You arrive in the golden city of Johannesburg in the early morning, where your guide welcomes and transfers you to your first accommodation. Your hotel is located in Johannesburg's prime shopping and entertainment area. After the long flight perhaps time to refresh and just relax in a comfy easy chair beside the inviting pool, while the kids can run off their boundless energy in the safe, fenced pool area.
In the afternoon your guide will take you on a tour of Soweto, where the original house of Nelson Mandela as well as the Hector Pietersen Museum and Memorial will be visited. The latter gives an insight into the violent student uprisings in 1976. An optional excursion can be booked to "Gold Reef City”, an impressive theme park in the style of Johannesburg at the turn of the century. This fun fair offers many child attractions such as the Gold-Reef-City-Train running around the park, a number of fun rides, rollercoasters as well as an old gold mine and museum. (Closed Monday and Tuesdays outside of SA school holidays)
Today we travel south to the province of KwaZulu-Natal and it’s Drakensberg mountains, known by the Zulu people as “uKhahlamba“, the “Barrier of Spears”. The 4-hour drive takes you through the open savannah of the “Highveld“, till you reach the mountains at the Spioenkop dam. You will then descend into the green valleys of KwaZulu-Natal, arriving at a scenic family resort in the Central Drakensberg region around lunchtime. Besides the scenic beauty, enjoy the many optional activities offered here - particularly suitable to children - such as the pools, playgrounds, plenty of hikes (optionally guided), farm animals for cuddling, horse rides, fishing, or swimming in mountain streams. An on-site shop and restaurant further enable you to flexibly structure your meals, as your accommodation is also equipped with a kitchenette and barbeque.
Also very impressive is the Birds of Prey show at the neighbouring Falcon Ridge farm. You and your children will be amazed as you experience the habits and hunting practices of various birds of prey, such as owls, falcons, large eagles, even vultures. Amazing to see these birds dive from great height to snatch a small piece of meat off the stick of their trainer, or to have an owl fly by in front of you without you hearing a thing!
After breakfast you continue your tour travelling to the subtropical, multicultural beach resort and harbour city of Durban on the warm Indian Ocean. En route you visit the impressive Howick Falls, and then also stop for a Zulu cultural experience illustrating dances and their traditional lifestyle. And already late that same afternoon you could enjoy your first walk along the beach promenade on arrival in Durban.
Today we experience the magnificent marine highlights of uShaka Marine World, which offers an impressive Aquarium in the style of an old sunken ship, an entertaining Dolphinarium as well as a seal show. An optional extra is to visit Wet and Wild, a children’s water world paradise, with many slides, pools, and even a lazy river where your little ones can drift around the park on tubes, and all this right next to the beach! You can watch an enthralling dolphin show, enjoy the cute penguins, or just enjoy the beach. Optionally you can also cage dive in the shark tank or watch instructors teach your children snorkelling amongst all the tropical fish! You can even arrange an individual dolphin encounter with photographs.
The rest of the day is at leisure. You could visit the colourful African market and Indian bazaar with their oriental aromas and strange foods and goods. Admire the silks, linen, ceramics, curios, beadwork, leather goods, curries, fish and other specialities, as well as “Muthi“, the Zulu medicine man’s potions made from various plants, roots, and animals such as snakes and monkeys. Then take a break in the Yacht Mole Restaurant & Pub overlooking the impressive harbour basin observing ships from all over the world. A harbour cruise is also possible.
Transfer to the airport after breakfast, where your tour guide says his farewells. It’s a short 1 ½ hour flight to Port Elizabeth (not included in your tour cost), from where you will be transferred by way of a short 2-hour drive from the airport to your next destination, the malaria free Kariega Game Reserve. Already that afternoon you go out on your first Big 5 safari drive. You and your children will be amazed by this unique experience! The “Big 5” (buffalo, leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and leopard), are so named as in days gone by they were the most dangerous animals to hunt
Flight are not included. Please speak to your agent.
A further exhilarating day in the game reserve with safaris, maybe also a boat ride, during which the many varieties of wild African animals can be observed, expertly commentated on by your knowledgeable game ranger. Much to see and learn for your children, then tired and early to bed, so the adults can enjoy an evening together. Be amazed at the vastness of the star studded southern sky, or simply enjoy a special bottle of wine together. Your new tour guide also arrives tonight, and will be with you until Cape Town.
You continue via Port Elizabeth to the Tsitsikamma National Park and beyond, along the famous Garden Route of the Western Cape. Indigenous forests, a scenic coastline of rivers and lagoons and quaint towns and villages in-between. See the “Big Tree”, a mighty 800 year old yellow wood giant, gaze down the depth of the Storms River road bridge, and thereafter head to the mouth to take a short hike across the suspension bridge over the mouth. Thereafter you continue via beautiful Plettenberg Bay to Knysna, the scenic town on its magnificent lagoon, which will be your home for the next three nights.
This morning you can enjoy a boat cruise across the lagoon to the Featherbed Nature reserve on the western “head”, one of two impressive rock/cliff formations on either side of the mouth of the Knysna lagoon to the sea. On arrival, a tractor-powered “train” pulls you up the mountain, from where one enjoys a magnificent ocean-side and inland panorama. From here it is a scenic hike back down the mountain and along the lagoon to a shady outdoor restaurant under Milkwood trees, where your lunch is included. Thereafter it is back on the boat for a further scenic ride back to the Knysna Waterfront with its quaint shops, café’s and pubs. The rest of the afternoon is at leisure, we suggest a nice ramble through the many markets and malls, all within easy reach of your hotel.
An entire day to relax and rest, but also alternatively one with so much “child adventure” potential. Suit yourself! Bird Eden and Monkeyland are well worth a visit. There are also beautiful forests to explore. Maybe book on an ocean cruise for the day? Your tour guide will assist you to arrange the day.
After breakfast we continue along the scenic Garden Route via the Lakes District and Wilderness, we make a short stop at the railway museum in George, with its impressive, old locomotives! Continue over the Outeniqua pass and mountains to the little Karoo, a semi desert on the other side of the mountains, home of the ostrich industry and also famous for the Cango Caves. Enjoy a guided tour of these caves with their many stalactites and stalagmites, and then relax the rest of the afternoon at leisure.
After breakfast we first visit a typical ostrich farm, where we learn about the African Ostrich on a guided tour. Continue along the scenic Route 62 via Montagu and the picture-postcard winelands and fruit farms to Cape Town, arriving late that afternoon.
Weather permitting, we take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, where from 1085 metres in height you can enjoy a breath-taking panorama of Cape Town and its peninsula. If you are lucky you can also see the cute (Klip-Hyraxes) or “dassies“, Hamster-like creatures, although larger, who are at home on the mountain.
Thereafter a city tour of one of the words most scenic cities. Visit the Castle of Good Hope (the old fort) the flower market, the company gardens, the historical centre and Green Market Square. Then spend the evening in the cosmopolitan Victoria & Alfred Waterfront with its many shops, restaurant and pubs in the historic reconstructed fishing harbour of Cape Town.
Today you tour the Cape Peninsula and visit Cape Point and Good Hope Nature Reserve. You first drive along the cold Atlantic coast through attractive suburbs such as Bantry Bay, Clifton, and via colourful Hout Bay (with its traditional fishing harbour) and the spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive (if not closed due to weather or rock fall). The drive then continues to Cape Point. Besides climbing up to the observation platform from where an impressive view of the ocean can be enjoyed, you can also take a short hike in the Cape Point Nature Reserve. On the way back we follow the False Bay coast (Indian Ocean side) and stop at the Simonstown Boulders Beach Penguin colony. Thereafter it’s back to Cape Town, with a possible stop at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens if time permits. Evening at leisure.
Another day excursion, this time to the beautiful wine lands with a visit to Paarl, with its “Taal-Monument“, and the second oldest town in South Africa, Stellenbosch, centre of the wine industry. Ramble through its historic streets with their distinct Cape-Dutch architecture, visit Oom Samie se Winkel, an old trading store, and then enjoy a wine tasting or two in the region, preferably with an accompanying lunch on an estate. In the afternoon, a visit to scenic Franschhoek before returning back to Cape Town. Once at your hotel, you say farewell to your guide.
You will be dropped off at Cape Town International Airport for your departure flight.
