A Family Holiday in South Africa

South Africa is very popular with families from all over the world who are looking for a holiday that offers sunshine and beaches and plenty of activities for kids of all ages in a country that is truly family-friendly. It is especially good for families with younger children, as South Africa is the one country in Africa where you can go on safari without having to worry about taking malaria tablets.

Cape Town offers a whole host of attractions which children will enjoy (Table Mountain, the beaches at Camps Bay, the Two Oceans Aquarium, and the street entertainers at the V&A Waterfront) - and you can also take a trip down to Cape Peninsula and stopping at Boulders Beach on the way back, to see one of the largest penguin colonies in South Africa.

Staying along the Garden Route will be a holiday highlight, and your children will love you for it! The list of things to do here really is endless - whale watching in season from the cliffs at Plettenberg Bay, walking in the Knysna Forest or Tsitsikamma National Park, or canoeing and fishing, as well as walking with elephants at the Knysna Elephant Park or The Elephant Sanctuary, watching monkeys swing through the trees at Monkeyland, horse riding, ostrich farms at Oudtshoorn, playing on the beach at Wilderness, boat trips on the Knysna Lagoon, and even marvelling at stalagmite formations in the Cango Caves.

And don't forget the fun-filled Sun City or the endless beaches of Durban!

Family Game Drive at Mabula Game Lodge Round your holiday off with a family safari in one of the malaria-free game reserves - all just waiting to make your family holiday one to never forget. A lot of the lodges welcome children of any age and reduced rates normally apply for under 12s but once they hit 12 years and older, then they are charged as full paying adults. In general, a lot of the lodges right across South Africa will not allow children younger than 5 to go on the long adult game drives due to safety reasons (but the age restriction does vary from lodge to lodge but we can advise you on this).

A growing number of safari lodges, however, offer children programmes for their younger guests. These obviously vary from lodge to lodge, but in general the majority of the programmes will include 'bush bumbles' - a shortened version of the adults game drive, plus the vehicle will not get as close to the larger animals of the African bush (such as elephants, lions, buffalo and rhino) as well as short bush walks with a ranger looking for animal tracks and even making a plaster cast of any that they find, and learning what the 'toothbrush tree' is, and other fun activities that also have an element of education too.

And all this goes on while the parents either enjoy their own game drives or just relax around the pool!

If you really do want to share the safari experience with your little ones, you can ask the lodge if you can hire a Land Rover for a day, and the ranger will only take you and your family out on your own game drives. This will be an extra cost over and above the rate that you would normally pay, and whilst the lodge will do everything they can to accommodate this, they all do state that they cannot guarantee this service - purely for the reason that each lodge will normally have just one 'spare' Land Rover - and if one of the vehicles that is due to take out the other guests breaks down, then the spare vehicle has to be used!

There is something for every family to enjoy in South Africa - so why not contact us now and let us put together a suggestion for you? In the meantime, do take a look at the following itineraries for some initial inspiration. All these family holidays are based on a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children aged 5-11 years) sharing a family room, and the total holiday price is divided by 4 to get the per person cost shown.

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