Optional Activities

KALAHARI

• Night Drives – in an open-top game vehicle accompanied by a park ranger, to search in the beam of our powerful spotlight for the seldom-viewed nocturnal birds and animals of the park such as nightjars, owls, genet and leopard (3-hours)

• Walking Trails – with Bushman tracker and armed ranger to view the trees and smaller animals, reptiles and insects of the park (3-hours - minimum age 12 years)

• Photography – enjoy the huge challenge of wildlife photography of the outstanding wildlife. Vehicle mounts & beanbags on request

• Bird Watching – with over 260 different species, enjoy an outstanding bird watching holiday in the Kalahari, with expert guide

• Botany – learn more about the unique flora of the Kalahari, with expert guide

• 4x4 Trail – South Africa has its most rugged 4 x 4 trails in the Kalahari Desert. Test your driving skills in the company of your guide, using his off road vehicle (half day)

• Overnight 4 x 4 Wilderness Trail – spend 3 days driving a 4 x 4 off-road vehicle in the remote Kalahari, in convoy with your guide. Nights will be spent in basic tented wilderness camps, with sleeping bags (2-nights)

AUGRABIES FALLS

• Sunset cruise – on the Orange River

• Canoeing – through grade 3 and 4 rapids on the Orange River, with river guide (half day)

• Wine Tasting – tour of large wine co-operative, including cellar tour and tasting (half day)

• Riemvasmaak Canyon – full day visit to this little Richtersveld, born of dramatic volcanic activity millions of years ago. Experience beauty of spiritual proportions, as the sun rises and sets on the red canyon walls, whilst enjoying the hot springs

• Wild Flowers of Namaqualand – 2-day excursion to Springbok, to view the magnificent Namaqualand wild flowers that carpet the ground in purple, orange, yellow and white blooms for hundreds and hundreds of miles after the first rains. Over 600 indigenous flowering species. Season runs from mid-August to mid-October, although exact flowering times for this unique natural phenomenon cannot be guaranteed (1-night)

• Fish River Canyon – overnight excursion to view this mighty canyon, the second largest in the world (2-nights)

• Horse Riding – in the late afternoon sunset at Khamkirri (1-hour)

• Abseiling – down the vertical granite cliffs of the Augrabies gorge, with specialist guide. No experience necessary (2-hours)

• White Water Rafting – in the Augrabies Gorge below the falls (grade 3 and 4) (half day)

• Overnight Canoe Safari – spend 3 days canoeing and camping down the Orange River, with river guide. Cover approx.12 miles a day, through grade 3 and grade 4 rapids. Overnight in basic wilderness camps, with sleeping bags. Participants should be good swimmers and reasonably fit. Minimum age 12 years (2-nights)

KIMBERLEY

• Big Hole & Open Mine Museum – visit the site of the first diamond rush and learn more about the fascinating history of Kimberley. Includes Village Museum, historic tram ride and visit to jeweller to see diamonds cut and polished (half day)

• Diamond Mine – guided underground tour of an operational De Beer’s diamond mine to see how diamonds are treated and recovered (half day)

• Alluvial Diamond Diggings – tour of 130-year old hand & machine diggings along the Vaal River (half day)

• Boer War Battlefields – visit the battlefields and museums of the siege of Kimberley, Magersfontein, Modder River and Paardeberg, with expert guide (full day)

• San Bushmen Rock Art Centre – view collection of over 400 ancient Bushmen etchings (petroglyphs) and painting at Wildebeest Kuil rock art site (half day)

• Bushman Village – learn more about the unique customs of the San Bushmen people

• William Humphrey Art Gallery – collection of traditional and contemporary South African graphics, sculptures and paintings. One of South Africa’s most important art galleries

• Rhodes Boardroom – artefacts belonging to Cecil John Rhodes and the early headquarters of the De Beers Mining Company

• Transport Museum – steam train memorabilia from the days when Kimberley was an important junction between Cape Town and the Transvaal goldfields

• Astronomy – enjoy unsurpassed views of the Southern Sky through a telescope

• Ghost Trail – visit some of the 126 haunted sites in Kimberley at night

• Golf – 18 holes, with shared cart

• Golf club hire

• Casino

• Cricket, Rugby & Football matches – subject to fixtures