South African Safari Hack

My Safari Hack is the fun and affordable tour offered from Pilanesberg National Park - but I’ll get to that…

Country #4 on my list of 55 countries to visit before I turn 55, is South Africa. To break up the long haul flights, I decided to have a playover in Germany, so I could visit my son who studies there. We walked around Frankfurt, and enjoyed our afternoon at an indoor pool/wellness and sauna complex. After a nice meal. I headed back to the airport for the overnight flight to Johannesburg. I love playovers!

My sister lives in Capetown so I’ve traveled to South Africa before, but this was my first time visiting Johannesburg. We attended a 3 day silent retreat and then went on Safari to Pilanesberg National Park and Game Reserve. It was awesome! I highly recommend this Game Park for an easy and affordable Safari. It's inexpensive, close to Johannesburg, easy to get to and a local’s favorite. We went on two official game drives and were able to drive ourselves around in our rental car the rest of the time.

We saw a lot of animals and the night drive was very exciting. The most exciting part was when we were watching the lions from our little rental car. The guy next to us pointed out that our back tire was flat. If you've ever been in a game park you know that you're not allowed to get out of the car in the park (there's lions after all). There are rest stops and places to pull in and get out but this wasn't one of them. Luckily, the safari tour driver was able to call the ranger and they came and changed the tire for us. All while we kept close watch on the lions!

I finished the trip with a few days in Capetown and a fun hike up table mountain with my niece. This was an awesome trip and South Africa is a great country to cross off of my travel quest list. Enjoy the photos.

Love Claudia