OPH7D: Golf Safari: Durban + Hluhluwe

Day 1

Arrive Durban Airport and meet your golf safari host, who will transfer you to your luxury hotel on the warm South Coast of KwaZulu Natal, with its reliably good golfing weather all year round.

Check in and relax in your warm sub-tropical surroundings overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Day 2

Your Kwa Zulu Natal golf holiday starts today as your host transfers you to play at your choice of:

• Southbroom Country Club – a beautiful championship course set alongside the Indian Ocean, with magnificent sea views from nearly every hole; or

• Margate Country Club – a sociable club where there is the opportunity to “meet the locals” as well as enjoying quality golf. After play, socialise with fellow golfers

Your host will arrange mid-morning tee times wherever possible, with shared cart. He will also arrange your return hotel transfers.

After play enjoy the 19th hole, a fine South African golfing tradition and then enjoy the varied cuisine of the region.

NON-GOLFERS:
Enjoy a luxury Spa Treatment at your hotel and then relax on the sweeping golden beach.

Day 3

Your golfing holidays in Kwa Zulu Natal continues today, as golfers transfer to play your choice of:

• Wild Coast Country Club – a championship course with scenic ocean views, set amongst a coastal forest. The 18th hole crosses a river within sight of the clubhouse, so expect the bell to ring if you fail to make the green; or
• Umdoni Park – a social golf club in the friendly seaside village of Pennington

After play visit the Wild Coast Casino where there is time for some gambling before returning to your hotel.

NON-GOLFERS:
Visit to Wild Coast Sun with casino, entertainment centre and beach

Day 4

Your golf holiday continues today as golfers transfer to play your choice of:

• Selborne Park Golf Estate – a magnificent championship course set on an exclusive golf estate, within sound of the Indian Ocean; or
• One of the other courses you have not yet played

NON-GOLFERS:
July to November: Ocean Safari to search for dolphins and whales (seasonal)
Rest of year: Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve

Day 5

Golfers transfer to play your choice of:

• San Lameer Country Club – a challenging championship course situated in a conservation area, with many water hazards; or
• One of the other courses you have not yet played

NON-GOLFERS:
Local Arts & Crafts shopping excursion

Day 6

This morning your host will share with you the beauty of rural Zululand as you transfer to the famous Hluhluwe iMfolozi National Park, a scenic 5-hour drive.

On the way we stop at an authentically reconstructed Zulu Village to experience Zulu life and culture and at a self-help project to give you the opportunity of supporting the local community by purchasing one of their handmade products.

Check in to your luxury game lodge situated just outside the park, relax and settle in to your African bushveld surroundings. Then enjoy your first game drive in an open-top game-viewing vehicle into the vast Hluhluwe iMfolozi National Park, hosted by a lodge ranger. We hope to see one or more of the Big 5, before relaxing with drinks around the campfire in the Boma and enjoying dinner, which is likely to include several interesting game dishes.

Day 7

Up early today for a 05h30 game drive in an open-top vehicle into the great Hluhluwe iMfolozi National Park, hosted by your lodge ranger. This is one of South Africa’s most beautiful game parks and home to all the Big Five and the subcontinent’s largest population of endangered white and black rhino. We expect to see lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant, giraffe and many other interesting species.

Return to the lodge for a full breakfast at approx 09h30. The remainder of the morning is free to relax at the lodge or enjoy a guided walk on the lodge property with a ranger to view the smaller trees, insects and flora of the region. In the afternoon return to Hluhluwe iMfolozi for a full afternoon of game viewing with your host in his vehicle.

Whilst the sun sets over the park, enjoy sundowners in the scenic hills and in the evening dine in the atmosphere that only the African bushveld can provide!

Day 8

Return transfer to Durban Airport.

Time permitting, enjoy a boat ride on the Lake St Lucia estuary to see hippos and crocodiles. Part of the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, this area has been declared a World Heritage Site because of its importance to marine conservation. With over 600 different bird species in the region, including flamingos and pelicans, it also offers one of the greatest bird watching experiences in the world.