KPK12J: Kruger Park + Swaziland + Beach

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]

Days 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 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 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).

Days 4 & 5

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]

Day 6

Today we travel southwards through the park to the small mountain kingdom of Swaziland – a scenic 4 to 5-hour drive, depending upon what game viewing we do on the way.

We travel through mountains and gorges to the capital town of Mbabane, where we stop at a candle or glass factory to watch craftsmen at work and visit the marketplace to bargain!

Continue to Mkhaya Game Reserve, the Swazi kingdom’s refuge for endangered species such as rhino – and an excellent opportunity to see big game up close. This game reserve lacks commercialism and is a model for sensitive development, being entirely managed by the local Swazi community. Check in to your hotel and enjoy warm Swazi hospitality, before relaxing by the swimming pool in beautiful mountainous surroundings.

Day 7

After an early morning game drive, we continue southwards and re-enter South Africa as we complete our journey to the Hluhluwe iMfolozi National Park in northern Zululand.

Check in to your luxury game lodge near Hluhluwe, settle in and relax before enjoying a late afternoon game drive in an open-top vehicle hosted by your lodge ranger into the vast Hluhluwe iMfolozi National Park.

Later enjoy drinks around the campfire in the Boma before your mouth-watering dinner, which is likely to include several interesting game dishes.

Day 8

Up early for another dawn game drive in an open-top vehicle into the Hluhluwe iMfolozi National Park with your lodge ranger. This is one of South Africa’s most beautiful game parks and home to all the Big Five. It is also home to the subcontinent’s largest population of endangered white and black rhino. We hope to see lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant, giraffe and many other interesting species, before returning to the lodge for breakfast.

The remainder of the morning is free to relax by the lodge swimming pool, before returning to Hluhluwe iMfolozi for a full afternoon of game viewing with your host. 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 9

Today we reluctantly leave Hluhluwe iMfolozi and enjoy a boat ride on Lake St Lucia estuary, part of the Greater St Lucia Wetlands and a World Heritage Site, to see hippos and crocodiles.

Time permitting, we visit an authentically reconstructed 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.

Continue southwards to the seaside resort of Ballito, 40-minutes north of Durban. Once you are settled in, your host will leave you to enjoy the many pleasures of Ballito.

Days 10 to 12

KwaZulu Natal is South Africa’s favorite beach holiday destination, with its warm sweeping beaches and reliably good holiday weather all year round.

Ballito is a popular resort, with excellent restaurants and interesting craft shops. Everything you need for a sunshine beach holiday is within walking distance, including two magnificent Indian Ocean beaches linked by a wooden boardwalk. Restaurants are of an extremely high standard and beer and wine is relatively inexpensive.

Your hotel is splendidly situated right on the beach, with its own swimming pool.

Water sports are available as well as golf, horse riding, scuba diving and deep-sea fishing.

The casinos and nightlife of Durban are within easy reach, as well as several outstanding shopping malls. All you need for a wonderful beach holiday!

On one day, enjoy an included excursion to uShaka - South Africa’s newest and most exciting aquarium and entertainment complex situated in the old harbour area, which is being extensively re-developed. Here you have the opportunity of viewing the large indigenous sharks of the Indian Ocean and a wide variety of other sea creatures in a world-class aquarium setting. You also have the opportunity of interacting with dolphins, seals and penguins and the Water World offers fun for all ages. Interesting shops, numerous restaurants and a magnificent private beach with spectacular sweeping views will add more pleasure to your day.

Day 13

Enjoy some time on the beach, before your return transfer to Durban Airport.