South Africa Safari

World in One Country Safari - 20 Days

Small group Lodge Safari - 19 nights / 20 Days

Return to Budget Safari Packages

Tour code: WIOC

This safari has it all: Exciting wildlife, breath-taking scenery and insights into culture and history of South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland. Departs: Johannesburg, South Africa. Ends: Cape Town, South Africa. Group size: Guaranteed from 4 guests; 14 guests maximum. *Guaranteed departures with no minimum pax available, please enquire. Summary A small-group lodge safari, from Johannesburg to Cape Town, through South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho. Highlights Panorama Route, game drives in Kruger National Park, Kingdom of Swaziland, St Lucia boat cruise and game drive in Hluhluwe National Park, walking in the Drakensberg Mountains, Lesotho 4x4 Route, Garden Route, Cango Caves and Cape Town. Meals 19x Breakfast, 3x Lunch, 2x Dinner. Breakfast is included daily and provided by the lodge restaurants. A dinner package is available, at additional cost for 14 dinners. This needs to be booked in advance and the meals are to be taken in the lodge restaurants. Please advise us of any special dietary requirements in advance. Should you not wish to pre-pay for this, dinners will be for your own account and will still need to be taken in local restaurants or at the lodges if there are no restaurants in the nearby vicinity. There are no facilities available for self-catering. SAFARI COST: $2,590 per person sharing. SINGLE SUPPLEMENT: $615 CLICK TO SEE DEPARTURE DATES

Note: The accommodation specified in the itinerary is a guide only and is subject to availability. Alternatives will be nearby and of a similar standard.

Top   

CLICK TO SEE DEPARTURE DATES

Included
Nineteen (19) Nights in fixed accommodation, all transport in fully equipped vehicle, game drives as mentioned, meals as per itinerary to be taken at lodge restaurants and activities as mentioned in itinerary, park entrance fees, experienced local guide.

Excluded
Travel insurance, flights, pre and post tour accommodation, optional activities, all drinks, tips and curios, all personal expenses.

Departure
The World in One Country Safari departs from The Safari Club or similar in Johannesburg.

Please note that the daily departure times are a guideline only and are subject to change due to seasonal variations, as well as unforeseen circumstances. The final decision rests with your guide who will advise you at what time you will be departing each day.

On the evening of Day 1, there will be a meeting presented by your guide, at 18h00, at The Safari Club. It is imperative that all clients attend this meeting so as not to miss out on any critical information.

Whilst it is our every intention to adhere to the above mentioned itinerary, there may on occasion be a necessity to make alterations in order to make the tour more enjoyable or practical. Therefore please treat the itinerary as a guide only.

Transport
Fully equipped Toyota Quantums or other appropriate vehicles with comfortable seating, a music system, PA system and air-conditioning. Please note all game drives are conducted in the touring vehicle. Clients have the option to book additional game drives in open game-viewer vehicles. It is recommended that you pre-book additional game drives in advance to avoid disappointment.

Local Payment
A local payment is required on your safari and will be collected by your guide on the day of departure. The local payment is part of the overall tour cost and is used to pay some of the day to day operational costs that are incurred while we are on the road.

We try to prepay as many of the costs as possible however in some cases cash payment on arrival is the only option as some of the attractions we visit on safari only accept cash. Examples include park fees at most of the national parks, a few accommodations or camp sites and any local food markets we visit to stock up on fresh produce during the tour as well as local guides.

The local payment also ensures that a portion of your tour cost actually goes directly to the countries you visit, thus benefiting local communities as well as contributing to conservation of the areas we visit. Essentially having a local payment means your tour price is a bit lower and give you a more inclusive experience.

Travelling Times and Distances
All travelling times are affected by road conditions, border crossings, detours and weather conditions, therefore on certain days travelling times may be longer than anticipated especially where there is a lot of distance to be covered. Please keep in mind that the time it takes to travel 100 km in your home country is not equivalent to the time it takes to travel 100 km on African roads, therefore we encourage you to sit back and enjoy the spectacular scenery Africa has to offer. Where possible additional stops will be made to ensure your travelling comfort at all times.

Accommodation
We make use of mid-range typical African standard lodge accommodation. Accommodation is situated either in National Parks, on the banks of a river, or in other places of interest. The accommodation will be a mix of lodges, chalets and tented camps. Most of them have a private bathroom with a shower and toilet. Some properties are equipped with swimming pools and/or bar areas.

Visas
The onus is on the client to organize all visas required to visit South Africa prior to departure.

Information on Areas Visited
SOUTH AFRICA
Situated on the tip of the African continent, South Africa has often been described as a world in one country. It has a wealth of natural beauty, pristine wilderness areas, warm and friendly people, cosmopolitan cities and excellent infrastructure - making South Africa a favourite safari destination.

The Panorama Route - Mpumalanga South Africa
The scenic Panorama Route of the Mpumalanga escarpment is from an outstanding natural beauty and characterized by mountains, panoramic passes, valleys, rivers, waterfalls and forests.

During your drive you will experience breathtaking views from natural wonders along the eastern slopes of the escarpment. Some must have seen along the tour are God's Window, the Pinnacle the Blyde River Canyon which is world's third largest canyon and biggest green canyon, the very impressive rock formations Bourke's Luck Potholes and three Rondawels. Furthermore take a rest in one of the towns along the panorama route and enjoy the great food offered in Sabie, Graskop, Ohrigstad and Hazyview. The towns of Lydenburg and White River takes visitors through the quaint towns of Pilgrim's Rest, a living museum dating back to the hey days of the gold rush, for example Alluvial Gold where they were mining until 1972.

Kruger National Park
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, SANParks - Kruger National Park is unrivalled 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 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.

Cape Town
Cape Town has traditionally been the gateway between Europe and Southern Africa and this is still evident in its atmosphere, its playful character, its people and even its architecture. The 'Mother City' as its known locally has no shortage of attractions. It's a magnetic, multi-cultural city with an array of diverse offerings within a small, accessible area, surrounded by spectacular topography. Spectacular beaches, mountains (incredibly unique bio-diversity), hiking, water-sport, shopping centers, markets, theatres, museums, historical & cultural attractions, a first-rate waterfront, galleries, night-clubs, restaurants and an abundance of activities to suit all, are prolific in this world-class destination.

Although tastes vary, some of the more popular sights include the following:

Table Mountain
This 1086 m sandstone landmark dominates the city and has to be ascended! This is a fantastic way to gain a perspective on the city, with some breathtaking views of the peninsula, as well as an opportunity to experience the most concentrated, yet diverse, ecosystems in the world.
The mountain is home to more than 1450 species of plants, many of which are not found anywhere else in the world, such as the Silver Tree and the wild orchid Disa Uniflora. Table Mountain is classified as the smallest of the six floral kingdoms of the world. The 'flat' top of the mountain is approximately nearly 3 km in length and sees almost a million tourist& hikers per year.

Visitors to the top can choose the six-minute trip to the summit via the modern cable car, one of the safest in the world, or alternatively make use of one of the 350 recognized paths all over the mountain. The easiest and quickest of these is the popular Platteklip Gorge route, a path up a ravine clearly visible on the front face of Table Mountain. The summit boasts a modern restaurant, souvenir shop and postal service.

Robben Island
With 150 years of dark, incarceration history, including the 18-year imprisonment of its most famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela, the island is a certain place of interest. After the fall of apartheid, the island was eventually declared a national monument in 1996, formerly opened its doors to the public in 1997, and declared an UNESCO world heritage site in 1999.

The Robben Island experience begins at Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island, situated in the Clock Tower Precinct at the V&A Waterfront, where four ferries a day leave for the island. Each round trip is three and a half hours long and includes a visit to the maximum-security prison, a bus tour around the island and visits to the penguin boardwalk and museum shop. A number of antelopes can also be spotted on the island.

The Wine Routes
Constantia, a meager 20 minutes from the city centre, is the birthplace of the wine farming industry in South Africa. Still today, five wine farms in this area produce worldclass wines, recognized for their escalating quality.

Further from the city, a drive of approximately 45 minutes north from Cape Town brings you to a region where grand mountains from a dramatic backdrop to lush vineyards and historic gabled Cape Dutch homesteads. Almost 100 wine farms on four wine routes in this region alone boast not only a multitude of award winning wines, but also restaurants, wine tasting and activities. In the wine regions visitors can also experience a number of quaint villages & towns (especially Paarl, Stellenbosch & Franshoek), cheese shops, a crocodile farm, a cheetah rehabilitation centre, hikes and rivers activities.

The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
As one of the most successful developments in the history of Southern Africa, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is a comprehensive shopping and recreational destination ranking amongst the best waterfronts in the world. It's Cape Town's most popular local attraction and has over a million visitors per year, 70% of which are Capetonian. An array of shops, markets, restaurants, cinemas, a theatre, boat trips, helicopter trips, a brewery, hotels as well as a new residential development can all be found within walking distance and surrounded by a working harbor.

Additional attractions worth a visit are the Waterfront Craft Market & the Red Shed craft market, where visitors can watch artists & craftspeople produce as well as buy their wares. The Two Ocean Aquarium offers a constantly updated peak into indigenous Southern African fresh and seawater creatures. Next door to the aquarium the South African Maritime Museum has the largest collection of model ships in the Southern Hemisphere and some fascinating artifacts.

Drakensburg
The Drakensberg mountains of South Africa or uKhahlamba (the Barrier of Spears) is a 200-kilometre-long mountainous wonderland and world heritage site. The largest proportion of the Drakensberg area falls in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The Zulu people named it 'Ukhahlamba' and the Dutch Voortrekkers 'The Dragon Mountain'. The Drakensberg Mountains, with their awe-inspiring basalt cliffs, snowcapped in winter, tower over riverine bush, lush yellowwood forests and cascading waterfalls, form a massive barrier separating KwaZulu-Natal from the Kingdom of Lesotho. The only road access to the Drakensberg is via Sani Pass, which at the top, boasts the highest pub on Africa, 3 000 metres above sea level.

Combining sheer natural beauty with a wealth of biological diversity, this 243 000 hectare mountainous region known the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park has been preserved and venerated for eons since the San people or bushmen roamed these slopes. Tens of thousands of paintings depicting their daily life can be found on the rock faces, and in December 2000, the park received international recognition and was declared KwaZulu-Natal's second World Heritage Site.

Royal Natal National Park
The Royal Natal National Park was proclaimed in 1916, and contains some of the most spectacular scenery in Africa. The main feature of Royal Natal is the Amphitheatre, a rock wall about 5km in length, and approximately 1000m in height between the Sentinel (3 165m) and Eastern Buttress (3 047m), with a number of domes rising from its relatively flat summit plateau. In 1836, the French missionaries Arbousset and Daumas named the largest of these domes Mont-aux-Sources - a literal description of this source of five rivers.

Of these, the Tugela plummets 948m in five clear leaps, making it the world's second highest waterfall. The Tugela Falls' upper reaches occasionally freeze in winter to create dazzling columns of ice. Royal Natal National Park is ideal for hiking, with a superb network of graded walks catering for all levels of fitness and agility.

Garden Route
The stunning Garden Route refers to the lovely towns, lakes and forests nestled on the southern coastline of the country. Fantastic beaches and great activities abound, like: Africa's highest bungee jump at the 216m Bloukrantz Bridge; hiking and kloofing, shark diving at Gansbaai and a breathtaking underground world at the Cango Caves.

Oudtshoorn
Oudtshoorn is situated in the Klein Karoo 55 km from the large coastal town of George. Enjoy the relaxed, friendly, hospitable atmosphere offered in town or at the various surrounding farms. Experience the joy of life in the country!

Cango Caves: One of the world's great natural wonders, sculptured by nature through the ages. It is situated close to the Klein Karoo Town of Oudtshoorn. Mysterious and breathtaking limestone formations in a wide variety of natural colors, a subterranean wonderland. The Ostriches: Amidst the 400 ostrich farms surrounding the town, 3 have distinguished themselves worthy to be named 'show farms'. Become exposed to this exotic bird species, the largest in the world.

Plettenberg Bay
Plettenberg Bay is the jewel of The Garden Route. It's more than a village, less than a town. Sweeping, unspoiled golden beaches characterize it, a dramatic rocky peninsula, intriguing lagoons and estuaries, towering indigenous forests and unpolluted rivers and sea. With its beautiful view sites over the Indian Ocean, Plettenberg Bay is perfect for tourists interested in exploring, watching or just lazing.

In and near Plettenberg Bay there is the opportunity to visit a lot of activities such as:
• The highest commercial bungee jump in the world is at Bloukrantz River Bridge. The height is 216 m with a 7 second free fall!
• Canoeing on the Keurbooms River If you are keen on canoeing; you can hire a canoe and canoe up the Keurbooms River Nature Reserve.
• Gliding effortlessly with qualified pilot over Plettenberg beaches spotting dolphins and whales.

Knysna
Knysna is one of the Southern Cape coast's best-known holiday destinations, situated between lush forests and the shores of the peaceful lagoon - it offers many activities and attractions of a wide variety. The most well known attraction being the heads - two great sandstone cliffs guarding the mouth of the lagoon, which connects the estuary with the sea. A lookout has been erected on the Eastern Head, commanding spectacular views of the lagoon, Leisure Isle and Knysna. The Western Head is a privately owned nature Reserve - Featherbed Bay.

Tsitsikamma National Park
The Tsitsikamma National Park is an 80 km long coastal strip between Nature's Valley and the mouth of the Storms River. In park the park the visitor finds and almost untouched natural landscape. Two long hiking routes with some huts for overnight stays are well established. The popular Offer Trail of 48 km and the Tsitsikamma Trail of 72 km, both offer the well-trained hiker an experience of a unique plant and animal world. Some indigenous Yellowwood trees still exist here, over 800 years old. Besides the diverse bird life, one can also observe smaller mammal species, the cute dassies for example, which often graze near the beach.

Addo Elephant National Park
Now the third largest national park in South Africa, Addo Elephant National Park has expanded to conserve a wide diversity of biodiversity, landscapes, fauna and flora. Stretching from the semi-arid karoo area in the north around Darlington Dam, over the rugged Zuurberg Mountains, through the Sundays River valley and south to the coast between Sundays River mouth and Bushman's river mouth, Addo covers about 180 000 hectares (444 700 acres) and includes the Bird and St Croix Island groups.

The original elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only sixteen elephants remained in the area. Today this finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 550 elephants, lions, buffalo, black rhino, spotted hyena, leopard, a variety of antelope and zebra species, as well as the unique Addo flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. And their Addo has only just begun, with plans to expand the Park into a 264 000 hectare (652 300 acre) mega-park. In addition, plans include the proposed proclamation of a 120 000 hectare (296 500 acre) marine protected area that includes islands that are home to the world's largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and largest breeding population of endangered African penguins. In addition, plans include the proposed proclamation of a 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) marine reserve that includes islands that are home to the world's largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.

Zululand
Zululand is a historic region and home of the Zulus. It covers 25,900 km² and is located in Kwa Zulu- Natal, surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the east, by Mozambique in the north, and by Swaziland in the west.

The terrain rises from a low coastal plain to the foothills of the Drakensberg range. Although some corn is grown, the Zulu economy depends primarily on cattle raising. Tourists can go snorkeling or do some game viewing in one of the several game and forest reserves. Zululand is home to several hundreds of bird species, many antelopes, cheetahs, hippos, giraffes and of course of the famous big five: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. But the main attraction is the Zulus themselves with their interesting culture, traditions and lifestyles.

SWAZILAND
The Kingdom of Swaziland (Umbuso weSwatini), sometimes called Ngwane, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south, and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th century king Mswati II. Swaziland is a small country, no more than 200 km north to south and 130 km east to west. The western half is mountainous, descending to a lowveld region to the east. The eastern border with Mozambique and South Africa is dominated by the escarpment of the Lebombo Mountains. The climate is temperate in the west, but may reach 40 degrees in summer in the lowveld. Rainfall occurs mainly in the summer and may reach 2 m in the west. The area that Swaziland now covers has been continuously inhabited since prehistory. Today, the population is primarily ethnic Swazis whose language is siSwati, though English is spoken as a second language. The Swazi people descend from the southern Bantu who migrated from Central Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Anglo Boer war saw Britain make Swaziland a protectorate under its direct control. Swaziland gained independence in 1968. Swaziland is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The head of state is the king, who appoints the prime minister and a small number of representatives for both chambers of parliament. Elections are held every five years to determine the majority of the representatives. A new constitution was adopted in 2005.

LESOTHO
Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km² in size with an estimated population of almost 1,800,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is the southernmost landlocked country in the world. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name "Lesotho" translates roughly into "the land of the people who speak Sesotho". Lesotho covers 30,355 km2 (11,720 sq mi). It is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) in elevation. Its lowest point of 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) is thus the highest in the world. Over 80% of the country lies above 1,800 metres (5,906 ft). Lesotho is also landlocked and is entirely contained within the country of South Africa.

Top   

Top          Return to Budget Safari Packages

                       

                                                 

African Safari - Home          Site Map          Currency Converter          Search          Links          Blog          Africa Weather          Budget Safaris          Photo Safaris

Botswana Safari          Kenya Safari          Malawi Safari          Mozambique Safari          Namibia Safari          Rwanda Safari          Seychelles Islands

South Africa Safari          Tanzania Safari          Zambia Safari          Zimbabwe Safari

Safari Map          About Us          Our African Safaris          Scheduled Safaris          Rates and Pricing          Planning          News          FAQ's          Photography          Contact Us