Kruger, Cape Town & Falls 13 Days , CAPE TOWN to LIVINGSTONE
What's Included ●
Orientation tour of Cape Town and Cape Point including the penguins at Boulders Beach.
●
Traditional Braai (BBQ) welcome dinner. Panoramic Route scenic drive including visits to Blyde River Canyon, Bourke Luck
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Potholes and God's Window. Kruger National Park entrance fee with game drive in open vehicle. Visit a local village and Planeterra-supported school. Private Nature Reserve entrance fee with game drives in open safari vehicles. Dinner with a local Afrikaans family. Tour of Victoria Falls. Overseas Medical Insurance for the duration of the tour (Sum of US$ 2,50,000 covered) Meals Included: 12 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 5 dinners. 9 nights accommodation at the hotels mentioned or similar 1 night accommodation in Lodge. 2 nights accommodation in a Chalet. Arrival Airport Transfer on Day 1 by a Shared Vehicle Chief Experience Officer (CEO) in Cape Town, CEO/driver for Kruger portion, local G representative in Livingstone.
VERY IMPORTANT: Please ensure that you print a final copy of your Trip Details to review a couple of days prior to travel, in case there have been changes that affect your plans.
Itinerary DAY 1 Cape Town Arrive at any time. Arrival transfer included. Meet our Cape Town CEO at the hotel (on Day 1 at approx. 6:00PM - please have a look at the information board in the hotel), he/she will go through your trip details and will help you with booking optional activities and will be your contact person for the next days.
DAY 2 Cape town Meet your CEO after breakfast (approx 8:00am) in reception and enjoy a full-day of activities. First explore Cape Town on an orientation of the city, drive past Company Gardens, parliament buildings, city hall, Malay Quarter
/Bo Kaap and Green Market Square. Include entrance fee to Castle of Good Hope. In the afternoon tour Cape point. Explore Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and see the penguins at Boulder Beach. View the Company's Garden, City Hall, Malay quarter and Green market square en route.
DAY 3 Cape town You will have the whole day to enjoy optional activities on your own. Your CEO will meet you in the morning to help you book any activities and to make sure you are well taken care of for the rest of the day. For the not so faint hearted there is numerous adrenaline activities in the surrounding areas, from skydiving to abseiling to cage diving and having a close encounter with the great white sharks. Or wonder through the city centre with some of the oldest buildings and gardens in South Africa (Botanical Gardens and Parliament Gardens). Do not miss the wonderful Cultural Historical Museum, Planetarium and numerous other small museums and theatres. For shopping, dining and entertainment the V&A Waterfront is a hotspot for foreigners and locals alike. Still a working harbour, the Waterfront is an example of creative architecture and restoration and has become South Africa's most visited tourist attraction. The Waterfront offers over 250 shops from designer boutiques to craft stalls, a host of restaurants and coffee shops and plenty of other activities. Opt to visit Robben Island, Table Mountain, or embark on a wine tour around Stellenbosch.
DAY 4 Johannesburg You will say goodbye to your Cape Town CEO and fly to Johannesburg and transfer to hotel. Meet your local CEO for a briefing and enjoy a traditional South African Braai (barbecue) welcome dinner tonight.
DAY 5 Panorama Route/Graskop Enjoy a scenic drive along the famed Panorama Route with stops at Blyde River Canyon, Bourke's Luck Potholes and God's Window. Explore world famous sites like Blyde River Canyon, Bourke's Luck Potholes and God's Window along the Panorama Route. Look out the window to view a wonderful landscape complete with mountains, panoramic passes, valleys and waterfalls. Enroute, we visit Dullstroom, one of the foremost fly fishing areas in South Africa, the Mac Mac Falls and Pilgrims Rest. Pilgrim's Rest is situated on the magnificent Panorama Route on the eastern Escarpment region of the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The area is richly imbued with a
diversity of natural, cultural and historic gems. The uniqueness of this historic village is vividly evident in its museums and historic sites. It offers the visitor a fascinating window into the past and captures the spirit of a bygone era and its people in their quest for gold. The entire town of Pilgrim's Rest was declared a National Monument in 1986 as a living memory of the early gold rush days in South Africa during the late 1800s / early 1900s. En route we stop by to view the 65 m high Mac Mac Falls in the Mac Mac River which is a declared as a National Monument. This waterfall was originally a single stream, but gold miners blasted it with dynamite to divert the river in an attempt to work the rich gold-bearing reef over which it plunges. Approximate Distance: 420 km Estimated Travel Time: 6 hrs (including stops for site-seeing)
DAY 6 Kruger National Park area Continue to our lodge conveniently located outside the park gates. This afternoon embark on a game drive inside Kruger National Park in an open safari vehicle for wildlife viewing. This evening, take in the stunning views of the Sabie River Valley from the lodge and enjoy a South African braai dinner on the deck, listing to the night-sounds of Africa. The world-renowned Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. Established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, this national park of nearly 2 million hectares is unrivaled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Truly the flagship of the South African national parks, Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 types of trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. Man's interaction with the Lowveld environment over many centuries - from bushman rock paintings to majestic archaeological sites like Masorini and Thulamela - is very evident in the Kruger National Park. These treasures represent the cultures, persons and events that played a role in the history of the Kruger National Park and are conserved along with the park's natural assets. Approximate Distance: 250 km Estimated Travel Time: 8 hrs (including lunch stop and game viewing)
DAY 7 Karongwe Private Nature Reserve This morning, visit to a Planeterra-supported Children's Day School and Shalati Village, located just outside Krugar National Park. Continue to a private nature reserve, in the Greater Kruger area and stay in a luxury safari
lodge. Enjoy morning and evening open vehicle safari game drives searching out Africa's famed Big Five. In your down time, take high-tea at the lodge and relax at the sundeck and pool. Enjoy a sundowner while the sun sets over the magnificent Drakensberg Mountains. In the morning, visit Planeterra-supported, Hope Africa Children's Day School, close to the lodge in Shalati Village. G Adventures, Planeterra and the Shalati Lodge work closely with the school to provide not only funds for improvements and supplies, but also hands-on support with lesson plans and resource assistance. Many of the parents of the children that attend this school are staff at the lodge and rangers at the park -- the education centre allows for their children to have full-time access to early childhood education, while also being cared for so their parents can preform their livelihoods. You will have a quick stop at this school first thing in the morning to see the morning announcements/ songs of the students. The school has a principal and two full-time teachers who will discuss the work that is done at the school. While the students commence with their classes, you will have a chance to walk around the grounds with you CEO who will show you the school facilities. Planeterra and G Adventures recently built a new kitchen, toilets, and water tank for the school. Future plans include expanding a community garden and craft stall that will be run by the mother's of the children to each extra income for their families. For the next two days enjoy morning and evening game drives in our open safari vehicle in Karongwe Nature Reserve searching for elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo - Africa's famed Big 5. Traversing over the 9000 hectares of supreme African bushveld, Shiduli Private Game Lodge is home to a wealth of creatures and open vehicle game drives are perfect for game viewing. Game drives are conducted with qualified game rangers and Shangaan trackers who will share their vast experience of the African Bush. Day 7 - Approximate Distance: 150 km Estimated Travel Time: 3 hrs (including stops)
DAY 8 Karongwe Private Nature Reserve Early morning wake up call (around 5am), coffee/tea & rusks on the deck before the morning open vehicle game drive (approx 3 hours) starts. Return to the Lodge for brunch followed by some leisure time. Enjoy the pool, walk around the grounds and gardens, or just relax. Around 14:30pm enjoy High Tea (light lunch and cakes) before you hop on your late afternoon/ evening open safari vehicle game drive. Return, freshen up and meet for pre-dinner drinks and enjoy dinner.
DAY 9 Johannesburg
After one last safari drive, head back to the city. Tonight, enjoy a farewell dinner with a local Afrikaans family. Johannesburg, also known as eGoli, is the most populous city in South Africa. The city is affectionately known as "Jo'burg", "Jozi" and "JHB" by South Africans. Johannesburg is the site of a large-scale gold and diamond trade due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills. Johannesburg is also served by Johannesburg International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of southern Africa. Approximate Distance: 500 km Estimated Travel Time: 7 hrs
DAY 10 Livingstone Fly to Livingston, Zambia and meet the local G representative then enjoy a guided tour of Victoria Falls. David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813 in the village of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. He first studied Greek, medicine, and theology at the University of Glasgow and while working in London, joined the London Missionary Society became a minister. He originally planned to gain access to China through his medical knowledge. The Opium Wars, which were raging at this stage with no signs of peace on the horizon, forced Livingstone to consider other options. From 1840 he worked in Bechuanaland (present-day Botswana), and in the period 1852-56, he explored the African interior, and was the first European to see the Mosi-oa-Tunya waterfall, which he renamed Victoria Falls after his monarch, Queen Victoria. The Victoria Falls waterfalls occur in a country that is perfectly flat. From its source on the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Zambezi River meanders for 1300 km across the wooded plateau of Zambia, eroding for itself a shallow valley on its mild descent to the site of the falls. The river eventually found a weak spot on the lower lip of the surface over which it passed, and forced a passage which was steadily deepened into an exit gorge. During the last half million years the river has scoured out eight of these cracks across its bed. The Victoria falls occur where the river is 1688m wide, presents the spectacle of an average maximum of 550 million liters of water a minute tumbling over the lip of the trench in five main falls, the Devil's Cataract, Main falls, Horseshoe Falls, Rainbow falls and the Eastern Cataract. The highest of these is Rainbow falls, on an average 108 m high. A peak flood sees 750 million liters of water in one minute hurtling over the falls. The name Zambezi comes from the Tonka tribe, also meaning Great River, but the Sotho-speaking Kololo people of the upper reaches of the river gave it the well-known name of Mosi o a Thunya (smoke that rises). The Lozi people call it by the same name but translated it into smoke that sounds. The Ndebele call it
aManza Thunqayo (the water that rises like smoke). The Namibian people call it Chinotimba (a noise-making place like the distant sound of digging). Estimate Travel Time: Flight Johannesburg - Livingstone (2hrs)
DAY 11 Livingstone Day at Leisure. Options to enjoy whitewater rafting, canoeing, safari activities or a flight over the falls.
DAY 12 Livingstone Day at Leisure. Options to enjoy whitewater rafting, canoeing, safari activities or a flight over the falls.
DAY 13 Livingstone Depart at any time.