8-Day Highlights of South Africa; Wildlife and Scenery Tour – Johannesburg to Cape Town

Our 8-day highlights of South Africa is the perfect guided package to see the most popular wildlife and diverse scenery in little over a week! Also included is the Panorama Route. The tour departs daily from both Cape Town and Johannesburg.

DAY 1. Johannesburg – Kruger National Park (wildlife and scenery)

This tour specializes in the major wildlife and scenic areas of South Africa! We commence with a drive eastwards via Witbank and Middelburg to Nelspruit and enter the Kruger National Park in the south. Our encounter with the wildlife starts here. At the end of an exciting afternoon, we enter our camp for dinner and overnight. The accommodation in the camps is free-standing round ‘rondavel’ type rooms with air-conditioning and an en-suite bathroom.

DAY 2.  Big Five Kruger National Park Tour

Today is devoted to game viewing as we search above all for the ‘Big Five’ animals (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo).  After another exciting day in the wild, we reach our camp at sunset for dinner and overnight. Some may want to do a night drive in an open game-viewing vehicle utilising high powered spotlights to find the nocturnal animals (optional).

DAY 3. Kruger National Park – Panoramic Route – Hazyview

After a final game drive and breakfast, we exit the park and drive via Klaserie and the Abel Erasmus Pass to the Escarpment, entering the Panoramic Route. Visit the Blyde River Canyon, Bourke’s Luck Potholes, God’s Window and Pinnacle Rock. Travel via Graskop to our hotel. Overnight at Angels View Hotel.

DAY 4. Pilgrim’s Rest – JNB – Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)

Breakfast and afterwards travel to the national heritage town of Pilgrim’s Rest. We take a walk through the main street and get transferred to the late 19th century when this little village was bustling with activity due to the alluvial gold found here. From here, we return via Robber’s Pass and reach Johannesburg International Airport late afternoon for your flight to Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), where you are met at the airport and transferred to your hotel. Overnight at Fifth Avenue Beach House.

DAY 5. Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) – Garden Route

Today we continue on the scenic part of the 8-day highlights of South Africa! Depart from Gqeberha, also called the ‘Friendly City’ to the Storms River with the impressive Paul Sauer Bridge across the valley towering some hundred and thirty- nine metres above the river. Your next stop is at Tsitsikamma National Park (Khoisan for the place of much water), stretching over one hundred kilometres of wild and rocky coastline characterized by massive cliffs, narrow, isolated beaches, and shady indigenous forests along the river valleys. Travel further to The Bloukrans Bridge, 216 meters (709 feet) above the Bloukrans River. The Bloukrans Bungee is the world’s highest commercial bungee bridge and is the highest commercial natural bungee jump in the world!

Before entering Plettenberg Bay, we visit the Birds of Eden. This unique two-hectare dome (the world’s largest) spans over a gorge of indigenous forest. It is currently home to over 3,500 birds from over 220 species, focusing on African birds. Then a short visit to Monkeyland, the world’s first free-roaming multi-species primate sanctuary. On this visit, you can expect to see various primates, ranging from the Gibbons of Asia to the Lemurs of Madagascar. More than 700 primates live at the sanctuary. Travelling past Plettenberg Bay to Knysna on the edge of the Knysna Lagoon with its entrance to the sea guarded by two promontories known as the ‘Heads’. Knysna offers shopping opportunities for unusual locally made art and craft. Overnight at Stannards Guest Lodge or similar in Knysna. Dinner included today

DAY 6. Knysna – George – Oudtshoorn

Spend the morning exploring Knysna, including a visit to the “Heads”. Knysna offers shopping opportunities for unusual locally made art and crafts, etc. This afternoon we experience some of the most magical views on the Garden Route and Wilderness National Park, offering scenic viewpoints along the way. Travel over the Outeniqua Mountains to the Little Karoo. Here we visit the Cango Wildlife Ranch and Valley of Ancients, above all an endangered species breeding facility extraordinaire. Then we travel to the town of Oudtshoorn. Overnight at La Plume Lodge.

DAY 7. Oudtshoorn – Mossel Bay

After breakfast you visit an Ostrich Show Farm for some unique experiences with these strange birds. You visit the Cango caves, regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost natural wonders. The fascinating calcite caves comprises an underground wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites. Visit Oudtshoorn, also called the “Feather capital” of the world, as over ninety percent of the world’s ostrich farms are found here. Continue to Mossel Bay where you spend the night. Overnight at Aquamarine Guest House.

DAY 8. Mossel Bay – Hermanus – Cape Town

You visit arguably the oldest post office in Africa, the Post Office Tree and the site of the first landfall, made by the Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias in 1488. Continue to Hermanus, the best place in the World to spot Whales from land – (July to Dec). After lunch you depart for Cape Town via the beautiful coastal route between Hermanus and Gordon’s Bay, arriving late afternoon.