A 15-day 6-city backpacking trip

From Cape Town via the Garden Route to Johannesburg, you can experience the best of South Africa's coastal scenery, hiking, whale watching, wine tasting, seafood dining, and outdoor adventure challenges. If you can drive, it's highly recommended to rent a car. However, if you're traveling solo and don't drive, you can still enjoy the Garden Route. Here's a guide for you: 💥Personal Itinerary: Keetmanshoop, Namibia - Cape Town, South Africa - Mossel Bay - Knysna - Plettenberg Bay - Port Elizabeth - Johannesburg 🗺️Places to visit along the way: ✔️Visited, ❌Not visited ✔️Cape Town: Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope, penguins, wine tasting ✔️Stellenbosch: European-style town, wine estates ❌Hermanus: Whale watching from June to November ✔️Mossel Bay: Coastal cliff hiking ✔️Knysna: Wild oysters, lagoon boat tours ✔️Plettenberg Bay: Whale watching, Robberg hiking ❌Storms River: Tsitsikamma National Park hiking, suspension bridge ✔️Port Elizabeth: Addo Elephant Park, harbor ✔️Johannesburg: The capital/unsafe area, mainly for flying out, Kruger National Park nearby for the Big Five Transportation: 1⃣️Most convenient and safe Bazbus has a Garden Route shuttle service. For $119/¥857, you can hop on and off at 14 towns within 7 days. It offers door-to-door hotel transfers, which is safe and hassle-free, but it's quite expensive. You can check the specific routes on their official website. 2⃣️Local minibus/taxi South African shared taxis are generally safe, and it's not more difficult than in East Africa. The vehicles are in good condition. For short trips of 0.5 - 1 hour, you can take a minibus, which is cheap and convenient, but you have to wait for the vehicle to be full before it departs. For medium to long trips of 2 - 5 hours, you can take a bus. It's a bit more expensive, but it departs on schedule without waiting for passengers. I spent a total of R965/¥386 on transportation for four cities along the Garden Route using public transport, which is half the cost of Bazbus. For more details on transportation and accommodation, refer to pages 2 - 8. Visa: Apply for an electronic visa at least one month in advance. The process can be quite buggy. When entering by land, there were no checks at all. They just asked how long I was staying and stamped my passport without any issues.🉑️ Currency Exchange: 1⃣️Namibian dollars to South African rand The exchange rate between Namibian dollars and South African rand is 1:1. There were no currency exchange vendors at the border at midnight. You can exchange money with shops or restaurants while waiting at Wimpy in Namibia. It's hard to find currency exchange points in South Africa, so it's better to exchange your money in Namibia.🉑️ 2⃣️Cash withdrawal Look for ATMs that support UnionPay for cash withdrawals. NEDBank charges a R50/¥20 fee per transaction, while CMB charges ¥10 each time. It's better to withdraw a small amount. The exchange rate is 2.5. Most places in South Africa accept card payments. Be cautious of card skimming at ATMs. It's safer to go to those with security guards. Xingguo Restaurant in Cape Town also offers currency exchange, but the exchange rate is only 2.4.🉑️ Mobile SIM Card: You can buy and activate a SIM card at supermarkets like Pick n Pay. The Vodacom SIM card costs R0.99. A monthly data plan of 2.5GB costs R155/¥62. A more cost-effective method seems to be to recharge airtime at the supermarket and then dial *135to top up your data. A 7-day 5GB plan costs R49/¥20.🉑️ #SouthAfricaTravel#TableMountainHiking#OutdoorAdventure#TravelGuide#CapeTown