Early retirement gives us the chance to travel for 12 weeks next Xmas thro to March.Would love to travel S.Africa, Namibia and Botswana area. Haven't a clue about practicalities. Budget we thought about £100 a day max not including flights out and back. Is this reasonable? Is this time of year ok for travelling. Want to do backpack, not package holiday. If not here,thinking about Australia but prefer Africa. Any advice from backpackers will be good.

You should be fine with that amount per day but safaris can eat a big hole in your budget if you push the boat out. This region is easy to get aound in with public transport and just rent the odd car when you feel like it.
Richard,
http://www.franceinfocus.net
Photos of South Africa and a few other places.

http://www.franceinfocus.net

That budgetsounds reasonable. We're going for three weeks in September/October for birdwatching/wildlife and we've been able to find lots of excellent value accomodation in interesting areas.

We're stretching our budget by staying in a few inexpensive places and self-guiding and alternating that with either more luxurious places or professional guides. We expect to see the Cape Town area, KwaZulu Natal and much of the east coast as well as Lesotho and Swaziland.

If you have any interest in wildlife it might be worth looking at the St. Lucia area where there seems to be plenty to do, including low-cost or free activities as well as good, inexpensive lodgings.

Don't forget to check out Hermanus for whale watching - I think the whales are still around when you arrive.

Your budget will be fine, but note that the temperatures in Namibia, Botswana and parts of SA from December to February can be extreme - over 40 degrees Celcius is not unusual. Any place along the coast (eg. Cape Town) or further south will be hot but not unbearable.

SA school holidays run from early December to mid January, and during that time you will be overrun by local tourists. It will be tough getting accommodation in places like Cape Town and prices go up accordingly. Beaches will be very crowded. A better time to visit would be February onwards or before December - everything is much quieter and more enjoyable.

Have a G*R*E*A*T trip.

Sharky

Don't know if you're still checking replies, but we've just about finalised our 3 week itinerary for September/October.

If you are interested in seeing some wildlife at reasonable prices, take a look at www.krugerpark.co.za . Following links to the 'rates' section for the individual camps you should find prices for bush walks, morning, sunset and night game drives etc. which should be within your budget. We're probably spending 6 days in the park, driving from south to north - it sounds pretty exciting.