BootsnAll Travel Community

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get something besides the guided bus, packaged tour experience of at least some portions of the Blyde River Canyon area, given that I'm not willing to drive myself (am afraid of driving on the "wrong" side of the road) and only have about 24 hours to devote to this part of our trip. I'm visiting SA in late March / early April with my 2 kids (11 and 16), and we'll be in Cape Town for 10 days, doing an organized program in one of the townships through my work, then 3 nights at a safari lodge near Hoedspruit and 3 nights with a colleague working in Acornhoek.

So I have one night and one day still unplanned, and a friend who was there last year swore by the Blyde River Canyon, said it was one of the top 5 places she's visited, and she's traveled a lot. But the tour guide she used isn't available, and I really want to have a hands-on (feet-on?) experience, where we do some hiking, actually get into the landscape rather than just looking from the prescribed vista points. Anyone know any good tour guides to recommend?

Or, on the other hand, any alternative "must-see" recommendations for one extra day up near Kruger? I also considered going to the Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge, because it's Fair Trade certified and I'm really interested in the idea of fair trade tourism. But it's in northern Limpopo and looking at the map, just seems too far for a 24-hour trip (not to mention expensive, if I needed to hire someone to drive us up there).

I'm wishing we had 3-4 weeks in SA, instead of 2 1/2, but as plenty of folks have already said, it's hard to have enough time or money when you're traveling, and I'm already thinking we'll just have to be sure we go back again.

I decided to fly in and out of Hoedspruit, to maximize our time, so seeing the Panorama Route on our way back to Jo'burg (where we will fly back home) isn't really an option.

Appreciate any suggestions!