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Stunning sights, Big Five game safaris, the Garden Route, the Cape Winelands and beautiful Cape Town.
Discover extraordinary, surprising, incredibly varied and totally absorbing South Africa on this tremendous value, hugely exciting escorted tour. Encounter the traditions and cultures of an ancient people before discovering some truly awe-inspiring scenery en route to the famous Kruger National Park to search for ‘Big Five’ game. Visit tiny Swaziland and the Zulu War battlegrounds, before flying to friendly Port Elizabeth and the exquisite ‘Garden Route’. The verdant Winelands and the glorious Cape complete an unforgettable holiday.
Highlights
- Experience the colourful traditions of the Lesedi Cultural Village
- Visit the Apartheid Museum
- Discover stunning scenery on the panoramic route including famous God’s Window
- Enjoy a full day’s Game Drive in the Kruger National Park
- Visit tiny Swaziland
- Learn about the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift
- Fly from Johannesburg to ‘Friendly City’ Port Elizabeth
- Journey on the beautiful Garden Route to Knysna
- See the extraordinary Cango Caves and visit an Ostrich Farm
- Stay in the heart of the scenic Winelands
- Enjoy a wine-tasting tour
- Journey through the Cape to enjoy three days in Cape Town
Inclusions
- 14 nights’ carefully chosen bed and breakfast accommodation, plus two nights on the aircraft
- Three lunches and dinner on four nights
- Outbound flight to Johannesburg, an internal flight between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, and returning from Cape Town via Johannesburg
- Coach travel and transfers throughout
- Fully escorted by a friendly, experienced tour manager
Day 1
Fly south to Johannesburg.
Day 2
Fly to Johannesburg and upon arrival meet your tour manager and transfer to the Lesedi Cultural Village, for a two-night stay in traditional surroundings – with rooms with modern conveniences – in the heart of the World Heritage Site of the Cradle of Humankind. Enjoy dinner and your first night under the African sky.
This evening, enjoy the hospitality of your Lesedi hosts, Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi, Basotho and Ndebele tribes-people who will introduce their cultures, show you their homes and demonstrate traditional music and dancing.
Day 3
The 28-acre Lilliesleaf farmstead served as the headquarters of the African National Congress and Umkhonto we Sizwe (the ‘Spear of the Nation’) until a security police raid in 1963, which led to the trial and imprisonment of the organisations’ leaders, including Nelson Mandela. Visits to the awardwinning site and Johannesburg’s moving Apartheid Museum will provide the historical background to today’s democratic South Africa.
Return to Lesedi for a second evening.
Day 4
Following an early breakfast, bid farewell to Lesedi and journey into Mpumalanga, bordered by the vast Kruger National Park. Upon arrival, enjoy the remainder of the day at leisure.
Day 5
Make sure you take your camera as you head out for a scenic day’s drive on the famous Panorama Route. with sweeping views over the Blyde River Canyon!
Day 6
Begin the day early and drive to Africa’s oldest wildlife conservation area to enjoy a full-day game drive. With luck you might encounter impala, wildebeest, giraffe and zebra, and the Big Five of lion, rhino, elephant, leopard and buffalo.
Day 7
Today you’ll cross the border into the tiny Kingdom of Eswatini. A British Protectorate until 1968, and still mixing a colonial feel with its traditional heritage, the Kingdom offers a warm welcome to visitors. You’ll stop at curio shops and cultural centres, before returning to South Africa and heading to KwaZulu-Natal and your next hotel.
Day 8
Join a specialist battlefields guide who will introduce you to the tumultuous history of the Zulu Wars, and to the battlefields of Isandlwana and, most famously, Rorke’s Drift, the latter immortalised in the 1964 movie Zulu. A fascinating day includes lunch, before you head to the hotel in time for dinner.
Day 9
An early start this morning sees you return to Johannesburg airport and a flight south to bustling, friendly Port Elizabeth’. Upon arrival, meet your tour manager for the next few days and transfer to your overnight hotel. A hugely popular beach-resort, modern ‘P E’ still offers glimpses of Victorian grandeur, with plenty of options should you wish to dine out this evening.
Day 10
Begin your journey along the famously scenic Garden Route to Knysna, pausing at the Storms River Bridge, overlooking the verdant Tsitsikamma forest, and perhaps dipping your toes in the Indian Ocean at colourful Plettenberg Bay. Knynsa, your base for the next two nights, brims with seaside character and charm. Take an optional cruise across the lagoon to the Featherbed Nature Reserve, perhaps drive to Western Head for spectacular views and enjoy dinner at a wide choice of restaurants.
Day 11
This morning, visit the world-renowned Cango Caves, with their stalactites and stalagmites, formed over millions of years. You’ll then head to Oudtshoorn, the ‘Ostrich Capital of the World’, in the heart of the ‘Little Karoo’ plain. The world’s strangest, largest and often most valuable bird has been farmed here for 130 years, first for its plumage and more recently for its high-protein, low-cholesterol meat. Enjoy a taste at an included lunch, after which you’ll return to Knysna for a second evening.
Day 12
Bid farewell to Knysna and head along the Garden Route to the Atlantic coast town of Hermanus, a famed whalewatching centre from July to November. Pause at Stony Point for a glimpse of its penguin colony, before heading into the beautiful, verdant Cape Winelands region, for an overnight stay in a hotel overlooking the Stellenbosch mountains.
Day 13
Enjoy today’s tour of rolling vineyard-covered hills and valleys dotted with villages built in ‘Cape Dutch’, Edwardian and Art-Deco styles. After exploring Stellenbosch, you’ll call at Franschhoek, the culinary capital of the Western Cape, and scenic Paarl, at the foot of a towering granite outcrop.
During the tour, enjoy a tasting and the opportunity to purchase some wines, before you make the unforgettable journey across the Western Cape to Cape Town, one of the world’s most beautifully located cities, for a last three-night stay. Enjoy a first evening, perhaps enjoying the delights of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, with its complex of shops, theatres, bars and restaurants.
Day 14
On a last touring day, weather permitting, take the Chapman’s Peak Drive, one of the world’s most thrilling coastal roads, into the Cape Point Peninsula. See treacherous Cape Point, in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Boulders Beach, with its colony of Jackass penguins, and after a lunch stop in Simon’s Town, overlooking False Bay, make the journey back into Cape Town and a second evening.
Day 15
Today is free to rest and relax and enjoy the city, perhaps wandering through the historic Bo-Kaap district of Dutch colonial houses, strolling through the horticultural paradise of The Company’s Gardens, catching a catamaran to infamous Robben Island, former ‘home’ to Nelson Mandela, or making an unforgettable ascent of Table Mountain, taking in the panorama from a rotating cable car as it climbs to the summit, with its stupendous views of the city and beyond.
Enjoy a last evening in Cape Town.
Day 16
Early this morning, you'll transfer to the airport to check in for your flight to Victoria Falls Airport. You'll arrive at your hotel before lunch, leaving you plenty of time to begin discovering this iconic destination.
Days 17-18
Spend three glorious days exploring, and enjoying the facilities at your hotel. Enjoy your first sight of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World – Victoria Falls – on an included tour. Take a lazy sunset cruise along the languid Zambezi, and sip a cocktail on deck as the light fades, the birds come home to roost and the wildlife on the river (with luck, you’ll see hippos and crocodiles) settles down.
Day 19
Today you'll fly back to Johannesburg from Livingstone, and connect to your overnight flight home.
Day 21
You'll arrive home, today, at the end of a wonderful South African holiday.
