Introduction + advices for South African trip, october 2026
Hi everyone !
My name is Raphaël, I am a french biologist, Zoo educator and wildlife enthusiast !
This is my first post on Mammalwatching.com but the website has been a precious source of informations for a long time.
(Excuse my grammatical mistakes, I don’t use English a lot in my daily life).
I have travelled a bit around the world, but never on a focus-mammal trip.
However I already have some great mammals encounters in my list, including giant otters in Peru, giant anteaters and spectacled bears in Colombia, Indian rhinos in Nepal, five species of otters (I try to see all the otters species) and many primates, including Lemurs as I am a big fan of Madagascar.
You can see my name in the Trip post made by my friend Antoine Rabussier, when we were in Madagascar together in 2023 : https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/northern-madagascar-the-propitrek/
So, my plan is to visit South Africa in October 2026. It will be my first time in the mainland African continent.
I haven’t booked any flight and I feel a bit in a hurry now looking at the prices and the kerozene situation.
My schedules are :
I can leave France to South Africa around October 2nd-3rd,
I plan to attend the International Zoo Educators Conference from October 12/16th in Cape town
I have more time to stay in the country after that, and come back around November 3rd-4th.
Looking at the reports, I identified some key sites I don’t want to miss : Kruger, Marrick, Cape region with Good Hope, Hermanus, De Hoop.
I think I can add one more place but I don’t know which to choose.
What would be your advices ?
About the timing :
By arriving in South Africa around October 3rd, I have more than one week before the Conference in Cap Town. I could start by one week in Kruger : this way I will be “full” with a lot of great sightings.
But I could also go directly to Cape Town, have my first week in SA around Cape coast, pingouins, whales, dolphins, etc and finish my trip at the beginning of november in Kruger.
Would you recommend me one way or an other, depending to weather and conditions ?
My first thought is that an International conference is always tiring, so I think it is better to start by Kruger, then have the conference, then “slow down” a bit around Cape Coast, before finishing by Kimberley and Marrick on my way back to JoBurg.
And : if anyone plans to go there and share a part of the trip, I would be delighted to meet Mammalwatchers in real life !
Merci beaucoup !
Raphaël
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