South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland (Accommodated Tour)
Group Size: 4 – 22 Passengers Tour Length: 21 days
Tour can depart in Northern and Southern direction.
Day 1- Pretoria
You will be welcomed by your tour leader at the departure point in Pretoria today and given a quick overview of the tour. The tour will then commence and head through to your first overnight stop just outside of Pretoria. The day can be spent visiting the historic buildings and monuments of this charming city or you can go on an optional tour of Soweto. Highlights of Pretoria include the Voortrekker Monument and the Union Buildings designed by Sir Herbert Baker.
Day 2 Pretoria – Graskop
Today’s drive will depart Pretoria in a North Easterly direction to the area known as the Lowveld. En route there are numerous spectacular views and cultural centres to experience. This evening will be spent in Graskop, which is in close proximity to the historical mining town of Pilgrims Rest. Graskop primarily caters for the forestry and Tourism industry.
Day 3 – 4 Graskop – Kruger National Park
After visiting places like Gods Window and Bourkes Luck Potholes you will head to the world famous Kruger National Park. The rest of the day will be spent game driving in the park looking for the ‘Big Five’ and hundreds of others species of animals and birds. Kruger National Park is the largest game park in South Africa and boasts all major predators including the very rare Wild Dog and Cheetah! You can decide to do gamedrives in our own vehicle on the main roads or take an optional open safari vehicle gamedrive to experience the wildlife off the beaten track! While in the park you will be staying in Bungalows or rooms in camps within the National Park.
Day 5 - 6 Kruger National Park – Swaziland
This morning we will be heading for the small kingdom of Swaziland. The population of the country is only a million people and its primary industries are Forestry and Agriculture. This former British Colony gained independence in 1968 and is run as a constitutional Monarchy. The Swazi people are very friendly and are always happy to have a chat with tourists about their lives and customs. You will be staying in Mlilwane game Reserve this evening, where you will have the opportunity to eat some game meat from the reserve itself. Accomodation is in traditional Swazi Huts. Just outside of Mlilwane you will have a chance bargain and buy hand made curios at an open-air craft market.
Day 7 - 9 Swaziland- St. Lucia
We say our good-byes to Swaziland and head Southwards to the coast and the tropical town of St. Lucia. This small town has a main street with a large variety of Restaurants and stores to browse through. There are various optional activities offered in this tourist town such as Deep Sea Fishing, Sunset Cruises, Doplhin Cruises, Gamedrives, Snorkeling and many more.
Day 10 - 11 St. Lucia – Drakensberg
The next two nights will be spent in the spectacular Drakensberg Mountains. The 960 km mountain range stretches from the Stormberg in the Eastern Cape Province to the Wolkberg in the Mpumalanga Province. The most striking feature of this area of the Drakensberg is the Amphitheatre rock face. The enormous 1200m, 8 km wall is flanked by the Sentinel (3274m) and Eastern Pillar (3133m) peaks. The Voortrekkers, who thought the range looked like the tail of a Dragon, named the mountains. The most noteworthy peak must be the Mont-aux-Sources (3298m) peak where the Tugela and Orange Rivers originate. Numerous walks can be done here to accommodate any person fit or not. Horse rides are also available for advanced and novices.
Day 12 - 14 Drakensberg – Lesotho
After a beautiful drive today you will arrive in the mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho.
Many of the Mountain peaks are as high as 3500 meters and are covered in snow in the winter. Lesotho is home to the proud Basotho people, with their distinctive straw hats and blankets they wear.
The contrast between South Africa and Lesotho will soon become apparent. Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world and the majority of the population lives through subsistence farming. Various optional activites such as guided hiking trails and pony trekking on the rugged Basotho Pony are available at the camp.
Dag 15 - 16 Lesotho - Graaff Reinet
The tour will come down from the mountains today and enter the relative flat Karoo section, which is a semi-arid region. Graaff-Reinette is one of the older towns in the country and has a tranquil and old world charm to it.
There are quite a few optional activities available here, to name a few: Guided visit to the Valley of Desolation, Quad Bike tours, Hang Gliding, Township tours etc.
Dag 17 -18 Graaff Reinet – Tsitsikamma
The drive today heads past Addo Elephant Park, which as the name suggests, is home the biggest concentration of Elephants to be found in the Southern Half of South Africa.
We overnight in the Tsitsi-Kamma National Park for the next two nights in sea front cottages. This park is situated in one of the most beautiful locations on the Garden Route and there is ample time to go for leisure hikes or do one of the many optional activities offered here. To name a few: Take a boat ride up the storms river, do some black water tubing, bungee jump of the highest bridge in the world etc.
Day 19 Tsitsikamma - Hermanus
Todays journey takes us through Wilderness, George, Mossel Bay and various smaller little towns untill we reach the small fishing and holiday town of Hermanus. Between May and October the Southern Right Whale is a regular visitor to the town and vantage points and walkways offers great opportunity for photos and whale watching.
Day 20 - 21 Hermanus – Cape Town
On the way to Cape Town you will stop in the historical town of Stellenbosch. It is the second oldest town in South Africa and is famous for its University and the thriving wine industry. If time allows you will be given a formal wine tasting on a wine estate.
The accommodation in Cape Town is close to the centre of town and gives you an excellent basis to explore all that Cape Town has to offer.
Take the opportunity to visit the Cape of Good Hope National Park, Boulders Beach with its colony of penguins, Table Mountain, The Botanical Gardens, Robben Island and don’t forget the shopping and dining mecca the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.