The Route

My parents started working out the route we will travel around South Africa. There are a few factors we have to take into consideration, as well as logic (to save petrol we are not going to crisscross the country...).

• Seasons. The northern parts of South Africa in summer are extremely hot, and the Cape in winter is very cold and very wet. Solution? Follow the sun and visit the Cape in summer and the north in winter!
• Our volunteering opportunities. Our first host will be near Richmond, and thus it becomes the start of our circle around South Africa. The rest is still in progress of being sorted out.
• Tourist seasons. For example, in December some parts of the country (such as the South Coast) are crowded with people on vacation. We would like to avoid those.

We don't want to plan every single day, as part of the goal of the trip is to be free to explore new opportunities as they come and not be bound to a schedule, but the rough plan looks as follows:

Date	Province	More specific location
October 2014	KwaZulu-Natal South	Richmond, Underberg, Byrne Valley farm
November 2014	Eastern Cape	East London, Port Elizabeth
December 2014	Western Cape	Garden route (Uniondale, Knysna, George)
January 2015	Western Cape	Klein Brakrivier, Struisbaai
February 2015	Western Cape	McGregor, Cape town
March 2015	Western Cape	Piketberg fruit farm
April 2015	Northern Cape	Ceres, WestCoast, Cederberg
May 2015	Northern Cape	Springbok, Upington, Kgalagadi
June 2015	North West	Potchefstroom, Vryburg
July 2015	Limpopo	Thabazimbi, Ellisras, Messina
August 2015	Mpumalanga	Kruger National park, Nelspruit
September 2015	KwaZulu-Natal North	Mozambique, St. Lucia, Richardsbaai

We will be traveling on the edge it seems!