set compass south again, back to Upington.

7) Upington, South Africa

Day 10 – 12
Wanting to explore the last outpost, I had set aside a whole day to walk around the small town.

8) Cape Town, South Africa

Day 12 – 19
After this I was off to Cape Town. I spent 6 days as a Cape Townian. Lucky me! Love Cape Town! I also went on day trips outside the city, to Stellenbosch, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, Hermanus and Boulders Beach. So sad I had to leave, but there were still more ahead.

9) Durban, South Africa

Day 19 – 24
Next up, Durban. I stayed outside the city centre, in Umhlanga. In addition to exploring the city and a day trip via Underberg to Sani Pass and Lesotho, highly recommended, I had added a few days hoping for some beach weather – not needed! Weather was far from me getting anywhere close to sporting a bikini. After 4 days in the Durban area I was off on a bus to Swaziland.

10) Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland

Day 24 – 26
Here I based myself for a day in the Ezulwini Valley. Being just a short stop for exploring the Ezulwini Valley and Malkerns Valley, I soon found myself on the bus again, towards Johannesburg.

11) Johannesburg, South Africa

Day 26 – 29
Circle complete. Here I stayed 2 days in Sandton while exploring Jozi and day-tripping to Pretoria, before flying back to Doha.

12) Doha, Qatar

Day 29 – 30
Arriving late at night, and not wanting to spend hours in a chair waiting for my next flight early in the morning, I had booked a room at the only airport hotel. One 7 1/7 hour flight, and I was back home in Oslo.

As always, I had a great trip! Should I have changed anything, it would have been adding more days to my Zambia/Zimbabwe stop. There are a lot to explore, but the tours are expensive. I would have liked more days in the Kalahari Desert too, as animals were not abundant. More days also in Cape Town, because I loved it, and it has sooo much to offer. For Durban I could have had less days, due to the lack of beach weather.