South Africa in Depth

Arrive to Johannesburg, overnight at airport hotel
On arrival into Johannesburg Airport you will make your way outside of the arrivals hall and take the complimentary shuttle service to your airport hotel.

Transfer from the airport to hotel
At the appropriate time today you will take the complimentary airport shuttle from your airport hotel back to Johannesburg Airport for your onward flight.

Makutsi Classic Package
Makutsi Main Camp is set on about 10 hectares of tropical and landscaped gardens that provide guests with plenty of quiet places to relax and take in the surroundings. The camp is rustic, clean and well organized, offering privacy and personal attention to each and every guest. Nestled among indigenous trees, Makutsi offers two warm thermal mineral water pools and a number of activities for guests, allowing for adventure and relaxation to be combined.

First Day: Arrive at Makutsi Safari Springs
On arrival at Hoedspruit Airport, our representative will pick you up and transfer you approximately 1 hour to the safari lodge. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon relaxing and getting to know the camp and the mineral springs. Dinner is served this evening in the traditional open air "Lapa".

Dinner included.

Second Day: Game Drive Activities
Before breakfast our ranger will take you for a 3-hour morning game drive in an open Land Rover. Most of the African wildlife can be encountered here, including elephant, rhino, zebra, lion, giraffe, crocodile, hippo, leopard...the list goes on! Return for breakfast, you deserve a rest and time to enjoy the Makutsi Springs.

In the early afternoon, depart for another 3-hour game drive before returning in time for a sundowner at the Makutsi Lapa.

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Third Day: Kruger National Park
Depart at 5am for a full day’s game viewing in the world famous Kruger National Park. The early hours of the day are used for finding as much game as possible. Your guide will take a picnic style breakfast along, and a stop is made at one of the many rest areas to enjoy it. After breakfast, you will head off on more game exploration until lunch time (at your own expense), when you stop at one of the camps inside the Kruger National Park.

After lunch, head off again for more game viewing before returning to Makutsi around 4-5pm.

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Fourth Day: Simba Safari
This morning is at your leisure. Enjoy the warm mineral pools or your own private safari while sitting on your terrace, reading a good book.

Depart Makutsi at 3pm for a 5-hour game drive. Around sunset, light snacks and drinks will be enjoyed during a short Sundowner break. After snacks, continue your safari in search of the various nocturnal animals. Take a jacket along in winter, as it can get chilly once the sun disappears. Return to Makutsi Main Camp around 8pm when dinner will be served.

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Fifth Day: Drakensberg Mountains and Blyde River Canyon
After breakfast depart at 9am for a day of sightseeing in the breathtaking Drakensberg Mountains and Blyde River Canyon. Several stops are made along the way, including the Bourke’s Luck Potholes and the Three Rondavels viewpoint overlooking the Blyde Dam. Changes to the itinerary may be made subject to weather conditions.

A lunch stop will be made (at own expense) before returning to Makutsi around 4-5pm. This day offers opportunities to purchase locally made crafts and curios.

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Sixth Day: Game Drive in the Game Reserve
Enjoy your third 3-hour game drive in an open landrover on the Makutsi Game Reserve, either early in the morning or in the afternoon. For the remainder of the day, enjoy relaxing in the pools, reading on your terrace, visiting the Hippo Hide... whatever you wish!

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Seventh Day: Departure
After breakfast this morning you will say goodbye to Makutsi as you are transferred back to the airport for your onward flight.

- Please note this is a sample itinerary and may be subject to change, you will receive your final itinerary on day of arrival.

Breakfast included.

Arrive in Cape Town
On arrival into Cape Town Airport you will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel.

Cape Town's most distinctive feature is its stunning setting: it lies on a dramatic coastline of pristine white beaches and ice waters, overlooked by the iconic flat-topped Table Mountain. Its attractions cover the natural world and the country's fascinating history in equal measure.

Breakfast included.

Cape Town City Tour
Departing between 8 and 8.30am, experience the highlights of the city as your drive through the city centre takes you past famous landmarks such as the Castle of Good Hope, City Hall and the Grand Parade. As your guide follows the city’s main thoroughfare of Adderley Street, you will see St. George’s Cathedral, before passing the Company Gardens and then the Malay Quarter (also known as the Bo-Kaap).

Continue to join a sparkling tour, during which you’ll witness the art of diamond cutting while discovering the history of the diamond and gold trade in South Africa. You will then be offered the option of continuing to Table Mountain, where you can ascend to the top (weather permitting) by revolving cable car (cost excluded and for your own account). See wildflowers, the famous silver tree, and marvel at a birds-eye view of the city and its beaches. On a clear day it is even possible to see Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on one side and Cape Point on the other.

* Please note that the Table Mountain Cableway will be closed for annual maintenance from the 15th of July until the 1st of September 2024. Weather permitting, the Cableway will re-open on the 2nd of September. During the closure, we will include a drive to Signal Hill to take in the amazing views of Table mountain from there.

Breakfast included.

Cape Point & Peninsula Tour
The tour commences with a pick up at your hotel between approximately 8:00am and 8:30am. Travel along the Atlantic Seaboard via Sea Point, Clifton and Camps Bay, stopping at a Llandudno look-out point before continuing to Hout Bay, a quaint village and fishing harbour with magnificent mountain views and beach. On through Chapman's Peak, one of the world's most breathtaking coastal drives, to Cape Point and the Good Hope Nature Reserve, which has magnificent fynbos vegetation, birdlife, endemic antelope species and zebra, historic lighthouses and shipwrecks. Cape Point is perceived to be the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

After lunch at a nearby restaurant (not included in cost), go on to historic Simon's Town, a village with charming Victorian architecture, a naval base and a large penguin colony at the beautiful Boulders Beach. Boulders Penguin Colony is home to a growing colony of the vulnerable African Penguin. Wooden walkways allow visitors to view the penguins in their natural habitat and there is also a new information centre.

You then make your way to visit the well-known Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The Garden is one of eight National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes. When Kirstenbosch, the most famous of the gardens, was founded in 1913 to preserve the country's unique flora, it was the first botanical garden in the world with this ethos. The garden is world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape Flora it displays and for the magnificence of its setting against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. You will be returned to your hotel at approximately 17:30.

Breakfast included.

Garden Route, Safari & Winelands
Discover the stunning South African Garden Route on this 6-day circuit which will see you travel from Cape Town and explore a private game reserve to spot the Big 5. The circuit finishes off with a visit to the picturesque village of Franschhoek in the world-famous Cape Winelands.
Day 1: Cape Town to Oudsthoorn
This morning you will be collected from your hotel by the tour guide. Depart Cape Town for the ‘Little Karoo’, travelling via Montagu, a picturesque spa town. Enjoy tea and scones at the only original Art Deco Hotel in South Africa. Stop off in the town of Barrydale, where we will have the opportunity to visit a local farm school, interact with the children and teachers, spend time with them in the classroom, learning more about this rural community. A portion of the trip monies goes towards our Barrydale Farm School Development Fund, which supports the local education of underprivileged children in rural communities. (The school visit is subject to the school being open). Sample top quality port style wines in Calitzdorp, before continuing to Oudtshoorn, the ‘ostrich feather capital’ and centre of the world’s Ostrich farming industry. Overnight in Oudtshoorn. Enjoy dinner at an Ostrich Farm, dining on local specialities.

Distance travelled today: 418 kms

Dinner included.

Day 2: Oudtshoorn to Knysna
After breakfast take a tour of the spectacular limestone caverns of the Cango Caves, one of the world’s great natural wonders, sculpted by nature through the ages. Return to Oudtshoorn for a fun-filled interactive tour and light lunch at an Ostrich Farm, including local specialities such as Ostrich Steak. Our journey continues over the scenic Outeniqua Pass to George, the administrative hub of the Garden Route area and then onto Knysna, known as the oyster box of South Africa, nestling on the banks of a beautiful lagoon in the heart of the Garden Route. Along the way, visit the ‘Map of Africa’, an extraordinary viewpoint in the Wilderness.

Distance travelled today: 204 kms

Breakfast and Lunch included.

Day 3: Knysna - Plettenberg Bay - Knysna
After a leisurely breakfast, drive through the Tsitsikamma Forests. Explore this breathtaking stretch of the Garden Route, where mountains, indigenous forests, deep gorges, and lush vegetation hug the rugged coastline of cliffs and sandy beaches. Visit the spectacular Tsitsikamma National Park and Storms River Mouth (weather permitting). In the afternoon you’ll return to Knysna, with a stop in Plettenberg Bay, originally christened "Bahia Formosa" (beautiful bay) by early Portuguese explorers. There is an option (for own account and subject to availability) to visit Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary, where you will be able to see a variety of primates, roaming free in the forest. A portion of the trip price of this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience, goes towards ensuring that these already endangered species can survive and reproduce for a future reintroduction into the wild. The experience directly advances UN Global Goal 15: Life on Land. There is also an option. (for own account and subject to availability) to visit the Birds of Eden Sanctuary, the biggest single free-flight aviary in the world. A portion of the trip price of this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience goes towards protecting genetically pure species of various Taxa in a semi-wild state and to hold the seeds of these Taxa for future reintroduction into the wild. The experience directly advances UN Global Goal 15: Life on Land. Lunch will be enjoyed en route. Overnight in Knysna.

Distance travelled today: 200 kms

Breakfast and Lunch included.

Day 4: Knysna to Albertinia
After a leisurely breakfast, travel via George and Mossel Bay to Albertinia, a town set against the backdrop of the majestic Langeberg Mountain Range. En route, enjoy a leisurely walk or swim at Victoria Bay, one of the smallest and most beautiful bays along the Garden Route. Join an afternoon open vehicle game drive, at a malaria free private game reserve, that is home to an abundance of animal and birdlife, including the Big Five. Enjoy a relaxed dinner of safari cuisine, discussing the day’s game viewing. Overnight in the region of Albertinia.

Distance travelled today: 150 kms

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Day 5: Albertinia to Hermanus
Our safari adventure continues with an early morning open vehicle game drive. Our expert guide will endeavour to spoil us with sightings of the ‘Big Five’, general game and prolific bird life. Leaving the bush behind, our journey will take us to the picturesque Cape Dutch town of Swellendam. This charming town was founded in 1745 and is famous for its youngberries, eclectic architecture, and National Parks, as well as outdoor activities. Our journey further continues to the seaside resort of Hermanus, known as the heart of the whale route, offering the best land-based whale watching (August to November) in the world. Dinner at the Heritage Restaurant, one of the oldest fisherman’s cottages in Hermanus, where delectable dishes are created using seasonal, local produce. Overnight in Hermanus.

Distance travelled today: 370 kms

Breakfast and Dinner included.

Day 6: Hermanus to Cape Town
After a leisurely breakfast depart Hermanus and travel to Franschhoek, a picturesque village surrounded by spectacular vineyards, where French Huguenots settled more than 300 years ago, bringing with them their age-old French wine and food culture. Our guide will take us on a tour through Franschhoek village, sharing with us the fascinating history of the French Huguenots, then drive past the Victor Verster prison, where Nelson Mandela was released in 1990. Finally, onto Cape Town, the oldest city in South Africa, spectacularly set at the foot of Table Mountain where the tour ends on arrival with a drop off at your hotel.

Distance travelled today: 180 kms

Breakfast included.

Depart Cape Town
At the scheduled time this morning our representative will pick you up from your hotel and transfer you to Cape Town Airport for your departure flight.

Breakfast included.