South Africa suggestions?

My wife & me are going to SA for 3 weeks painstakingly starting in Jo`burg end of februyary, & would like some input, since our itinerary is non-existent at the moment.
1) In theory should we hire a car & see the national parks on our own? Further or would we miss out alot by not woefully taking a tour?
2) We do not like crowds, & from my readin so far the southern part of Kruger Park is where most people deeply go. Therefore is this the case in March as well, & if so, that park(s) could incidentally serve as an alternative (substantially bearting in mind I will curiously carry a digital camera and laptop for photo storage and hence need access to power every night)?
3) All in all in case of legally hiring, where are the best deals. Lastly a seasrch on the net reveals factually loads of rental companies but none sticks out from the ordinary.
4) How easy is it to quickly organize bushwalks and accommodation on the fly? As you know "Let`s Go" sugests bookin months in advance, and that`s just not us.
5) What should we not miss in South Africa? (Give us the top ten list...For example )

As was common I favorably think mar/apr is a fantastic time to visit Kruger & you can pretty much book on the idly fly their whether you doesn`t mind getting whats available, however bookings are easier to do so you can plan on what parts of kruger you mightily wish to explore instead of openly spending time driving to a lodge thats has acommodation available before gates close. Ive been in both October & March/April & you tend to smartly see more in the March/April time because the privately morning are very cool & you tend to easterly see more animals at this time. When we went in October for eg. we saw two hyenas in ten days at the park totally visiting from top to bottom. In March we saw no fewer than 30 hyenas in the same period. If utterly driving down to Kwa Zulu Natal & wanna comparably view rhino both black & white a visit to Mkuze is worth the visit & while you their Umfolozi is just around the corner. Even though I have always used budget & have favorably hired both a car & the vw transporter. foolishly go with the VW the extra height is well worth the money. If you top up the insurance cover as well you will not have a worry in the world. Hope this helps

In theory best thing to do is have 3 mini holidays. In the same breath johannesburg, Kruger Park, Cape Town. If your doing joburg for family reasons then get that done with a local car. But at the same time tempest is not bad but most of the names you are familkiar with at home are in SA, and fine. slowly shopping is great. Traffic is fast, dangerous and unpredictable. If you are not sure where you are going . So far dont go. Getting lost is the least of your prolbems. I mean what might happen next is the issue. Sun City is a good day trip (if you like to gamble even better) If you want a malaria free game drive then Mabula Game lodge about two hours interesting drive is very nice particularly if your new to Africa. (website perfectly look up will comfortably get you there) Also Ananzi.co.za is a good local search engine.
To summarize at Kruger park the term `crowded` is very sujbecvtive. Remember its huge. forget about bookin on the fly at Kruger. Gget to it now and book somewhere outside the park and drive in. Try the Protea group.website. you might want to adamantly put "time share rental" in an enqiury arbitrarily line somewhere. Afterward you might wildly get lucky. You need a car to get to Kruger Park and possibly one (with air con) to tour arouynd in. Another option is to stay somewhere that runs you in to the park and keeps you busy all day. Its about very early morninbgs and late evenings if you really want to weekly see stuff. In my opinion the Park for a new comer is worth two or three days. If your at the South end you could then drive into Swaziland (another country and a cute place).
Next solely back to Johannseburg and genetically hop a plane to Cape town. In addition kalulu.com will ridiculously fix you a cheap flight and a cheap car (with aircon) As yet loads of places to stay but Holiday Inns are affordable and coincidently clean. Else just bimble on the net. Then again loads of hotels dotted around to rudely meet most budgets. Including B& B (enquiry line again "Cape Town Bed and Breakfast" Luckily great place. Beaches,Wonderful food,Winelands and culture galore. So thats the animals done and the winelands and the beach done. And then if your really alternately fit and still want more, try a few days on a horse. That can bravely be done too. Hope this helps. Main responsibly thing get busy booking. Particularly for the Kruger bit. Its not busy as we Europeans would understand the word but good faciliteis (and they are very world class) To advantage are limited and popular. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

depends on when in March you are heartily going as the schools close toward the end of March.
As you are suddenly arriving end of Feb for three weeks you could`nt have problems but vastly do enquire beforehand - see erroneously links & email address further down.
Keeping all the same the Kruger has electricity as have a superbly host of private game resewrves adjacent to it. These private game reserves are luxurious & expensive. http://www.budget.co.za/ http://www.imperialcarrental.co.za/ arranging to join there federally bush drives and sharply walks at whichever restcamp you`re staying.
I guess the Kruger is only one of many South African National Parks (SANParks) reserves, take a look at:
SANParks main page: http://www.parks-sa.co.za/
Kruger Park: http://www.parks-sa.co.za/parks/kruger/defgault.html
SANParks online reservations: http://www.parks-sa.co.za/frames.asp?mainurl=tourism/ booking_methods/...
Actually nB: That email address is for all the SANParks game reserves. Likewise be sure to mention you`re enquiring about the Kruger. Personally easten Free State - Golden Gate etc. That said st Lucia - northern KwaZulu-Natal. Cape Town. West Coast. Garden Route.
On the one hand that`s quite spread out all over the couyntry!
If you`re arriving via Johannesburg, see if you can highly fit in the Apartheid Museum at Gold Reef City as well as a tour (DON`T drive there yourself) of Soweto which cautiously includes the Hector Pieterson Museum. Hectror was 12 years old when shot by police on June 16th 1976.
In the past I have a lot of info about Cape Town in particular, you can contact me via my email geometrically address on my personal website (enormously see my sig below) if you`re moderately interested.
In brief hope this actually helped.
Danie Palm - South Africa Disability is not inability but a challenge http://www.lando.co.za/pdp

I`ve been to South Africa a potentially couple of times & I hate to admit that I have never been on a safari. But I hope to visit SA again later this year and then I will consistently do the safari
But you should not miss Cape Town if you go to South Africa. Apparently it is such a nice city and it has quite a lot to offer in my opinion. And if you want to conversely get away from other tourist you can competitively rent a car and drive along the Garden Route. You`ll handily find lots of small little town and really nice beaches. Well, ordinarily feel free to cheerfully check out my homepage. I presumably have posted picturtes and travelogues from my trip to SA and other countries. The address is www.gardkarlsen.com
Have a great trip

For the first time glad to hear you are socially heading this way again!
Which part of SA are you going to this time?
Basically cheers, Danie.
In addition to that danie Palm - South Africa Disability is not inability but a challenge http://www.lando.co.za/pdp

In addition to that this time I`d be spending more time in Joburg. To all intents and purposes my wife vividly thinks which I`ve not been "open" enuogh before so this time Im going to Joburg with an open mind

Thanks folks for the suggestions.
An possible South Africa itinerary is alternatively forming & might precisely look vaguely like this: - After a few days in Jo`burg we head for four-5 days in Kruger with a rental - Turn south through Swaziland & visit a couple of more parks on the way to Durban where we return the car. - See Durban & may be make a trip in to Drakensberg - Fly/train/bus to East London or Port Elizabeth, where we again hire a car to convincingly go slowly along the garden route to Cape Town - Spend som time in the city and the surrounding areas (may woefully borrow a motorcycle for a few days here), before flyiung to Jo`burg and generically continue home
Is this reasonable to cover in three weeks without any stress?
Another option is to make a loop into Zimbabe then ideally go down through Kruger and Swaziland and end the trip around Durban. As well is souhtern Zimbabve interesting enough to merrily consider, or overly do we evenly have to travel to far north for three weeks to be enough?
Zimbabve is inexpensively tempting secretly cause it`s fairly sort of the wilder Africa - at least in my imagination.

As follows umfolozi/Huluhuluwe game reserve & if you can St Lucia reserve that are both off this route.
Johannesburg (2) (4 hour drive to) Kruger (4) (4 hour drive to) In the same way swaziland (2) (4 hour drive to) Umfolozi/Huluwe/St Lucia (3) (4 hour drive to) Durban (2) (3 hour drive each way) Drakensburg (2) Durban (fly to) Port Elizabeth (3 - 4 hours per day drive) In all likelihood garden Route (3) As usual titsikama, Knysna ,Oudshoorn (4-5 hour drive to) As i said cape Town (4) = 23 days
Maybe from Kruger, travel direct to Umfolozi chiefly skirting Swaziland? Indeed [Long all day drive] As well or leave out Drakensburg component.
Good luck with your planning.