Hi,

We are planning to spend 3 months climbing around SA in Aug - Oct this year. We plan to fly in to Cape Town and spend time climbing around Montagu, Outdshoorn, Waterval Boven and Rocklands.

I have a couple of questions which you may be able to help out with:

- We need a car for the trip and were thinking of a long term rental, can you recommend any companies?
- Is driving from Western Cape up to Waterval Boven and crazy idea? According to google it's about 17hrs and 1500km but sometimes googles a bit optimistic with driving times, is flying a far smarter option?

Thanks very much,
Kim

driving from Cape Town to Boven is about 17 hours if you can manage to go non-stop. realistically it should be around 19/20 hours, including stops and roadworks. distance along the N1-N4 is approx 1700km (1450km to Johannesburg).
if time is an issue flying does make sense but it is a very nice road trip to drive up there. you should consider to go there from Oudsthoorn (cuts the distance by around 400km) and stop for a few days in Harrismith to climb at Eagle Mountain. Climbing is different in nature to Boven but it is a magical place in it's own right.
http://www.climbing.co.za/2012/01/harri ... -frontier/

Good recommendations from Mok. I'd go for the driving, nice way to see some more of the country.

You're coming to SA at a really nice time and the temperatures will be mild.
Long term car rental: I don't know of any offhand, best check the web - but stay far away from Best Beetle.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Basically the freeway turns boring about 100kms out of Oudtshoorn. The drive is more enjoyable if you drive as close to the Lesotho border as possible: towns like Clarens are beautiful. I assume you are taking a pad along, if so there is a bit of bouldering to be done on the way. Exit Clarens through Golden Gate- stunning.

Please don't be lazy and take the N1 until Gauteng then the N4: longer and spectacularly boring in comparison to the Eastern Free State

Man, I'm jealous of the drive

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If you aren't willing to solve your own problems, how can you expect others to?

Another vote for going via the eastern free state. You can stop overnight in Golden Gate park, there are wooden huts/chalets in the mountain where you stay which are good.

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\"When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you\". - Oom Nietzsche

You could do half and half and consider flying straight from CT to Nelspruit or JHB and then driving to Boven from there, and then from Boven to Cape Town (or better - drive to Oudshoorn and then make your way back to CT) via one of the routes described above. It would be nice to do as a road trip, but doing it there and back might be a bit much.

Where are you from? The roads and drivers may take a bit of getting used to.

Hi All,
Thanks for the beta. Chris, we're from Tassie, Australia our roads are pretty quiet, i've hired cars in Italy and Malaysia so have some experience with more chaotic roads. Hopefully i'll have time to "get used" to the roads before we come unstuck - is it the road surface or the other drivers we should be most cautious of?
Cheers,
Kim

our roads aren't that bad....... you will be fine

Sounds like you will be fine then. Was just thinking if you are from UK the actual distances will take some getting used to. Just be cautious of Minibus Taxis, they tend to disregard the rules of the road.