The Very Best of South Africa

AN EXCLUSIVE 20 DAY FULLY ESCORTED TOUR - PRICES START FROM £5,045

You see lions, elephants, seals and whales, oysters and ostriches, fine wines and waterfalls, rugged mountain peaks and pristine beaches. Few places on earth have a greater variety of natural beauty or more to offer.

And on this tour you experience the very best. Cape Town and Table Mountain … the Winelands region’s historic homesteads and monuments … the glorious Garden Route … a safari with game drives at Kapama River Lodge – and that’s not all. You see Johannesburg and Pretoria before visiting mighty Victoria Falls. Make sure you bring your camera.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

• City sightseeing tours of Cape Town, Johannesburg & Pretoria

• Cable car ride to the top of Table Mountain

• Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point, Cape Peninsula National Park

• Full day touring the Winelands, including a picnic lunch

• Scenic Garden Route

• Guided tour through the Cango Caves

• Tsitsikamma National Park

• 3 nights private game reserve including several game drives

• 3 nights at the luxury Royal Livingstone Hotel, Victoria Falls

PRE-BOOKABLE HOLIDAY EXCURSIONS FROM £18 PER PERSON

Robben Island Museum

This is where Nelson Mandela – and before him many others – were imprisoned over three centuries. But there is much more to its fascinating story – and today it is a World Heritage Site and museum, a poignant reminder of the price of freedom.

Prices from £18 per person

Panorama Route Tour

Panorama is exactly the word! You see the Blyde River Canyon - the world’s third largest - the extraordinary rock formations at Bourke’s Luck Potholes, God’s Window, with its astounding views of waterfalls, canyons, mountainsides - and the old Goldrush town of Pilgrim’s Rest. An excellent lunch at Harrie’s Pancakes, too.

Prices from £91 per person

Flights of Angels

Now this is the way to see the Victoria Falls - from the air. Their sheer size and grandeur becomes so much clearer. This helicopter flight takes you over the Falls and the mighty Zambezi River. It doesn’t take long, but the experience is absolutely unforgettable.

Prices from £102 per person

Chobe National Park, Botswana

Your first thrill is crossing the Zambezi River by boat where Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia meet. Then comes a morning game viewing cruise on the Chobe, with great flocks of birds, pods of hippos and very large crocodiles all around. You lunch overlooking the River and plains beyond then take a game drive in an open safari vehicle to the Zambezi where you cross back to Livingstone.

Prices from £145 per person

EXTEND YOUR HOLIDAY 5 NIGHTS FROM £3,395 PER PERSON

Botswana

2 Nights - Eagle Island Camp

• Return flights and transfers.

• 2 nights Standard Tent at Eagle Island Camp, Okavango Delta, with daily breakfast, lunch and dinner.

• 3 nights Standard Tent at Khwai River Lodge, Moremi Wildlife Reserve or 3 nights Standard Tent at Savute Elephant Camp, Chobe National Park (daily breakfast, lunch and dinner included at each camp/lodge).

• Orient Express properties throughout.

A unique two-in-one wildlife adventure with the luxury of Orient Express at Eagle Island Camp you overlook a lagoon surrounded by tranquil waterways with crocodile, hippo, waterbucks, fish - and swooping fish eagles. You take two open vehicle game drives and a helicopter safari – then choose between two Orient Express sites for thrills – and luxury.

Choose Between

Moremi Wildlife Reserve

3 Nights - Khwai River Lodge

An ensuite bathroom with your tent? A minibar? Yes. As you’d expect from Orient Express, this is safari de luxe …but also near one of Botswana’s largest concentrations of predators.

Or

Chobe National Park

3 Nights - Savute Elephant Camp

“If you love elephants it would be hard to beat” is one comment. And if you love luxury – Orient Express won’t fail you. Air conditioned tents, ensuite bathroom. Safari perfection.

Day 1 Departure from London Heathrow

At Heathrow you meet your companions and your Tour Manager – with you throughout your tour, a feature unique to Journeys of Distinction. Enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks in the executive lounge. Then, relax on your South African Airways flight to Cape Town.

Meals: Inflight

Day 2 Cape Town

After arriving at your hotel, relax and get yourself settled before gathering with your fellow travellers for Afternoon High Tea. You have the day to explore and enjoy the shops, sights and restaurants before we gather for drinks and get to know each other.

Meals: Inflight

Hotel: Mount Nelson

Day 3 Cape Town

You tour Cape Town, starting with South Africa’s oldest building, the Castle of Good Hope. Then you go by cable car (weather permitting) to the top of Table Mountain with its breathtaking panorama of the city, Table Bay, Robben Island and the Atlantic and most of Cape Peninsula. You also see the old Malay Quarter with its Mosques, steep cobbled streets and brightly coloured traditional buildings before going to the magnificent Bloubergstrand beach.

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Mount Nelson

Day 4 Cape Peninsula

This morning a beautiful drive beside the sea to wind-protected Hout Bay. If the sea is calm you sail to Duiker Island with its thousands of seals and cormorants before taking the spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive to Cape Peninsula National Park. This natural paradise with breathtaking views is rich in flora and fauna, with over 150 bird species After lunch you visit Boulders Beach Penguin Colony and the beautiful old naval hamlet of Simon’s Town.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Hotel: Mount Nelson

Day 5 Stellenbosch

Today you tour the Cape Winelands Some vineyards are 300 years old and the beauty of their old Cape Dutch farmhouses with their gables, thatched roofs and white washed walls often comes as a surprise. First there’s a scenic drive to the Franschoek Valley halting at the Huguenot Memorial & Museum before a wine tasting at one of the finest wine estates. This is followed by a splendid picnic lunch on the lawns of a local estate (weather permitting). Then comes historic Stellenbosch with its broad oak- shaded streets before returning to Cape Town.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Hotel: Mount Nelson

Day 6 Cape Town

Spend your day exploring Cape Town and the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Mount Nelson

Day 7 Garden Route

We take the beautiful Garden Route to enjoy lunch in a restaurant in Mossel Bay with its glorious beaches and 500 year-old Old Post Office Tree.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Hotel: Fancourt

Day 8 Oudtshoorn

Via the scenic Outeniqua Pass we go to Oudtshoorn, the world’s ‘feather capital’. First we visit the Ostrich Farm, before continuing to see Cango Caves. Here you tour a vast Cave system of fairyland halls and tunnels formed by over 20 million years of rainwater.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Hotel: Fancourt

Day 9 Garden Route to Durban

Today we make our way from George to Port Elizabeth in time for our flight to Durban. On arrival into Durban, we transfer to your hotel where you will stay for the next 2 nights.

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Beverley Hills

Day 10 Durban

Today you can either take an optional excursion, or simply relax in the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Beverley Hills

Day 11 Durban to Kapama

You fly via Johannesburg to Hoedspruit. Then take open jeeps to he Kapama Game Reserve, leaving in the late afternoon to search for the 'Big Five', then dinner for which you’ll have built up a real appetite.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Kapama River Lodge

Day 12 Kapama

The African dawn breaks – then comes another game drive followed by breakfast, and time to take it easy around the lodge, which is beside a river in the most exotic setting you could imagine. Later before dusk, another thrilling game drive, followed by dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Hotel: Kapama River Lodge

Day 13 Kapama

An early start for another chance to look for the ‘Big Five’ of Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Buffalo and elephant!

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Hotel: Kapama River Lodge

Day 14 Kapama to Johannesburg

You have time for one more early morning game drive before leaving with memories of an extraordinary experience to go back to Johannesburg.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Westcliff

Day 15 Johannesburg & Pretoria

This morning we depart for a tour of the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg. Visit the Apartheid Museum and take a glimpse at Soweto’s bustling neighbourhood life.

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Westcliff

Day 16 Johannesburg to Victoria Falls

In the morning you fly to Livingstone, Zambia and the Royal Livingstone Hotel on the banks of the mighty Zambezi. As one visitor commented, “Colonial splendour doesn't get any better” than the Royal Livingstone. The rest of your day is at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Royal Livingstone

Day 17 Victoria Falls

In the 19th century the Kololo tribe called the Victoria Falls ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ - ‘the Smoke that thunders’. You can understand why, when columns of spray can be seen up to 25 miles away – and at the height of their flow 546 million cubic metres of water per minute plummet over the edge. This morning you take a walking tour to discover its magnitude, grace and beauty, with the afternoon free to do whatever you like. This evening you look for hippopotamus, crocodile and elephant on a sunset cruise, before enjoying a sumptuous dinner on the lawns of the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Hotel: Royal Livingstone

Day 18 Victoria Falls

Spend the day as you please. Relax in your hotel, pop over to Zimbabwe for a different view of the Falls, or take a trip to Botswana’s Chobe National Park. You could go fishing for tigerfish in the Zambezi, or go up the river for some spectacular close-up game viewing. For the ultimate experience try a Micro-lite or helicopter ride over the Falls. Your hotel offers a great trip on a motor boat to one of the islands on the edge of the Falls where you have a lunch made just for you

Meals: Breakfast

Hotel: Royal Livingstone

Day 19 Victoria Falls to London Heathrow

Relax and have a leisurely morning before you depart for your flight to Johannesburg and your onward connecting flight to London Heathrow

Meals: Breakfast, Inflight

Day 20 Arrival into London Heathrow

You arrive at Heathrow in the morning - time to make your farewells and end your African adventure.

Meals: Inflight

Destination introduction

The sheer diversity of South Africa will astound you. More flowers and plants, more animals, more languages, more cultures, more sunshine, more spectacular scenery – and an abundance of fine wines. It is a land of natural abundance where you will find more ways to enjoy yourself than you can imagine.

Did you know? Vilakazi Street in Soweto is the only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace prize winners: Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu