Last Updated: May 2026
In May 2016, we spent three weeks in southern Africa — a four-night safari at Lion Sands Narina Lodge in Kruger National Park, days exploring Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula, four nights at a remote bush camp on the Linyanti River in Botswana, and two days in the Cape Winelands at Stellenbosch before flying home. It was a trip that reset our idea of what wildlife travel could be. We’ve covered all four stops in detail, and this guide collects everything we’ve written into a single planning resource.
How to Use This Guide
This page covers the four destinations from our May 2016 southern Africa trip in the order we traveled them. Each section describes what we experienced and links to the full post, where you’ll find accommodation details, practical tips, visitor information, and photographs. If you’re planning a similar trip — whether combining both safaris as we did, or doing one country at a time — the individual posts contain the on-the-ground detail you need.
Kruger National Park, South Africa
We flew from California to London to Johannesburg, then boarded a short connecting flight to the bush airstrip at Skukuza inside Kruger National Park. We were at lunch at Lion Sands Narina Lodge watching an elephant walk by before the jet lag had fully arrived. Four nights here, two game drives a day with our guide Simon and tracker Isaac, produced more wildlife encounters per hour than we could have imagined — leopards daily, a lion walking within feet of the Land Rover at sunrise, a female lion with cubs and a fresh kill displaced from her prey by a passing elephant herd, white rhino grazing between vehicles as if we weren’t there.
The Sabi Sand Game Reserve — where Lion Sands sits, sharing an unfenced border with Kruger — offers a different experience from the public park. The animals are decades-habituated to vehicles, which means you can be very close to predators in a way that the public roads can’t match. The lodge itself is exceptional: private plunge pool, enormous claw-foot bathtub, candlelight dinner under the stars, and champagne waiting at turndown. If you’re combining Kruger and Botswana in one trip, do Kruger first — it sets expectations that Botswana then recalibrates.
Lion Sands Narina Lodge, Kruger National Park: Full Post →
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town was our hub for the whole trip — we flew in and out through here and used it to stage the Botswana leg. It is one of the most beautiful cities we have ever visited: Table Mountain rising above the city center, the Atlantic on one side and False Bay on the other, and the entire Cape Peninsula stretching south for 40 miles of dramatic coastline. We stayed at More Quarters in De Waterkant, a boutique apartment-hotel with genuinely exceptional service — the kind of place that notices things without being asked.
The Cape Point day trip alone justifies Cape Town on any southern Africa itinerary. The drive through the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, the hike to the old lighthouse at the cliff’s edge, the baboon on the gift shop roof, lunch at Two Oceans Restaurant with its sweeping views of False Bay, and the return north along Chapman’s Peak Drive — one of the great coastal roads in the world. A separate morning at Boulders Beach gave us close-up time with a thriving colony of African penguins, completely unperturbed by visitors on the boardwalk. The V&A Waterfront is worth at least one evening for the atmosphere and the mountain view across the harbor.
Cape Town: Cape Point, Boulders Beach & the Cape Winelands: Full Post →
Botswana: Linyanti Bush Camp
From Cape Town we flew back to Johannesburg and onward to Maun, Botswana, then boarded a small bush plane for the final leg to the dirt landing strip at the Linyanti concession in northern Botswana, near Chobe National Park. As we taxied to a stop, a lion was watching from the edge of the strip. That was the beginning of four nights at Linyanti Bush Camp — our guide Esse, game drives along the Linyanti River and into Chobe, a helicopter ride over drought-stricken water holes, and a pack of African wild dogs moving at speed through the last light of the evening.
Botswana is deliberately different from Kruger. The camp is unfenced canvas tents; animals move freely through the property overnight; the water from the tap is not drinkable. We woke one morning to find elephant tracks and a fresh dung pile directly outside the tent, with a Cape buffalo grazing twenty feet away. Fewer visitors means the animals retain more wildness — encounters feel less certain and more earned. Linyanti costs more than Lion Sands and delivers considerably less in amenities, and we recommend it unhesitatingly. If Kruger is Africa performed at close range, Botswana is Africa on its own terms.
Linyanti Bush Camp, Botswana: Full Post →
Stellenbosch & the Cape Winelands
After Botswana we flew back to Cape Town and drove east into the Winelands. Stellenbosch sits about 30 miles from the city in a valley framed by mountains — a Dutch colonial town settled in 1679 with a Mediterranean climate that makes it one of the great wine-growing regions in the world. We spent two days at Hawksmoor House, a large working farm estate in the Stellenbosch hills, visiting wine estates during the day and dining at the farm in the evenings. It was the ideal decompression after two intense safari legs.
Thelema Mountain Vineyard was our first stop and our favorite: a fire going in the tasting room on a chilly morning, and a Cabernet Sauvignon called “The Mint” — the vines absorb eucalyptol from surrounding eucalyptus trees and it comes through in the wine with a distinctly minty character that is genuinely surprising and lovely. Lunch at Neethlingshof Estate — approached by a long avenue of pines, with mountain views from the restaurant terrace — was one of the best meals of the entire trip.
Stellenbosch, South Africa: Wine Tasting in the Cape Winelands: Full Post →
Planning Your Trip
Combining Kruger and Botswana
We did both on a single trip and would recommend it to anyone willing to spend the time and money. The two experiences are genuinely different — Kruger is the more polished product, with luxury lodges, habituated animals, and high encounter rates; Botswana is rawer, wilder, and more unpredictable. Together they give you the full range of what southern Africa safari can be. If you can only do one, Kruger is more accessible and delivers more guaranteed sightings. If you’re choosing for the experience of being in the bush, Botswana is unmatched.
Cape Town as a Hub
Using Cape Town as a staging base works well logistically — the connection through Johannesburg to Maun is standard, and the flight times are manageable. Cape Town also makes sense on either end of a Kruger stay, since OR Tambo in Johannesburg is the natural entry point for both Kruger and Botswana and is served by direct or one-stop flights from most international gateways. Giving yourself at least two full days in Cape Town — not just a transit night — is worth it. The Cape Peninsula deserves a full day on its own.
Getting There
The main entry point for southern Africa is OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg (JNB). From there, Skukuza airport inside Kruger handles private lodge connections; Maun (MUB) handles Botswana bush connections. Cape Town International (CPT) is served by direct flights from several European hubs and by connections through Johannesburg from elsewhere. We flew British Airways from Los Angeles through London to Johannesburg, with connections to the bush airports handled by the lodges as part of the safari packages.
Practical Tips
Best Time to Visit
The dry season — roughly May through October — is the recommended window for game viewing throughout southern Africa. Vegetation is thinner, water sources concentrate animals, and cooler temperatures make early morning drives more comfortable. We traveled in May and conditions were excellent at both Kruger and Botswana, though the drought that year had pushed some animals away from expected water sources in the Linyanti. The wet season (November through April) brings lush landscape and the summer breeding season, but reduced visibility through thick bush and some areas can become inaccessible.
Health Requirements
Both the Sabi Sand/Kruger area and northern Botswana are malaria zones. Antimalarial medication is strongly recommended — we took Malarone for both legs, starting one day before arrival in each country and continuing for seven days after returning home. Yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations may also be recommended depending on your specific itinerary. Consult the CDC pages for South Africa and Botswana before your trip, and book a travel medicine appointment at least 6–8 weeks before departure. A travel medicine clinic is more reliable than a primary care physician for yellow fever vaccine, which requires special certification to administer and may not be covered by insurance.
Photography Gear
A telephoto zoom in the 200–500mm range is the core tool for safari photography from a vehicle. A monopod with a tilt head is preferable to a tripod — there is no room in the Land Rover and no stable surface for a tripod base. We shot almost entirely with a Nikon D810 and a 200–500mm f/5.6 VR; for low-light dawn and dusk situations, a fast prime (85mm f/1.8) is useful. At ISO 12,800, modern full-frame sensors produce usable images even when wild dogs are moving in near-darkness. Bring more memory cards than you think you’ll need — between the two of us we shot approximately 500GB in seven days without any in-field editing. Power at both camps was 220V with universal outlets; most modern chargers and devices handle this natively without a step-down converter.
Clothing & Packing
May mornings on an open game drive vehicle are cold — lows in the 50s°F in the dry season, and the wind chill at 5:30 am in an open Land Rover makes it feel colder. Bring a fleece or light down jacket, a stocking hat, and thin gloves. The lodges provide blankets on the vehicle, but they don’t always provide sufficient warmth at the very start of the drive. Neutral earth tones are the standard advice for clothing; both lodges provide laundry service, so you don’t need to pack for seven days of unique outfits. For Botswana specifically: bush plane weight limits are strictly enforced. Use soft-sided bags and pack accordingly — roller bags can be a problem on the smaller connecting aircraft.
Currency
South Africa uses the rand (ZAR); Botswana uses the pula (BWP). Most safari costs are settled in advance or billed to the room. Tips for guides and trackers are the main cash expense and are genuinely appreciated — plan for this and bring appropriate amounts in local currency or US dollars, which are widely accepted throughout the region. The rand and pula are not easily exchangeable outside southern Africa, so don’t convert more than you’ll need on the way home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I do Kruger or a private reserve in the Sabi Sand? If your priority is wildlife and photography, a private reserve like Lion Sands in the Sabi Sand — which shares an unfenced border with Kruger — gives you a significant advantage: fewer vehicles at each sighting, guides who can go off-road and follow animals into the bush, and fully habituated wildlife. The main tradeoff is cost, which is considerably higher than Kruger’s public rest camps. For a first trip to Africa with wildlife as the focus, the Sabi Sand experience is worth the premium.
How different is a Botswana safari from Kruger? Substantially different. Linyanti operates with far fewer guests than even a private Kruger lodge — the concession is vast and the number of vehicles in any given area at any given time is very small. The animals are wilder and less accustomed to vehicles, which means encounters feel less guaranteed but more earned. The camp itself is deliberately rustic: canvas tents, no fences, no air conditioning. If you want luxury combined with wildlife, Kruger delivers it better. If you want the authentic bush experience, Botswana is in a different category.
Is Cape Town worth adding to a safari trip? Without question. It is one of the genuinely great cities in the world — spectacular setting, excellent food and wine, world-class accommodation, and day-trip territory (Cape Point, Boulders Beach, Chapman’s Peak Drive) that rivals any destination in Africa. Using it as the hub for both safari legs adds very little extra travel time and delivers a completely different category of experience. The Cape Winelands at Stellenbosch are close enough to Cape Town to incorporate as a two-day extension before flying home.
What is the best time of year for a southern Africa safari? The dry season (May through October) is the standard recommendation — thinner vegetation, water-concentrated animals, and cooler temperatures for early morning drives. We traveled in May and found excellent conditions at both destinations. June through August is peak safari season; September and October are warmer and offer the best chance of seeing large elephant and buffalo herds gathered near the remaining water sources. The wet season (November through April) brings lush scenery and newborn animals but reduces visibility and makes some areas impassable.
How long do you need for this trip? We spent approximately three weeks — four nights at Kruger, five days in Cape Town, four nights in Botswana, and two days at Stellenbosch, with transit days accounting for the rest. A more compressed version — four nights Kruger, three days Cape Town, four nights Botswana — could be done in 15 days with efficient connections. The connections through Johannesburg and the bush plane logistics add time that can’t be rushed; we wouldn’t recommend trying to squeeze it much tighter than that.
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