Traveling to South Africa with a baby: Tips, Tricks and Must-know Advice

I recently came back from a family holiday in South Africa. Our first international holiday as a family of three with our 9-month-old baby. To be honest the thing I was most worried about was the flight, but it didn’t turn out to be that bad. If you are planning to travel to South Africa with a baby, this post will help you out with some tips, tricks and must-know advice for your trip.

Our journey started the day before our flight as it’s a long way from where we live (in a conservancy on the ouside of the Maasai Mara) to Nairobi. So we drove up the day before which took around 6 hours. For some people a 6-hour car drive is enough travelling with a 9-month-old but that’s a pretty standard drive length in East Africa. We overnighted in Nairobi where we organised to leave the car and then got an Uber to the airport the next day.

A quick note on Jomo Kenyatta Internatinal Airport, one thing I did find very useful was these little ‘feeding rooms’. To be honest, I really don’t care about feeding her in public, if the baby needs feeding then I am going to feed her, wherever I am. However, as these rooms were available I did make use of them to feed her and change her nappy before the flight.

We opted for a later flight in the hopes it would be easier for Leah. Luckily this worked out to be the case. The flight was delayed an hour so by the time we got on the airplane, she was only awake for a couple of hours before she passed out for the night. Unfortunately, this was a very basic aeroplane, we didn’t even have one of the drop-down screens where they play one film, let alone a screen each. But most importantly, we didn’t have a bassinet for the baby or the isle with extra legroom, so that wasn’t great. We did however, have very friendly hosts and hostesses who also gave us an extra meal for the baby (even though she was asleep by the time it came around) and made lots of effort to help us when needed – shout out to Kenya Airways.

Tips and tricks for flying with a baby

Here are a few tips for flying with a baby from that first flight:

• Try and fly at night so baby can sleep – put baby in pajamas and bring their sleep sack
• keep nappies, a portable changing mat and a change of clothes (for you and the baby) in your hand luggage
• Use those plastic loops to attach the baby’s toys so they can’t keep falling on the floor
• Feed the baby during take-off and landing so their ears don’t pop – I did this with Leah and she didn’t cry once. If you have an older baby, wait until they tell the crew to take their seats, otherwise the baby might be finished before the uncomfortable bit
• Choose an isle seat so you can get up and walk with the baby if they get fussy
• Bring a baby carrier/pram so you can have your hands free when going through customs and collecting luggage etc

The white noise of the plane really helped Leah get to sleep but she did of course wake up when we were getting off the plane to go collect luggage etc. You are then in bright lights, with lots of people around so it was impossible to get her back to sleep there. She only got back to sleep once we were in the hotel at the other end (Cape Town).

On the flight back we were one of the first people to check in which I think helped and we got ‘upgraded’ to the front row seat with extra legroom and a bassinet for the baby, this made a BIG difference. Espeically, as the flight back was a daytime flight so Leah was awake for a lot more of it. It was great to have another space to be able to put her down and not have her on my lap the entire trip. Although she is now at the age where she wants to be on the move all the time so I couldn’t exactly put her there and leave her to play, I always kept one hand on her the whole time so she didn’t flip over the edge.

One thing that is not great about the bassinette is that there is a big screen right next to the them that cannot be switched off even at night when they turn all the main lights off. We got around this by hanging a blanket over the screen using some handy clips that I always carry around with me.

The other bonus about the front seat is that you get fed first! On the other hand, you can see, smell, and almost feel business class but you can’t access it haha.

General tips for travelling with a baby

The hardest part of travelling with a baby turned out to be something I didn’t even consider… the time difference. South Africa and Kenya are only an hour different but it made a big difference to the baby.

Leah has never really been on a strict schedule, we move around a bit and have random activities on random days so her schedule is flexible and she is good at going with the flow. However, one thing that was pretty consistent was her bedtime, which is around 6:30/7:00 While on the trip, she pretty much went to bed at 5:30/6:00 most nights, as if she was still on Kenya time (which, of course, she was). So this made the evenings a little difficult.

We decided to do lunches out and have dinners in the house in the evenings as it made it easier to get Leah down for bed without disrupting her routine too much. There were a couple of evenings where we didn’t achieve this, as 5:30 is still very early to be home. In those cases, she fell asleep in the carrier and then inevitably woke up somewhere between the car and bed and it was a bit disruptive for her. It also made it difficult to fit in 3 meal times for her so we did meals as and when it suited.

For daytime naps Leah has only ever taken 30-minute naps, an hour on a rare occasion and she has always preferred to be held/carried so this made daytime naps while out and about easy. We would just put her in the carrier or she got very good at sleeping on daddy’s shoulder.

We actually found that she slept a bit longer than usual, probably because there were a lot more people about/more going on than in our bush life at home so she was probably much more overstimulated and tired.

Cape Town

We spent 6 nights in Cape Town at the start of our trip in an Air BnB apartment at Green point which is close to the Waterfront. The location was great, it was a very short drive to the Waterfront for shopping, restaurants and activities, but also not far from many places like Houtbay and Camps Bay for the beach etc. It was a safe, quiet (except Wednesday night which apparently was Karaoke night at the bar downstairs) part of town and had everything we needed.

The easiest way to get around Cape Town is via Uber, it’s also very reasonably priced.

In Cape Town we did a lot of the touristy things, my husband is South African, therefore has not done the touristy things for a LONG time, I have been to Cape Town many times before but we had to do them all with Leah.

Leah is still a little young to really appreciate activities, to be honest her favourite part of the trip was bath time every night (we don’t have a bathtub at home so she doesn’t get bathed every day), so she could have been anywhere and would have had a great time. But we did do a few things specifically with Leah in mind:

• Two Oceans Aquarium – She loved the tunnel and the big tank with the sharks and the stingrays; she watched them all with such curiosity, but neither the penguins nor the smaller fish sparked her interest. However there was a 1-year-old there at the same time who was walking around and he was loving it, so maybe if Leah was a couple months older it would have been ideal, but of course, every child is different
• Green point Urban Park – we don’t have children’s playgrounds where we live so the playground was a real novelty for Leah and us. She is still a bit young, but we held her on the swings and when going down the slide, so that entertained her for 10 mins or so. The park is big and has a dog-friendly part, an outside gym, play areas for kids, a cafe, a little river for the kids to paddle in and lots of green grass to picnic on.
• Seeing the penguins at Betty’s Bay (you can also go to Boulders Beach). We thought this would be fun for Leah but to be honest, the penguins were too far away/not entertaining enough, I think she fell asleep on the walk so it wasn’t really a baby activity.

Other child-friendly activities (that we didn’t do)

• There is a World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary but coming from where we are, we are not keen on seeing animals in cages so we decided to give this one a miss. I have never been there, so I can’t comment on whether it’s ethical or not but I do imagine it would be a fun place to visit with children.
• Ride the Cape Wheel at the V&A Waterfront
• Go for a Sail on the Jolly Roger Pirate ship, departing from the V&A Waterfront

Other activities

There are so many things to do in Cape Town, here are a few options:

• Rode the cable car up Table Mountain
• Scenic drive on Chapmans Peak
• Sundowners on Signal Hill
• Fish and Chips at ‘Fish on the Rocks’ Houtbay
• Boat ride at the Waterfront – watch out for sealions
• Shopping at the various markets and malls
• Delicious seafood dinner at Willoughby and co
• Tourist hop on hop off bus
• Oranjezich Market Saturday and Sunday morning and Wednesday evening at the Waterfront Shed

Cape Town is an amazing city, one of the few places where you can do such a variety of activities in a short space of time. For example, when I first came to Cape Town (pre-husband and baby) I went for hike up Lion’s Head in the morning, then to the beach for a picnic and a (very cold) swim, then out for dinner and clubbing the evening. The only thing is, like most cities, you need to be cautious of dangers, especially at night. Don’t walk around in the evenings, always get an Uber or be careful of your belongings.

Franschhoek

My mum joined us and then we drove to Franschhoek for 3 nights. Cape Town and the surrounding areas are filled with stunning scenery. Literally every drive you take, every walk you take, you look around you and your breath is taken away by the surroundings. We stopped on so many drives just to take in the scenery (and take photos of course) so make sure you slow down and take a look around while you are on your drive/walk.

The drive from Cape Town takes around 1.5 hours so we took it nice and easy. It’s so nice having short drives, everywhere in Kenya is at least a 2 hour drive, even just to get the nearest grocery shop, so it’s refreshing to drive on decent roads for short amounts of time.

On the first day in Franschhoek we drove to Babylonstoren a Cape Dutch farm, set at the foot of Simonsberg in the Franschhoek wine valley.

It has beautiful fruit and vegetable gardens , farm shop and a farm to fork restaurant. It’s well worth a visit for a nice lunch and a wander around the gardens.

While in Franschhoek, the main ‘activity’; we did was the wine farms Tram/bus. Despite the fact that I’m not drinking alcohol this was a fun activity. You can choose your route from a number available and then hop on and off where you feel like it. We visited PIGcaso’s more known for the painting pig than the wine really but this one was for Leah. It now functions as a wine farm an an animal sanctuary and you can buy carrots and feed for the animals so that kept Leah and I entertained.

Other than that, we strolled up and down the high street and in all the beautiful shops and had afternoon tea and cake and enjoyed the house.

We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb which was very comfortable and good value.

Kleinmond

We then continued onto the coastal town of Kleinmond which is around a 2 hour drive. We have family here so we spent our time with family, relaxing on the beach, going around the gardens and walking on the boardwalk.

The boardwalk gives you amazing views of the crashing waves and is definitely worth some time.

Again we stayed at an Airbnb right on the beach with amazing views from the bedroom of the crashing waves.

Back to Cape Town and home

After some much needed down time in Kelinmond we headed back to Cape Town in time for our flight home. The drive from Kelinmont to Cape Town is around 2.5 hours.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Pajamas and Jam – the Strand which is an industrial area and this funny little cafe feels very out of place here but it’s worth a visit. You can’t miss it there is a helicopter on the roof of the building. It’s a good lunch stop halfway between Kelinmond and Cape Town and of course you have to try one of their cakes as well.

Bazarly there is also a whole section dedicated to fancy dress costumes… there must be a big demand for it in the strand?

So that’s it really, we stayed a couple more nights in Cape Town then headed back home to Kenya.

If you have other top tips for visiting Cape Town that I have missed, leave a comment below and let me know!