Day 1 – Thursday Arrival Cape Town
Upon arrival at Cape Town International Airport, you will be met by an Travel representative and assisted with your transfer to your hotel. Spend the remainder of the day at leisure.
Overnight at Pepperclub Hotel (deluxe studio) or similar
Day 2 – Friday City & Table Mountain Tour (Breakfast)
Afternoon collection from the hotel by your Travel guide for a scheduled City Tour – a geographical and cultural extravaganza showing you Cape Town from its historical beginnings to modern buildings and malls. The tour commences with a tour of Table Mountain (weather permitting; cable car fee not included). In the city itself, we visit the Company Gardens, the S.A. Museum, the Castle of Good Hope and the vibrant and arty flea market, Greenmarket Square. Return to the hotel by 17h30. Dinner to own arrangements.
Overnight at Pepperclub Hotel (deluxe studio) or similar
Day 3 – Saturday Cape Winelands (Breakfast)
Today you embark on a scheduled full day Cape Winelands Tour. This is a delightful drive, which winds its way to the heart of the Cape Winelands through superb mountain ranges, vineyards and Cape Dutch homesteads. Head off to the wine country via the N2 to the heart of South Africa’s wine industry, Stellenbosch, boasting great beauty and culture that is steeped in South African history. With the sheer vastness of wine estates on offer, we are truly spoilt for choice when we enjoy our first wine tasting of the day. Travel over the Helshoogte Pass to the town of Franschhoek. Billed as the Gourmet Capital of South Africa, this charming town, in a most picturesque valley, retains a French Huguenot style. We enjoy a wine tasting before taking time to enjoy the fabled culinary skills of the Franschhoek chefs at one of the many award winning restaurants (lunch to own account). Time permitting, a visit to a Paarl region estate would be included to round off the day’s wine-tasting experiences before heading back to Cape Town. Dinner to own arrangements.
Day 4 – Sunday Cape Point & Peninsula (Breakfast)
This morning you will be collected for your scheduled full day Cape Point & Peninsula Tour. We travel along the Atlantic Seaboard via Sea Point, Clifton and Camps Bay, stopping at a Llandudno look-out point before continuing to Hout Bay, a quaint village and fishing harbour with magnificent mountain views and beach (optional boat trip to Seal Island – to own account). Continue via Chapman’s Peak , one of the world’s most breathtaking coastal drives, to Cape Point and the Good Hope Nature Reserve. After lunch at a nearby restaurant (not included in cost), we go on to historic Simon’s Town – a village with charming Victorian architecture, a naval base and a large penguin colony at the beautiful Boulders Beach. Boulders Penguin Colony is home to a growing colony of the vulnerable African Penguin. Wooden walkways allow visitors to view the penguins in their natural habitat and there is also a new information centre. End the day with a visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens which is world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape Flora it displays and for the magnificence of its setting against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. The tour ends upon return to your hotel during the late afternoon. Dinner to own arrangements.
Day 5 – Monday Cape Town // Durban (Breakfast)
Breakfast and check-out of the hotel.
Today you shall be transferred to Cape Town International Airport for your flight to Durban (flight not included in cost). Upon arrival at King Shaka International Airport, you would be met by an Travel representative. Transfer to your hotel for overnight.
Overnight The Benjamin Boutique Hotel (standard room) or similar
Day 6 – Tuesday Durban – Pietermartizburg – Drakensberg (Breakfast, Dinner)
Depart the cosmopolitan city of Durban and travel inland to Pietermaritzburg, the administrative capital of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. Pietermaritzburg, set amidst forested hills and the rolling countryside of the Natal-Midlands, is one of the best-preserved Victorian cities in the world. Enjoy a brief city tour, including drives past Publicity House which is opposite one of South Africa’s best galleries – The Tatham Art Gallery. Stop outside the Legislative Building which typifies the colonial heritage of a past era. Visit the glorious St Peter’s Cathedral and the charming lanes and byways of South Africa’s largest pedestrianised heritage retail area – the Church Street Mall. In savouring the uniqueness of this area, one takes in the significance of this high character city and its captivating past. The Mahatma Gandhi statue is visited outside the Colonial Building – where he targeted many of his concerns about human rights issues.
Continue the journey through the midlands to Howick and the site where late former President Nelson Mandela was captured on August 5th, 1962. His capture marked the start of Mandela’s 27-year imprisonment and the journey that he would later call ‘the long walk to freedom’.
The Natal Midlands is a beautiful region filled with stretches of farmland, charming little towns, a wonderful arts and crafts route and picturesque scenery bordering on the sublime. You would not be found to be at fault should you request that your guide take it easy on the drive to your accommodation which is considered to hold one of the finest locations in the entire Drakensberg range. Check into the hotel and enjoy some time at leisure before enjoying dinner.
Overnight Champagne Castle Hotel (standard room) or similar
Day 7 – Wednesday Drakensberg (Breakfast, Dinner)
Today is dedicated to enjoying the magnificent scenery on offer in the Drakensberg, as well as discovering the cultural significance of this UNESCO World Heritage Site – the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. These mountains once offered shelter to the San people for thousands of years before being exterminated in clashes with the Zulus and white settlers. All they left behind was their story painted in the rock, in the shelters, the story of sacred animals and journeys to the spirit world. At Giant’s Castle we enjoy a 45-minute walk to the main caves for a short tour and interpretation of the paintings and artefacts on display in the museum. After the San experience, spend the remainder of the afternoon enjoying the facilities on offer at the hotel, including tennis courts, an animal farm, aviary, hiking trails, bowling green, swimming pool and so much more.
Overnight Champagne Castle Hotel (standard room) or similar
Day 8 – Thursday Spioenkop – Dundee – Isandlwana (Breakfast, Dinner)
Enjoy a delicious breakfast followed by check-out formalities. Make your way to the summit of Spioenkop Mountain. Your guide shall recount and bring to life the Anglo-Boer 9-day battle in January 1900 – the third and bloodiest attempt by the British to relieve Ladysmith. Witnesses to this battle include Louis Botha (the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa), Winston Churchill and Mohandas Ghandi, who led the heroic British stretcher bearers and later became the Mahatma.
Continue to the town of Ladysmith, a town which made world headlines at the end of the 19th century when it was besieged for 118 days during the most crucial stage of the Anglo-Boer War. Its historic heritage gives many fascinating sites to discover. Visit the Seige Museum where a diorama excellently depicts Ladysmith and its surrounding hills at the time of the Siege. Artefacts, documents, uniforms, firearms etc. are on display.
Travel via Dundee to your accommodation which is located in at the heart of the battle sites between the Zulus and the British. Enjoy dinner at the hotel.
Day 9 – Friday Battlefields (Breakfast, Dinner)
Today is dedicated to the exploration of the most famous battlefields of all the many in KwaZulu-Natal. Your guide shall recount the Anglo Zulu War battle of Isandlwana where 20 000 Zulu warriors wiped out almost an entire British regiment and their firepower within 2 ½ hours. Visit Rorke’s Drift Mission where British soldiers, outnumber 35 to 1, fought off 4000 Zulus for 12 hours. This battle generated the award of 11 Victoria Crosses – the highest number to a Regiment in a single action. Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.
Overnight Rorke’s Drift Hotel (standard room) or similar
Day 10 – Saturday Battlefields / Hluhluwe (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
After an early breakfast, travel across the various battle sites of KZN to Hluhluwe where you complete your Kwazulu Natal discovery with an African safari experience.
Depending on your time of arrival, enjoy lunch followed by an afternoon open vehicle game drive which yields exciting game viewing opportunities. The highly qualified rangers have a wide knowledge of the rich bird and animal life of the region, as well as the indigenous trees and plants.
Return to the lodge for dinner.
Overnight Falaza Game Lodge & spa (tented suite) or similar
Day 11 – Sunday Hluhluwe (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Start the day with an early morning game drive when the animals are at their busiest, before the harsh African sun beats down and they take shelter from the sweltering heat in shady areas. Return to the lodge for breakfast and spend the remainder of the day at leisure. Enjoy the facilities on offer at the lodge including the well-equipped Spa on the reserve (treatments to own account and subject to availability). We end the day with either another open vehicle game drive or embark on a leisurely sundowner cruise on the St Lucia wetlands – a world heritage site which affords glimpses of crocodiles and hippos as well as the prolific bird life along the river banks.
Overnight Falaza Game Lodge & spa (tented suite) or similar
Day 12 – Monday Hluhluwe – Durban (Breakfast)
Embark on a final game drive followed by breakfast and check-out formalities. Travel via the Elephant coast back to Durban where the tour ends on arrival at your Durban based hotel or with drop-off at King Shaka International Airport for your onward flight arrangements.
