You can do self guided tours in Kruger on the cheap. There was a couple from Johannesburg in our small group. They had been doing self guided tours every year for the past 9 years but decided to do Kapama for their anniversary. Told us that they saw more wildlife at Kapama during that one week than they had seen in 9 years on their self guided tours in Kruger.
While in Capetown we went shark diving (about a 2hr drive down the coast from Capetown actually but can't remember the name of the city) and saw a plethora of great whites with many breaches. It was a blast.
Didn't see anywhere that you could pet a lion but if you find a place that does it, please don't support it. We did the tiger petting zoo in Thailand and it was the saddest thing you can imagine. It was just a bunch of drugged tigers laying in cages. You go in, pet them while the "trainer" attempts to get the tiger to sit up and then you snap your photo.