One of the many options for a holiday in Africa is a self-drive holiday. These are only possible in the countries that have a decent enough infrastructure to make it possible to get around safely and also in a country where the distances are not so enormous as to make it arduous rather than fun!
There are many advantages to a self-drive holiday. You can tour around the country seeing as much as possible without having to share a crowded bus with a bunch of strangers. You can also be much more flexible with your itinerary, stopping off where the fancy takes you, lingering in favourite places and taking time out for a lazy lunch somewhere are just some of them. You also get a real feel for a place by driving around. On a bus you are on a fixed itinerary and most of the passing scenery is seen as a vague blur but when you are driving through it you have a much more direct connection with the landscape, the local wildlife and the local people.
Self drive itineraries are the most popular way of travelling around South Africa in particular where the road network and shorter travelling times make it feasible. They drive on the left like we do here in the UK and in between cities there is far less traffic on the roads. No sitting in traffic jams on the M25 here! The whole process of hiring a car is also very straight forward and the well established car hire industry in South Africa means that the vehicles are in good condition and regularly updated. The roads are clearly signposted and the maps are all up-to-date (if you still use them instead of a GPS!).
Some of the best self-drive itineraries in South Africa take in some truly magnificent scenery. One of the most popular is the Garden Route which starts in Port Elizabeth and ends in Cape Town (although it can always be done if reverse too!). This drive will take you through fantastic coastal scenery stopping at pretty colonial towns and villages en route. When you need to stretch your legs you can to go surfing at Jeffreys Bay or whale watching at Hermanus. Dolphins are frequent visitors along this coast often frolicking in the surf just yards off the beach. Highlights includes Tsitsikamma Forest, Storms River, Plettenburg Bay, Kynsna, Sedgefield, Wilderness, Oudsthoorn, George, the Winelands and finally Cape Town itself.
The other most popular self-drive option in South Africa is a more safari orientated tour which involves driving through the Kruger National Park! The park features excellent drives and trails through both dense bush and dry scrub. It is divided between the Northern Province and Mpumalanga, with the formers region getting the lions share and extending southwards to the Olifants River and as far north as the Limpopo River.
Another fabulous drive is through the majestic Drakensburg Mountains where you can stop off at places named God’s Window and Bourke’s Luck Potholes! The Drakensburg Mountains are a proclaimed World Heritage Site. The mountains have a unique natural beauty, with a rich collection of rock art, the last visible signs of the San people. Within the uKhahlamba Drakensburg Park there are some 600 rock art sites making it one of the best places in the world to see this ancient art form. With an abundance of game, birds and plants, as well as some of the world’s most stunning scenery and rock art, the Drakensburg Mountains are one of South Africa’s most stunningly beautiful tourist attractions.
