Destination Daydreams: South Africa

I will admit that my travel plans for the South African leg of the Grand Tour are quite... limited. The main reason for including it is to revisit the International Primate Rescue (IPR) sanctuary just north of Pretoria. I first went there a couple of years ago with my mum and I'd love to go back.

The Thinker

IPR take in rescued primates from all over the place, mostly from the exotic pet trade in South Africa, but others from further afield. Two weeks volunteering there was an amazing experience, which is why I'm planning on going back. Two weeks of feeding, cleaning and generally making sure the lives of the monkeys are better than their pasts sounds like a pretty good thing to me.

Good perch?

But there are other things I'd like to do in South Africa. A return to Kruger National Park for a safari trip is top of the list. I went for a 3 day trip while I was at IPR last time and it still ranks as one of the most amazing things I've done. Driving along dusty roads just after dawn and finding a crash of rhinos asleep in the middle of the road was... mind blowing, I think. We easily spent 15 minutes just sitting and watching them until they disappeared into the bush. The way such large animals can melt away like that will always impress me.

I'd really like to see big cats in the wild though and that means both having a fair amount of luck and also spending a bit longer in the park. I believe there's African Wild Dogs within the bounds of Kruger as well, which would make my life, let alone my trip. I love African Wild Dogs. Did you know they have a hunt success rate of about 80%? Compared to the much-lauded lions at 20%, this is pretty damn impressive. You'd struggle to find a much more effective and efficient hunter.

Aside from those two things which are my absolute musts for South Africa, there's also a whole host of fossil sites with lots of early human stuff going on. I think I'd want to take a group tour for things like that though. Both for ease of getting around and also for the safety aspect.

One last thing I'm seriously considering for this leg of the Grand Tour is another volunteer placement, this time in Cape Town. There's a seabird and penguin rehabilitation centre in the city which offers 6 week placements and I think it would be wonderful. It'd look quite nice on my CV too, for when I finally start looking at getting a job in the area my degree was aimed at. But mostly, I just think it would be an interesting experience. I've never worked hands on with birds before. New skills ahoy!

Those are the things I'm most interested in doing. I'm sure there's others though. What would you recommend for South Africa? Are there any hidden gems I absolutely must check out? Leave a comment and let me know.