KOA18J: Kruger + Berg + Garden Route + Cape Town

SMALL GROUP TOUR

Day 1

You will be met at Johannesburg Airport and transferred to your hotel conveniently situated near Sandton City, with its numerous lively outdoor restaurants and entertainment facilities.

Check in to your hotel, settle in and relax in your cosmopolitan surroundings, before an afternoon tour to the sprawling township of Soweto, including a visit to the original home of Nelson Mandela.

Day 2

Today you will be introduced to the beauty of the Eastern Transvaal by your Kruger Park safari guide on your scenic 5-hour transfer to the Panorama Route.

Your guide will share with you the splendour of the Drakensberg Panorama Route as you drive to Blyde River Canyon, the third largest canyon in the world.

View Mac Mac Falls, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and 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 in to your luxury guesthouse for dinner and overnight.

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 one of the Big Five – Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhino – before we reach camp!

The Kruger Park offers a choice of seven 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 each camp having a restaurant and a small shop.

Check in, settle-in and relax in your outdoor bushveld surroundings, before your first late afternoon open-top game viewing drive with a Kruger National Park ranger. After the sun sets, you can search in the beam of a powerful spotlight for the seldom-viewed nocturnal birds and animals of the park such as nightjars, owls, genet and leopard, before returning to camp to dine in the atmosphere that only the bushveld can provide!

[Note: Children <12 are not allowed on open top game drives. However they may have an additional game drive in your guide’s vehicle]

Days 4-5

We set off early as the camp gates open (05h30 to 06h00 depending on the season), to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day, as we explore the vast Kruger Plains, which offer magnificent game viewing opportunities and the highest concentration of lion in the whole of Africa.

You may discuss preferred routings and travelling times with your guide, subject to the consent of others in your group, with game drives usually lasting around 3-hours in your guide’s air-conditioned minibus. We return to camp at around 09h00 for breakfast.

The rest of the morning is spent relaxing at camp, reading or bird watching, before setting out again with your guide for a second game drive in his vehicle. With nearly 150 different species of mammals and over 100 species of reptiles in the Kruger National Park, we hope to see giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, wild dogs, cheetah and many other interesting species, in addition to the Big Five.

In the evening, enjoy the balmy weather and pristine stars of the Southern Sky and Milky Way, as you have never seen them before – including the spectacular Southern Cross.

Day 6

After a morning of game viewing in the Kruger National Park, today we travel through the mountains and farmlands of the Eastern Transvaal towards the Zulu Battlefields – a scenic drive of 5 to 7-hours, depending upon how much game viewing we do whilst travelling through the park.

We stop at the old mining town of Barberton and enjoy the hospitality of a local Transvaal hotel or guest farm for dinner and overnight. At this point bid farewell to your safari guide and meet your battlefields guide. If you stay in a country guest farm, you may not have en-suite facilities this evening, but your accommodation will be very comfortable.

Day 7

This morning your host will share with you the beauty of rural Zululand as you drive to the remote Zulu Battlefields at Isandlwana, a scenic 3-hour drive.

On the way we visit a Zulu Village to experience Zulu life and culture and stop 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 Zulu accommodation, settle in and enjoy dinner whilst absorbing some of the fascinating history of this great conflict between Britain and the proud Zulu Kingdom.

Day 8

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 honour was restored as a small contingent of 100 British soldiers (many of them sick) held off over 4,000 Zulus 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 9

This morning we drive 3-hours to the spectacular uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains, recognised as a World Heritage site for their unspoilt natural beauty and vast collection of San Bushmen rock art paintings.

On the way we stop at Spioenkop battlefield to hear key events of the Boer War of 1899, which followed shortly after the conquest of Zululand as the British Empire turned its attentions to the lucrative Transvaal goldfields. At Spioenkop the most futile and bloodiest of four battles took place in vain efforts to relieve a besieged Ladysmith.

We continue to the dramatic Drakensberg Mountains, known locally as the “Barrier of Spears” which runs right down Southern Africa from the Great Rift Valley. Time permitting, we visit Didima Bushman Rock Art Centre before checking in to our mountain resort.

Recommended Reading:
Boer War – Thomas Pakenham

Days 10 -11

The Drakensberg Mountains offer 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, plus a walk to a San Bushmen painting.

The mountains also offer an outstanding location for bird watching – particularly raptors, but also sunbirds, waxbills and numerous other species found in the grasslands, riverine scrub and natural forests.

Your resort has a swimming pool and caters for the following activities:

• Golf (9-holes)
• Fly Fishing
• Horse Riding
• Tennis on floodlit courts
• Lawn Bowls
• Badminton
• Mountain Biking
• Table Tennis
• Darts and Pool

Each evening enjoy socialising with other guests over dinner.

Day 12

Transfer to Durban Airport (3-hours) for your 1.5-hour flight to Port Elizabeth.

You will be met at Port Elizabeth Airport by your Garden Route guide, who will introduce you to the beauty of the Garden Route on your 3-hour transfer to Knysna.

We cross the dramatic Storm’s River Gorge and view the giant yellowwoods of the Tsitsikamma Forest. We also visit Plettenberg Bay, South Africa’s playground for the rich and famous. Schools of dolphins are regularly seen here in the warm Indian Ocean and whales may be seen in season (July to November).

Check in to your luxury hotel in Knysna and settle in to your beautiful surroundings.

Day 13

This morning we visit Featherbed Nature Reserve, situated on the Western Head – one of two magnificent sandstone cliffs guarding the entrance to the vast Knysna lagoon.

This spectacular nature reserve is only accessible by ferry, followed by a short trailer ride to the top of the reserve, which offers panoramic views. Most visitors choose to return on foot via a 1-mile Guided Nature Walk through natural coastal forest onto the cliffs, through caves and along a scenic coastal path. A seafood buffet lunch is then served under the old Milkwood trees.

The remainder of the afternoon and evening are free to explore Knysna on foot. This lively town is famous for its oysters, which are grown in the lagoon. It also offers good shopping opportunities and many interesting craft shops in the town.

Day 14

Today we follow the spectacular coastal route from Knysna via the Goukamma Nature Reserve and Sedgefield Lakes to Wilderness.

We continue through the Outeniqua Pass into the arid Little Karoo to Oudtshoorn, where we visit the world-renowned Cango Caves – a vast series of underground halls and caverns formed over 20 million years ago in the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains. The caves, which extend for over 3 miles, contain spectacular stalagmites and stalactites and offer relatively easy access.

Check in to your luxury guesthouse for overnight and dinner.

Day 15

We visit an Ostrich Farm this morning, to view these huge flightless birds in their natural surroundings.

Your guide will then introduce you to the dramatic and contrasting beauty of South Africa on your scenic 5-hour drive to Cape Town via the spectacular Route 62. During our journey we enjoy wine tasting at two Wine Estates, one renowned for its port and the other for its wine.

On arrival in Cape Town, check in to your luxury hotel conveniently situated near the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, settle in and relax in magnificent surroundings.

Day 16

Today is free for independent sightseeing in Cape Town.

You will be given a day pass for the convenient red Hop-On Hop-Off Bus, which stops at all Cape Town’s key sights and beaches. Start by ascending Table Mountain by cable car to enjoy one of the world’s most famous views.

Continue to Camps Bay beach and then explore the shops and many other attractions of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, which is also the centre of Cape Town’s nightlife.

Day 17

This morning your guide will collect you for a full day tour to Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.

We start with a short boat trip from Hout Bay to view Cape Fur seals at Seal Island. We continue via spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive to Cape Point where we hope to see ostrich, baboons and perhaps even dolphins.

On the return journey we pass through naval Simons Town and stop to see its resident penguin colony at Boulders Beach, before returning to Cape Town.

Day 18

Enjoy a full day tour to the Stellenbosch Winelands today, travelling through the scenic Franschhoek Valley where a handful of French Huguenot refugees started South Africa’s now famous wine industry.

Visit the historic town of Stellenbosch and several Wine Estates – sampling as you go! Enjoy a picnic lunch at a famous wine estate, before visiting a cheetah breeding project on the way home.

Day 19

Transfer to Cape Town Airport for your flight home.