Sample South Africa Itinerary

THE BEST OF SOUTH AFRICA & VICTORIA FALLS

 

15 Days / 14 Nights with 4 optional nights in Chobe National Park, Botswana

 

 

 

 

Day 1

Depart from New York (JFK) South Africa Airways.  Overnight on board. Meals will be served in flight

 

Day 2

JOHANNESBURG / CAPE TOWN

Arrive in Johannesburg where you will connect with South Africa flight to Cape Town.  In the afternoon you will arrive at Cape Town Airport.

 

Day 3

CAPE TOWN (Full Day Peninsula-CAPE POINT & CAPE OF GOOD HOPE- Tour, including lunch)

Buffet breakfast at the hotel and then you'll meet in the hotel lobby to depart with your guide and drive along the Atlantic Seaboard coast, passing the seaside suburbs of Sea Point, Bantry Bay, and Clifton.  En-route, stop on the granite boulders where we have magnificent views of the Twelve Apostles along the Atlantic coast side of Table Mountain and the beach of Camp’s Bay. Drive to the old lookout point for spectacular views along Hout Bay to the Sentinel and Karbonkelberg Mountains.

You then leave Hout Bay and travel over the mountain and through the Constantia Valley and over Ou Kaapse Weg to the Noordhoek area.  Drive to Kommetjie and Scarborough, little hamlets on the Atlantic Coast.    Between June and November, there is a good chance that you will sight whales along the coastline. These are mainly Southern Right Whales that come into the waters to mate and calve.  Have your cameras ready. 

Then enter the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and can take a drive off the main road to the untouched area of Olifants Bay. There is a herd of endemic Bontebok living on this side of the reserve and we have the possibility of seeing them on the beach and in the surrounding "fynbos", magnificent indigenous floral vegetation with flowering species throughout the year. 

After lunch, you'll spend time exploring the rocky coastline and fynbos with possibilities of seeing the African Black Oystercatchers and Avocets as well as fynbos endemics such as the Cape Sugarbird and Protea Canary, as well as various Sunbirds. 

Continue your drive to the tip of the Cape Peninsula and take a walk to the lighthouse at Cape Point with its beautiful views overlooking False Bay, so named as the early navigators thought they had put into Table Bay.  Drive to the Cape of Good Hope, the southwesternmost point of the African continent.  Now leave the reserve and drive along the False Bay coastline to Boulders Beach, and enjoy an opportunity to study the only penguins to be found on the continent of Africa, the African Jackass Penguin. 

Continue on through historic Simons town, with its past and present naval traditions, and travel along the coast to Fish Hoek.

 

Day 4

CAPE TOWN / Visit to ROBBEN ISLAND

Buffet breakfast at the hotel in the morning, then meet in the lobby to start your half-day tour where you will be transferred to the harbor for your 30-minute ride on a ferry to Robben Island for your four-hour tour including a visit to the cell of former president Nelson Mandela.

The small flat islet of Robben Island situated some 7km off the coast of Bloubergstrand and just a few meters above sea level has been varyingly used since the end of the 17th century to isolate political prisoners as well serving as a leper colony and animal quarantine station. The original Dutch settlers under Jan van Riebeeck first used the island to warn passing ships of the dangerous rocks around the island by building huge bonfires at night. The original colony of African Penguins was eliminated by 1800 but has since been re-established and is today one of the largest breeding colonies of these birds along the African coastline.  

A short ferry ride, departing from the V&A Waterfront, carries passengers across Table Bay, where on arrival guests will participate in a guided tour of the prison buildings, including a visit to Nelson Mandela’s cell where he was incarcerated for eighteen years. Many well-known individuals were imprisoned here in the Apartheid-era, including current South African president Jacob Zuma. The duration of the excursion is about four hours.

 

Day 5

CAPE TOWN – WINELANDS OF THE CAPE – Full day tour including lunch.

After breakfast at the hotel, meet in the lobby for your departure towards the wine areas of South Africa. South Africa is the world’s 8th largest producer, approximately twice the size of Switzerland’s wine industry. It has about 100.000 acres under vine concentrated in the Western Cape. The best areas are Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschoek and the Swartland. Your tour will include a visit to Paarl Nature Reserve and Taal Monument. We continue to Fairview for wine tasting – passing Zandwijk (the only Kosher wine estate in South Africa). Fairview Estate has 240 acres under vine and has won numerous medals especially for its excellent Chardonnay.  Also, there are 500 Swiss Saanen goats living in Zandwijk Estate with which they make excellent cheese. This will also be available for tasting. We then proceed to the French Huguenot town of FRANSCHHOEK and visit the memorial, followed by wine tasting. 

After lunch, proceed to visit the oldest Huguenot wine estate, Boschendal, for a tasting. This vineyard was the first to introduce Blanc de noir in

South Africa.  80% of their production is white wine, although they have a very good red called Lanoy. More wine tasting at Boschendal, then proceed to the lovely Helshoogte Pass for a visit to Stellenbosch, a charming 17th-century town famous for its Cape Dutch Architecture.  

 

Day 6

CAPE TOWN / JOHANNESBURG

Transfer to Cape Town airport for a short flight to Johannesburg. Arrive at Johannesburg airport where you'll be met and transferred to your hotel to spend the next night. En route to your hotel, there will be a quick stop at the UNION BUILDINGS which, currently house the office of the South African President and were designed by the famous British architect Sir Herbart Baker, and are regarded as one of the country’s architectural masterpieces.

In the afternoon board, a private coach, driver & English speaking tour guide who will take you for an orientation tour of Johannesburg; SOWETO TOUR: is designed to give the visitors an overall impression of “Egoli” the city of Gold, South Africa’s commercial and financial capital. We take a look around the northern suburbs, then on to the hustle and bustle of Hillbrow and the downtown area to view a “mini – Manhattan” from the 50th floor of the Carlton Center. Continue to Soweto South West Townships: thirty-two square miles of slums spread out on a featureless landscape with mostly unpaved streets and poorly constructed single-story houses.

Over half a million, mostly poor, black South Africans live there. It is the largest black urban community in all of Southern Africa.

Soweto was a city of bitter, angry, and frustrated people. Education was necessary if black South Africans were to have any hope of advancing. White schools had up-to-date computers, tennis courts, and swimming pools. Blacks were not even required to attend school. Your tour will include all the major points of interest, such as Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Baragwanath taxi rank, Freedom Square, Hector Peterson Memorial, and Nelson Mandela’s former home. 

 

Day 7

JOHANNESBURG / KRUGER AREA (Sabi Sands Game Reserve)

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the domestic airport in Johannesburg where we board a local flight to Skukuza airport which is located in the heart of Southern Kruger National Park. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred by open 4X4 safari vehicles to SABI SANDS GAME RESERVE where you will spend the next three nights.

There is an afternoon guided game drive by land rovers, guide, and tracker and then you return to the lodge.

 

Day 8

SABI SAND GAME RESERVE

Board your safari vehicles with your guide and tracker and game drive

Mid-Morning, return to your lodge to have breakfast, and then kick back and relax with a cool refreshment while reliving your safari experience with your tour companions or relax around the pool, browse through the curio shop, or maybe take a siesta. In the late afternoon board your safari vehicle to start your afternoon game safari. 

 

Day 9

SABI SAND GAME RESERVE

Early morning tea and coffee at the lodge, then board your safari vehicles to start your early morning game drive.

Mid-Morning: Return to your lodge to have breakfast and enjoy your time until your afternoon game safari. Lunch at the lodge.

In the afternoon meet your guide and tracker to start your afternoon game drive.

 

Day 10

SABI SAND to JOHANNESBURG 

Enjoy your early morning game drive. You return to your lodge to have breakfast. This is when you say good-bye to Sabi sand Game reserve because you will be transferred to Skukuza airport for our local short flight back to Johannesburg. You arrive in Johannesburg in the afternoon and will be transferred to spend the next night in Johannesburg. The remainder of the day is at leisure in Johannesburg. 

 

Day 11

JOHANNESBURG / VICTORIA FALLS (Zimbabwe)

Breakfast at the hotel after which you will be transferred to Johannesburg International Airport for your 2 hours flight to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Arrive at Victoria Falls Airport where you will be transferred to Victoria Falls City to spend the next three nights in VICTORIA FALLS

                                                

VICTORIA FALLS: Described by the Kololo tribe living in the area in the 1800s as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” – “The Smoke that Thunders” and in more modern terms as “The greatest known curtain of falling water”, Victoria Falls one of the seven natural wonders of the world – are a spectacular sight of awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur on the Zambezi River, bordering Zimbabwe and Zambia. A mile-wide avalanche of twisting, leaping water. From the rush of Devil’s cataract, over the precipice of the Main Falls, Rainbow Falls, and the Eastern cataract, the Zambezi pounds into the Bakota Gorge, rainbow arching over its frenzied, furious progress and smoke billowing upwards in clouds that can be seen over 28 miles away.  The curtain of falling water has been known to reach a volume of 700.000 cubic meters per minute when the Zambezi is in full flood and at her most aggressive; At Main Falls the water is channeled into smaller falls and rivulets, falling 100 meters into the chasm below. Awe-inspiring views of the Falls are found at lookouts located at intervals along a short walk through the opulent abundance of the rain, home to the graceful Chobe bushbuck. At times the spray-drenched visitors stand only 60 meters away from the thundering water beyond a flimsy fence of the woven brush. The winding path ends at danger Point, which overlooks the turbulent waters of the Boiling Pot in the river below.  The rest of the day is at leisure. 

 

Day 12

VICTORIA FALLS

After breakfast, you'll be picked up by your private coach and guide for your tour of the Victoria Falls Zimbabwe side, which offers excellent photographic opportunities.  Visit the Eastern Cataract and cross the footbridge to the Knife Edge.  After your visit, you will return to your lodge.

In the afternoon there is an optional tour on the Zambezi River’s sunset cruise. Snacks are included and you will be given three (3) drinks coupons per person on arrival (excludes wine), where after a cash bar will be available.   Return to the lodge for overnight. 

 

Day 13

VICTORIA FALLS

Buffet breakfast at the hotel followed by a day at leisure to relax around the pool with a book OR choose one or more of the following optional activities offered in Victoria Falls:

UPPER ZAMBEZI CANOEING

HORSEBACK SAFARIS

BUSH WALKS

FISHING

GOLF

SCENIC HELICOPTER FLIGHT

GAME DRIVES

DAY TRIP TO THE CHOBE RIVER IN BOTSWANA

VULTURE FEEDING

WALKING WITH LIONS

ELEPHANT BACK SAFARI

MICROLIGHT FLIGHTS OVER VICTORIA FALLS

 

Day 14

VICTORIA FALLS / JOHANNESBURG / NEW YORK

Buffet breakfast at the hotel and then your morning at leisure

Mid-morning: transfer to Victoria Falls Airport for your short flight to Johannesburg. Once you arrive in Johannesburg you will proceed to connect with your flight back to New York (JFK).

 

Day 15

Arriving NEW YORK (JFK)

Arrive in New York (JFK), proceed to the domestic terminal for your connection to your next destination.  Welcome back home.