Kruger National Park Safari Holidays Kruger Park Safari South Africa

Kruger Park + Zulu Battlefields + Drakensberg
KPS10J

10 NIGHTS
FROM $4,222
International flights quoted separately
This privately guided tour combines the beautiful Panorama Route, the fascinating wildlife of the Kruger National Park and a tour of the Zulu Battlefields at Isandlwana & Rorkes Drift, with an expert battlefields guide. Continue to Ladysmith & the Boer War graves atop Spionkop, before relaxing in the spectacular Drakensberg Mountains. Less 10% for 4+ pax.
HIGHLIGHTS
Tour Zulu Battlefields Kruger National Park South Africa Isandlwana Rorkes Drift Drakensberg Battlefield Tour
• Blyde River Canyon • Kruger Park • Game Drives • Night Drive
• Photography • Zululand • Isandlwana • Rorkes Drift
• Drakensberg • Spioenkop
Day 1
You will be met at Johannesburg Airport by your Kruger National Park host, who will introduce you to the beauty of South Africa on your 4-hour drive through the farmlands of the Eastern Transvaal to Mpumalanga and the scenic Panorama Route.
  
Check into your hotel in the beautiful Lowveld.
Day 2
This morning your guide will share with you the splendour of the Drakensberg Panorama Route as you drive through the green Blyde River Canyon, the third largest canyon in the world. View Mac Mac Falls and Bourke’s Luck Potholes, and enjoy the panoramic views from God’s Window. If time permits, we also make a brief stop at the historic mining village of Pilgrim’s Rest.
  
Continue to Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre where you have the unique opportunity of viewing wild lion, leopard, cheetah, eagles and vultures at close quarters. Animals found injured, poisoned or orphaned are given a second chance and released back into the wilds.
 
Check into your lodge in this region famous for its beauty and wildlife.
Day 3
Today we enter the world famous Kruger National Park. Game viewing opportunities should present themselves almost immediately in this vast 2-million hectare game sanctuary the size of Wales. Hopefully we will see several species of antelope, zebra, wildebeest and maybe even giraffe before we reach your rest camp.
  
The Kruger National Park has seven rest camps, each situated in a different section of the park with its own unique flora and fauna - Skukuza, Letaba, Olifants, Lower Sabie, Pretoriuskop, Satara and Berg-en-Dal. Accommodation is in simple but comfortable thatched game park bungalows, with your guide having an allowance to purchase breakfast and dinner at the camp restaurant. After checking in, settle in and relax in the atmosphere that only the African bushveld can provide!
Day 4
Today is devoted to game viewing in the Kruger National Park. As you will have the services of a private driver/guide, you will have the flexibility of discussing preferred routings and travelling times with him each day. However we recommend setting off early each morning as the camp gates open (05h30 to 06h00 depending on the season), to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day.
   
Explore the famous Kruger National Park, which offer magnificent game viewing opportunities and the highest concentration of lion in the whole of Africa. Hope to see several of the Big Five today - Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhino - as well as many other species before returning to camp for breakfast, or buy provisions at camp and cook breakfast at a picnic spot.
 
The rest of the morning is free to relax by the camp swimming pool and enjoy bird watching, before setting out again at the time of your choice (usually the late afternoon) for another game drive. One game drive per day will be in an open-top game viewing vehicle operated by the Kruger National Park (normally late afternoon/evening), with all other game drives taken with your host in his air-conditioned vehicle, as this is more comfortable in the heat of the day. With nearly 150 different species of mammals and over 100 species of reptiles in the Kruger National Park, you can hope to see cheetah, giraffe, hippo, kudu, crocodiles, sable antelope, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, wild dogs and many other interesting animals. With over 500 different bird species including eagles, kingfishers, vultures and storks, outstanding bird watching is also guaranteed.
  
After a beautiful African sunset, enjoy the balmy evening and pristine stars of the Milky Way as you have never seen them before – as well as the spectacular Southern Cross.
  
Children < 12 are not allowed on open top game drives, but may enjoy unlimited game drives in your host’s vehicle
Day 5
Enjoy some final early morning game viewing in the Kruger National Park before travelling through the mountains and farmlands of the Eastern Transvaal towards the Zulu Battlefields – a scenic drive of around 5-hour, depending upon how much game viewing you do whilst travelling through the park.
 
Check into your local Transvaal hotel or guest farm for dinner and overnight. Also bid farewell to your Kruger National Park guide, who will transfer you into the care of your Zulu Battlefields guide.
Day 6
Today we complete our 3-hour drive through the farmlands of the Transvaal to the the remote battlefields at Isandlwana in rural Zululand.
 
Enjoy dinner at your lodge, whilst absorbing some of the fascinating history of this great conflict between Britain and the proud Zulu Kingdom.
Day 7
This morning we visit the poignant battlefield at Isandlwana, where in 1879 the mighty British army suffered the greatest defeat in its history following its controversial invasion of Zululand. See for yourself the events portrayed so passionately in the film Zulu Dawn, as the regiment was wiped out almost to a man by 25,000 Zulu warriors.
 
We continue to Fugitives Drift where a handful of survivors fought valiantly to save the Queen's colours and Rorkes Drift where the following morning a small contingent of 100 British soldiers (many of them sick) held off over 4,000 Zulu warriors earning no fewer than 11 Victoria Crosses – unforgettably brought to life by Michael Caine in the film Zulu.
 
Recommended Reading:
Brave Men’s Blood – Ian Knight
Day 8
Today we travel 3-hours to the spectacular uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains, recognised as a World Heritage site for its vast collection of San Bushmen rock art paintings.
   
Along the way, there is time for either a visit to the battlefield at Blood River - where the Boers won a decisive victory over the Zulus - or visits to some Boer War sites as we travel through Dundee and Ladysmith, which was beseiged during the Boer War of 1899 and has a small museum. This war followed shortly after the conquest of Zululand, as the British Empire turned its attentions to the lucrative Transvaal goldfields. Time permitting, we also making a detour to Spioenkop where the most futile and bloodiest of four battles took place in efforts to relieve Ladysmith.
  
Known locally as the Barrier of Spears the dramatic Drakensberg Mountains form the backbone of Southern Africa, running all the way down from the Great Rift Valley. If staying in the Central Drakensberg, we make a short stop at Didima Bushman rock art interpretative centre, before checking into your mountain resort in this area of unspoilt natural beauty.
  
Recommended Reading:
Boer War – Thomas Pakenham
Days 9 To 10
At leisure to relax in the Drakensberg Mountains and enjoy the facilities of your resort, with superlative scenery and fresh mountain air making it ideal for walking holidays at any level of fitness. Your hotel will organise guided walks each day – typically one short walk and one long walk, or a walk to a San Bushmen painting.
  
The mountains also offer an outstanding location for bird watching – particularly raptors, but also sunbirds, waxbills and the numerous other species found in the grasslands, riverine scrub and natural forests.
  
Your hotel has a swimming pool and offers many activities in or near the resort including golf, horse riding in the mountains, fly fishing for trout, tennis, lawn bowls, badminton, mountain biking, table tennis, darts and pool.
Day 11
Transfer 3.5-hours through the Free State farmlands to Johannesburg Airport for your flight home.