Cape Town, Hermanus & Kruger Protea Lodge, Paul Kruger Gate Review

Overall Rating

Extremley cheap (in comparison to UK). Excellent choice of food & Drink. Luxurious accomodation, more like a hotel than a lodge. Game drives amazing in open sided vehicles (compared to some other countries, which use minivans), I also found that the drives were longer than previous safaris in other African countries.

The 12 hr flight :-(, some unease in certain areas, no smoking on flight! Holiday goes too quickly. Table Mountain funicular was closed for maintenance while we were there, so unable to travel to top for views.

(2002)Started our holiday in Cape Town and stayed @ Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza. Very comfortable, and a pleasant walk to Victoria & Alfred dock, a very pretty city with many nice buildings including the presedential residence & Company Gardens. We pre-booked a trip to Hermanus whale watching prior to leaving UK, and the service was second to none-picked up at our hotel driven the 3 hr journey, met with our guide who took us to the boat. 2 1/2 hrs watching Whales - heaven. The boat was also un-obtrusive to the whales and did not harass them at all, picked up by Xplorer tours and taken to Hermanuswhere we were able to watch the whales from shore for a few hours before our transport took us back to Cape Town. We also booked a Cape Peninsula tour through the hotel, and was driven to all the places of interest on the cape, including Cape of Good Hope, Chapmans Peak, 12 Apostles, Hout Bay (where we were able to go on a boat to view the seals & poss sharks) & Simons Bay where there are resident Jackass penguins.
We then flew to J'Burg where we stayed in the Sandton Plaza, a reasonable hotel though nothing special. We were picked up the following day and driven to Kruger where we were based at the Protea Lodge at the Paul Kruger Gate - so we were always one of the first in the park in the morning. Our guide Tito, was extremley helpful and as we were unfortunate not to have seen leopard in our 3 days, went out of his way to try and make this dream happen - unfortunately we were unlucky - so it's back again this year to see if we can find one. Highly recommended holiday, if you love wildlife, good food, and don't mind getting up at the crack of dawn!

Members' Comments onPaula.'s Review

• travelbug22 on 29th Aug 2008

  Its a pity you did not have time to sta one or two nights in Hermanus. There are much more than whales to see. Hermanus has stunning beaches, the fantastic Cliff Path, Fernkloof Nature Reserve and a 40 minute drive from Hermanus via the scenic route to Cape Town there are penguins at Stony Point, Betty's Bay. Some of the best wine in South Africa is from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley (translated it means Heaven on Earth.
  The Hermanus Golf Course has just been extended and is a must play course.
  Gansbaai, of course, is home to the Great White Shark Industry.