Itinerary planning:
What surprises people about South Africa?
The distances between towns and places of interest in South Africa.
This makes planning and creating your itinerary to be logistically sound, very important!
South Africa as a country ranks 25th in the world in terms of surface area, so without thorough knowledge and packing to much into an itinerary for the amount of time you have for vacation, could lead to discontent and unhappiness in achieving what has been pre-arranged and only when the traveler is in the country do they realize how far and how big the country really is.
Lets put this into prospective for you:
* South Africa is 1, 219 090 Sq/km, Texas is the largest state in the USA at 696 200 sq/km, the whole of the United Kingdom is 244 820 sq/km.
* Kruger National Park is 19 623 sq/km, the whole of Wales is 20 779 sq/km.
* The Province in the centre of SA, the Free State, is 129 825 sq/km, the whole of England 130 373 sq/km.
The main priority of this service is to have you spending less time in the vehicle and more time having fun. Sure, South Africa is extremely scenic, changing constantly from province to province and from one side of a mountain to the other but never-the-less you don't want to be in a hot car or coach for more time than necessary and without a little local knowledge you could be doing just that.
Are you doing your own on-line reservations over the internet? Are you by-passing the travel agent?
We offer an affordable option when planning for South Africa. Refer to our itinerary review page for more...>
An open itinerary whether you are consulting with a travel agency or not, having only hotel and transport, either privately guided or self drive reservations in place allows you to plot and plan your daily excursions with more ease however pre arranged activities with upfront pre-paid arrangements can be badly coordinated in terms of routing and time allowances to complete what has been pre-set for you. Even if one chooses an open ended itinerary, this service and consultation will be very valuable in your day to day planning.
Maps and vehicle rentals offering Global Positioning Satellite navigation options are useful in directing you to your intended destinations and activities, however can be very misleading too, especially as it will plot the most exact route not necessarily the most scenic, alternatively, very seldom is the scale of the map used or understood in relation to the real distances and time allowances you need to cover and accomplish your intended day excursion. It is not uncommon to travel any where between 250 to 500km in one day and without prior knowledge one would not know what lies in between these distances for example slow mountain passes where besides driving slowly one likes to stop and take in the scenery, so if you have been advised incorrectly or going it blind and fitting in places of interest on the way, may prove difficult to accomplish what was originally set out to do.
Friends who may have knowledge of South Africa and travel agents are so excited for you to be traveling to South Africa and suggestions literally fly at you. "You must go there, you must see this, you must experience that........." , This is all very well but it must be stressed that a successful time in South Africa must be thought through very carefully in relation to the time frame in the country, in order to maximize the enjoyment the destination offers.
The great advantage and pleasure of doing a self drive holiday in South Africa is the superb roads within the National and Secondary road infrastructures, which are in very good condition in most provinces and are well sign posted with directions and mileage which makes navigating easy. The other up-side is the roadside picnic areas, some in very scenic spots, they are frequent and have clear signs telling you when to expect one ahead and also allows you to avoid costly restaurants the whole journey. Two comments expressed by many tourists is how impressed they are with the roads and the mostly civil obedience shown by other road users and the clean public toilet facilities whilst traveling. All recognized Petrol stations have good convenience facilities, including "quick-shops", fast food chains and WC.
Many first time travelers to South Africa find it better in the unknown to employ a registered tour guide to drive them on there way. This is beneficial in many respects and allows the newcomer to get a the feel of the country and gain historical, geographical, cultural and practical knowledge. Returnee's to South Africa often find traveling on their own accomplishable however making use of GPS Tours review service will help just that much more.
Would you like to learn more from our Itinerary Review Page?
This makes planning and creating your itinerary to be logistically sound, very important!
South Africa as a country ranks 25th in the world in terms of surface area, so without thorough knowledge and packing to much into an itinerary for the amount of time you have for vacation, could lead to discontent and unhappiness in achieving what has been pre-arranged and only when the traveler is in the country do they realize how far and how big the country really is.
Lets put this into prospective for you:
* South Africa is 1, 219 090 Sq/km, Texas is the largest state in the USA at 696 200 sq/km, the whole of the United Kingdom is 244 820 sq/km.
* Kruger National Park is 19 623 sq/km, the whole of Wales is 20 779 sq/km.
* The Province in the centre of SA, the Free State, is 129 825 sq/km, the whole of England 130 373 sq/km.
The main priority of this service is to have you spending less time in the vehicle and more time having fun. Sure, South Africa is extremely scenic, changing constantly from province to province and from one side of a mountain to the other but never-the-less you don't want to be in a hot car or coach for more time than necessary and without a little local knowledge you could be doing just that.
Are you doing your own on-line reservations over the internet? Are you by-passing the travel agent?
We offer an affordable option when planning for South Africa. Refer to our itinerary review page for more...>
An open itinerary whether you are consulting with a travel agency or not, having only hotel and transport, either privately guided or self drive reservations in place allows you to plot and plan your daily excursions with more ease however pre arranged activities with upfront pre-paid arrangements can be badly coordinated in terms of routing and time allowances to complete what has been pre-set for you. Even if one chooses an open ended itinerary, this service and consultation will be very valuable in your day to day planning.
Maps and vehicle rentals offering Global Positioning Satellite navigation options are useful in directing you to your intended destinations and activities, however can be very misleading too, especially as it will plot the most exact route not necessarily the most scenic, alternatively, very seldom is the scale of the map used or understood in relation to the real distances and time allowances you need to cover and accomplish your intended day excursion. It is not uncommon to travel any where between 250 to 500km in one day and without prior knowledge one would not know what lies in between these distances for example slow mountain passes where besides driving slowly one likes to stop and take in the scenery, so if you have been advised incorrectly or going it blind and fitting in places of interest on the way, may prove difficult to accomplish what was originally set out to do.
Friends who may have knowledge of South Africa and travel agents are so excited for you to be traveling to South Africa and suggestions literally fly at you. "You must go there, you must see this, you must experience that........." , This is all very well but it must be stressed that a successful time in South Africa must be thought through very carefully in relation to the time frame in the country, in order to maximize the enjoyment the destination offers.
The great advantage and pleasure of doing a self drive holiday in South Africa is the superb roads within the National and Secondary road infrastructures, which are in very good condition in most provinces and are well sign posted with directions and mileage which makes navigating easy. The other up-side is the roadside picnic areas, some in very scenic spots, they are frequent and have clear signs telling you when to expect one ahead and also allows you to avoid costly restaurants the whole journey. Two comments expressed by many tourists is how impressed they are with the roads and the mostly civil obedience shown by other road users and the clean public toilet facilities whilst traveling. All recognized Petrol stations have good convenience facilities, including "quick-shops", fast food chains and WC.
Many first time travelers to South Africa find it better in the unknown to employ a registered tour guide to drive them on there way. This is beneficial in many respects and allows the newcomer to get a the feel of the country and gain historical, geographical, cultural and practical knowledge. Returnee's to South Africa often find traveling on their own accomplishable however making use of GPS Tours review service will help just that much more.
Would you like to learn more from our Itinerary Review Page?
