ProloguePrologue
How to prepare for a trip to South Africa
How the three of us planned two weeks in South Africa without a travel agency, where it's calm in Cape Town, why you tip even for a juice, and what it all cost per person.
Destinations → Africa
South Africafirst a holiday, then a life
Two weeks with two friends on a route we put together ourselves: Cape Town, a safari in Kruger and the Garden Route. Then one friend flew home, and the two of us stayed on to live in Cape Town for another two months.
Africa, Cape Town, Kruger, Garden Route
Holiday and life
Planning a holiday? Start with the route. Going for longer? Start with life there.
- When
- 25 January – 7 February 2026
- How long
- 14 days
- Cost per person
- ≈ from $1,790 to $1,960 + international flights, food
25–31 January
Cape Town and the peninsula
Table Mountain, the township of Langa, the Cape of Good Hope with penguins, the Constantia wine estates and a surf lesson.
31 January – 2 February
Kruger
A safari with a local ranger: elephants, lions, a leopard and an albino elephant. The only ones we missed were rhinos.
2–6 February
Garden Route
A car, the coast and an activity every day: paragliding, kayaking, a hike in Robberg and diving with fur seals.
6–7 February
Back to Cape Town
The Instagram bench in Clifton, a farewell dinner — and from there, life.
And then I stayed to live there — that’s the «Life, 2 months» tab.
All stories about South Africa
27 stories
Prologue
Chapter 1Chapter 1
The first evening
Silly costumes at the airport, an apartment in Green Point, coffee at Bootlegger and a sunset on the Sea Point promenade with Lion's Head in view.
Chapter 2Chapter 2
Table Mountain and Bo-Kaap
Perfect weather on the summit, a cloud cap over Lion's Head, a café inside a church, and colourful little houses where we almost got scammed out of groceries.
Chapter 3Chapter 3
Langa and Woodstock
A tour of Cape Town's oldest township, the history of apartheid first-hand, and an artists' neighbourhood where you must not take your phone out.
Chapter 4Chapter 4
The Cape of Good Hope
A rose farm, a reserve where we failed to find hippos, a lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula, penguins on Boulders Beach and Chapman's Peak at sunset.
Chapter 5Chapter 5
Constantia: ziplining and wine
Ziplines over the wine estates, a tasting with cheese on the terrace at Beau Constantia and a viognier with a bright creamy finish that I'll remember for a long time.
Chapter 6Chapter 6
Surfing and seals
My second surf lesson ever, in cold water again, seals that don't like being filmed, and packing for Kruger.
Chapter 7Chapter 7
Safari in Kruger
Ranger Solomon, who always knows where the lion is right now, elephants crossing the road, a leopard in a traffic jam of cars and an albino elephant. The only ones we missed were rhinos.
Side storySide story
How Kruger works and how to go without a tour
Three airports, a fee for every day, rest camps that are mini-towns, game drives run by the park and private rangers. Everything we got confused about, in order.
Chapter 8Chapter 8
Wilderness
A flight to the Garden Route, a rental car, a flight over the beach by the Map of Africa viewpoint and a canoe to a waterfall: we got it all done just before the rain.
Chapter 9Chapter 9
Knysna and Robberg
A viewpoint and a tasty lunch in Knysna, a short hike on the Robberg peninsula, a seal colony from a distance and a cave where people lived for thousands of years.
Chapter 10Chapter 10
Seals underwater and Tsitsikamma
Diving with fur seals that bite your camera and regulator, kayaks and inflatable lilos in the Tsitsikamma gorge, and little stones with kind words in a sweet cottage.
Chapter 11Chapter 11
Back to Cape Town
A queue for photos at the Instagram bench in Clifton, a farewell dinner, and my friend flies home while we stay to live here.
How we found a place to live for two months in Cape Town
Why safe neighbourhoods get booked up early, where to look, how a nomad villa in Woodstock nearly won us over, and how we spent a month each in Claremont and Mowbray.
The real Cape Town: a night at RANDS
Taxi drivers refused to go, inside people dance at their tables, and then came a night-time Langa. The most unusual evening of the whole trip.
Cage diving with sharks in Gansbaai
A tour that gets rescheduled because of the weather, a cage for five, chum in fish oil, and bronze whaler sharks instead of white ones. What to know before you book.
Diving in Simon's Town: honestly, without the pretty pictures
Water at 15 degrees, a rocking Zodiac, a surge that tosses you between the kelp and a pyjama shark in a pipe. How Cape Town diving differs from Asian diving.
Art: Zeitz MOCAA, an art fair and Norval Foundation
A museum in a former grain silo, a fair where a Margherita pizza hangs on a cross, and a sculpture garden by a wetland with leopard toads.
The wine tram in Franschhoek
How the lines work, why you need two hours at a winery rather than one, and why it's better to take the red bus than a taxi.
A weekend day tour from Cape Town
Du Toitskloof Pass, a wave-shaped chapel against the mountains, a desert botanical garden and an Italian-style winery: a one-day route with a driver.
Mountains: hikes and paragliding
A flat trail along the Twelve Apostles, a loop to a reservoir on the back of Table Mountain, a steep climb in Newlands Forest and ten minutes in the sky above the city.
Kirstenbosch: a botanical garden and an open-air cinema
One of the most beautiful botanical gardens I've ever seen, a long conversation with a stranger, and The Silence of the Lambs under the open sky.
The Cape Town Carnival
Firefighters and police officers in the parade, dancing, costumes, songs, fairies on roller skates and tuned-up cars. Free, and once a year.
Techno in Cape Town: three parties, three impressions
The main underground club, where filming is banned, hard techno in Woodstock and Jeff Mills in a warehouse. Where I liked it and where I didn't.
Places we loved in Cape Town
A favourite burger place, a Mexican cocktail with jalapeño, a farmers' market and a sunset yacht ride.
Seeing a doctor in Cape Town: a private clinic without insurance
How to find a clinic, book via WhatsApp and get an appointment the next day, and why the form has a "race" field.
EpilogueEpilogue
Beyond the pretty picture: what I think about South Africa
When I googled Cape Town, I saw only the ocean, mountains and wine estates. After two weeks on the road and two months of living in Cape Town, about what stands behind that picture, and why I believe things will get better.