CAPE TOWN/ STELLENBOSCH/ PAARL/ OUTDSHOORN/ GEORGE/ DURBAN/PONGOLA GR/ DURBAN
Day 1
The day of departure is always a good one. Today your stomach will lead the way. Travel to the airport and board your flight to Africa; don’t worry about the onboard catering, it will soon be replaced by proper food.
INTERNATIONAL AIR TRAVEL
Day 2
Arriving in Cape Town, you will either be met by your guide or pick up your hire car and transfer into the city centre to the Grand Daddy Hotel, your charismatic base for the next three nights. Located on Long Street in the heart of the city, this is the perfect place from which to sample all of the delights of South Africa’s Mother City. If your arrival time allows, head down to the V&A Waterfront to sample a few of the delights on offer.
GRAND DADDY HOTEL – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY
Day 3
After an early breakfast, you will take the trip to the top of Table Mountain to get a true perspective on the city and its place in the Cape. Depending on your fitness, take the cable car or one of the many footpaths. The effort is worth it. Afterwards, drive north for one hour along the dramatic Atlantic coast to the San peoples’ cultural centre of !Kwa ttu. The San people are Africa’s oldest inhabitants and have endured many hundreds of years of persecution by both the Europeans and the bantu Africans. This centre, a functioning game reserve staffed by the San, offers a tantalising insight their way of life and a chance to experience a walking safari led by your own San guide. In the evening, eat at the famous Die Strandloper restaurant before returning to Cape Town.
GRAND DADDY – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY
Day 4
Today will be dedicated to the Malay influence on Cape Town and South Africa’s heritage, an influence that bought with it a great array of spice and fruit to an otherwise often dour colonial palate. Visit Bo Kaap, the brightly coloured Malay Quarter nestling in a fold of Signal Hill. If the time is right, visit the monthly food and craft market, the mosques and museums. In the evening you will take dinner at one of Cape Town’s best restaurants known for it’s Malay Cuisine.
GRAND DADDY – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY
Day 5 & 6
These next two days are dedicated to exploring the wine lands of Constantia, Stellenbosch and Paarl. Based at the beautiful Lanzerac Hotel & Spa, you will experience in detail the vineyards that have over the past three hundred years produced wines of world renown. Guided group tours will have a set itinerary, but self-drive trips are free to compile their own bacchinalian route.
LANZERAC – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY
Day 7
Today you will head east, following the famous Route 62, moving inland towards the hotter open spaces of Oudtshoorn. The landscape may remind you of parts of Portugal and this would not be a mistake because Oudtshoorn is port country. It is also on the edge of the Karoo and so offers wonderful lamb and a fondness for ostrich. You will stay at Buffelsdrift, a spectacular waterside location with one of the best restaurants in the southern cape. Dinner is included for the first night, but the second is left free for you to choose.
BUFFELSDRIFT – HALF BOARD
Day 8
Explore the area; perhaps drive down to the coast and Plettenberg Bay; drop into Knysna to sample to oysters (south Africa’s best, they say) or go into the desert for a sparse contrast to the opulence of what has gone before.
BUFFELSDRIFT – BREAKFAST 7 OVERNIGHT STAY
Day 9
Time for a change: from the sophisticated south it is now time to journey to the wilds of northern KwaZulu-Natal, but don’t worry: the grub is good up there as well. Northern Zululand is game meat territory. Drive to George where you will fly to Durban and to drive north through fields of green sugar cane into the wooded savannah of Northern Zululand. Your destination is the White Elephant Safari Lodge, a luxury lodge located in the Pongola Game Reserve on the shores of Lake Jozini. The lodge is a wonderful little secret that we are only too happy to share with you. Arrive in time for the traditional High Tea before going for an evening game drive. Stopping at a scenic spot for the requisite ‘sundowner’, you will return to the lodge to prepare for your first dinner in the bush.
WHITE ELEPHANT SAFARI LODGE – FULL BOARD – 1 ACTIVITY
Day 10 & 11
Days in the Reserve start early to enjoy the wildlife at its best. 2 activities a day are provided and you can choose from a boat safari, a game drive and a foot safari. Each shows the reserve in a different way and allows you to focus on different aspects: the elephants, the rhino, the birds, or just the majesty of the landscape. Breakfast follows the morning activity and then the middle of the day is yours to relax as you wish; during this trip, it will be possible to visit the Reserve butchery to see how the meat is processed and stored. High Tea is varies between 2.30pm and 3.30pm depending on the time of year, after which there is another activity. Dinner follows drinks by the fire in the soft Zululand night.
WHITE ELEPHANT SAFARI LODGE – FULL BOARD – 2 ACTIVITIES PER DAY
DAY 12
After a final morning activity and breakfast, you will return to Durban, the vibrant provincial capital. Known for its Indian population, you final meal will be the best of that cuisine, introducing you to the special Durban flavour. You will stay at Quarters, a stylishly renovated Edwardian merchant’s residence in the heart of the city.
QUARTERS – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY
Day 13
All good things must come to an end. Today you will return to King Shaka International Airport and your flight home.
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
Day 14
Land in the UK with happy taste buds and perhaps a few culinary souveniers. Welcome back soon, there is so much more to try.
