This is a post for folks who want to know, in general, how the South Africa trip was. I'll review the 4 parts of the trip individually, and then throw out some general commentary.
All my pictures from the trip, with explanatory captions:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105909573807230408134/albums/6134298289176854721?authkey=CJDB3Z-sx7fjdQ
Gabe's (plus a few of Matt's mixed in for continuity):
https://plus.google.com/photos/105909573807230408134/albums/6137994156123013665/6138792207093585138?banner=pwa&sort=1&pid=6138792207093585138&oid=105909573807230408134
Matt's blog:
http://mmian-travel.blogspot.com
Drakensberg
This hike was physically and technically demanding, but rewarded with views of nature that are nearly undisturbed by humans. The guide we used tailored the hikes to our fitness (purported) and experience (alleged) levels. It was breathtaking to be hiking in the middle of nowhere, getting treated to mountainous landscapes around every turn.
If you like hikes, you'll love the Drakensberg.
Kruger National Park
I think I can recommend this visit to anyone. It's as casual or hardcore as you want it to be. I'd recommend self-driving in the day and taking additional guided drives or walks in the evening. The beauty of self-driving is that each animal sighting you make is yours, earned by whatever route you pick on the roads and however well you can spot movement/shapes in the brush.
We saw so many animals in their habitat, up close or at least from an easy viewing distance. It's more real than any nature documentary, though maybe not as loaded with facts.
Living in the various camps' bungalows and eating out of the camp shops has a mildly safariesque feel to it.
Garden Route
Driving down the Garden Route will reveal what South Africa's climate and geography is really like. The coastal towns and parks are something else. The cities tend to be more developed and tourism-oriented than what we saw driving from Skukuza back into Johannesburg.
Do this if you like driving, like stopping at beaches, and want to see some penguins. You'll probably want to bring your own music, as the radio stations play a pretty limited variety.
Cape Town
A distinct looking and feeling city. The geography is just as beautiful as other places you could go in South Africa, but it's also a real place with real people living in it. You could get the bulk of what you'd want to see by going to Table Mountain one day and visiting the wineries in Stellenbosch another.
Final notes
South Africa is a country whose socioeconomic classes are so obviously divided by race. The vast majority of the tourism you might consider is part of the white, fully-Westernized South Africa. You'll be doing things that are offered to those with privilege.
Everywhere you go, though, there'll be reminders that poor and less-Westernized people make up a very real part of the South African nation. There were signs all around this trip for 20 Years of Freedom.
I remember when I was at the Delaire Graff winery, I wanted to tip the lady ushering people to the bathrooms. I didn't have small bills on me, so I gave her a R20 bill, which is probably more than her hourly wage (I had to check some charts on minimum wage). The very appreciative curtsy she made upon seeing the tip made me really sad. Wherever we went, random people were hustling us for tips, asking us if we needed help with anything just in hopes of getting some cash. It's an ever-present reminder of the gulf between rich and poor, of these social classes in constant contact but pretty much never merging or integrating.
In this context, I have some guilt that the bulk of my vacation money fueled only the Western half of the country. Obviously, SA's social problems are not something I can solve as an individual or a visiting tourist. But I did wish I had acquired a more complete understanding of how the country is evolving 20 years after apartheid.
After a couple weeks of travel, I have bags of clean and unclean clothes in my backpack. When I get home, both bags are going in the laundry basket. For a while, I had this patch of rhino dung dried up in the tread of my boots. As I stomp out of the airport in Boston, even that vestige of the trip has fallen out.