|
KPI10J: Kruger Park +
Drakensberg
Day 1
Arrive Johannesburg Airport and meet your
Kruger Park safari host, who will introduce you to the
beauty of the Eastern Transvaal on your scenic 3-hour
drive to Sabie and Hazyview. Check in to your luxury
guesthouse for dinner and overnight.
[Or 45-minute transfer from Mpumalanga Airport]
Day 2
 This morning your host will share with you the
splendour of the Drakensberg Panorama Route as
you drive through Blyde River Canyon, the third
largest canyon in the world.
View Mac Mac Falls, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and
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 to Wales. Hopefully we will see
several species of antelope, zebra, wildebeest and maybe
even giraffe 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 enjoying dinner (exact camp
subject to availability at time of booking).
Day 4
As you will have the services of a private
driver/guide throughout your safari, 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 vast Kruger Plains, which offer
magnificent game viewing opportunities and the highest
concentration of lion in the whole of Africa. Hopefully
we will see at least one of the Big Five today -
Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard
and Rhino, before returning to camp at around
09h00 for breakfast.
 The rest of the morning can be spent relaxing at
camp, reading or 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 Park (either
early morning, late afternoon or evening), with all
other game drives taken with your host in an
air-conditioned minibus, 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 Park, we hope to
see giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, waterbuck, warthogs,
baboons, wild dogs and many other interesting animals.
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.
[Note: Children <12 are not allowed on open top
game drives. However they may enjoy unlimited game
drives in your host’s vehicle]
Days 5 and 6
Today we transfer to your second camp, to give you
the opportunity of exploring a different eco-system
within the Kruger Park. We can either make a late start,
with breakfast before we leave, or buy food and head out
as the camp gates open to cook breakfast at a picnic
spot such as Tshokwane.
 We hope to see more big game species such as hippos,
crocodiles, rhino, buffalo, cheetah and elephant – and
if we have not yet found any lion, today we hope for
success!
An outstanding bird watching holiday is also
guaranteed, as we view water birds such as fish eagles
and kingfishers, and larger birds such as eagles,
vultures and storks.
Enjoy spectacular view sites over rivers, dams and
dry riverbeds and hopefully a beautiful African sunset,
as we head back to camp.
Then relax and enjoy the atmosphere that only the
African bushveld can provide!
Day 7
Today we reluctantly leave the Kruger Park and
travel through the mountains and farmlands of the
Eastern Transvaal towards the Drakensberg
Mountains – a scenic drive of between 5 and 7-hours,
depending upon what game viewing we do on the way.
We stop at the old mining town of Barberton
and enjoy the hospitality of a local hotel or guest farm
for dinner and overnight. 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 8
 Today we complete our drive to the spectacular
uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains, recognised as a
World Heritage site for their unspoilt natural beauty
and vast collection of San Bushmen rock paintings.
Known locally as the Barrier of Spears, this
dramatic mountain range runs right down Southern Africa
from the Great Rift Valley. Visit the Didima Rock Art
Centre before checking in to your luxury mountain
resort in the Champagne Valley.
Days 9 and 10
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.
They also offer an outstanding location for bird
watching holidays – particularly raptors, but also
sunbirds, waxbills and the numerous other species found
in the grasslands, riverine scrub and natural forests.
Your resort has a swimming pool and luxury spa. It
also caters for the following activities:
Each evening enjoy socialising with other guests over
dinner.
Day 11
Return transfer to Johannesburg Airport.
|
