Perfect time to go to South Africa......i.e. it's cheap

It seems like South Africa is on EVERYONE'S bucket list, and having been myself I can tell you it should be. Now's the time to go because it's the cheapest it's been in years. I went in late 2012 when the Rand was 8 to the dollar and I thought it was an incredibly cheap vacation, and now the Rand is flirting with 16 to the dollar, and depending the day flirts with 17 to the dollar. Yes airfare can be high, although South African Airways had deals this past fall and early winter out of NY and DC for under $900 roundtrip and that's their peak season....keep in mind our summer is their winter i.e. their offseason so tickets may be even lower. Why are tickets are so cheap for a flight that's almost double your time to Europe, well South African tourism got smoked last year because of Ebola fears, even though the region in Africa that had Ebola was actually closer to London than Cape Town, but westerners aren't so great with geography and they had mass cancelations from Europe and North America. The South African Tourism Board did a call last week and discussed their recommended most basic introductory tour of South Africa, a ten night trip, flying into Johannesburg (the only place from the US you can fly directly into) checking into your hotel, getting your bearings and some rest, spending a day in Joburg, shopping or going on a tour of Soweto or up to Pretoria, then fly out to Cape Town for 4 nights in Cape Town and the Cape (which is the heart if South African wine country) then flying direct into Kruger National Park for the all important safari for 4 nights. You could probably shorten the safari part, but the general route is a great intro to the country. While it'll be winter there, temperatures rarely get bitterly cold especially around the cape and Kruger and June to October is peak whale watching season around the cape.