On arrival in Johannesburg you are warmly met by our representative who will assist you to check in for your flight to Hoedspruit. From Hoedspruit airport, you are transferred by road to your lodge in the Balule Private Game Reserve. There is time to settle in at your lodge before you set off on your first game drive.

Your stay at Balule is by own arrangement.

Flight time – Johannesburg to Hoedspruit: approx. 1 hour

Transfer time – Hoedspruit airport to Ezulwini River Lodge: approx. 1 hours

The unique Kruger National Park and the world-renowned private game reserves that border it together make the Greater Kruger area one of the largest wildlife conservancies in the world.

The Kruger National Park was established in 1898 and is the oldest National Park in Africa. The 2-million hectare Park provides sanctuary to 147 mammal species, including the Big Five, as well as over 500 bird species. The Kruger National Park has more than its fair share of the Big Five, with an estimated 1,500 lion, 12,000 elephant, 2,500 buffalo, 1,000 leopards and 5,000 rhino. Cheetah, wild dog, spotted hyena, hippopotamus, giraffe, zebra, warthog and many antelope species are also regularly seen on game drives.

Boundary fences have been dropped between Kruger and its neighbouring private game reserves, such as Sabi Sands, Timbavati, Klaserie and Manyaleti, meaning that the animals are free-roaming over an area the size of Switzerland, resulting in an immense gene pool. Kruger is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies.

After your morning game drive, you are collected from your lodge and transferred by road to Hoedspruit airport where you check in for your flight to Cape Town. On arrival in Cape Town you are transferred to your luxury hotel in the Cape Town Waterfront for your four night stay.

Transfer time – Ezulwini Lodge to Hoedspruit: approx. 1½ hours

Flight time – Hoedspruit to Cape Town: approx. 2 hours and 40 minutes

Transfer time – Cape Town Airport to hotel in Cape Town: approx. 35 minutes

Explore the Mother City and the Fairest Cape – from the oldest buildings in South Africa to trendy waterfront shopping; from majestic Table Mountain to sun drenched beaches; and from dramatic seascapes to verdant vineyards. Cape Town regularly tops many lists of world must-visit destinations and Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain has recently been voted one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Cosmopolitan and fashionable, the relaxed atmosphere and pavement café culture give Cape Town a Southern European feel – but with a distinctive African twist.

Over the next few days, you enjoy private tours of Cape Town City and Table Mountain, highlights of the Peninsula and Constantia Winelands as well as to Hermanus for a whale watching boat trip.

This morning is an early start as you are collected from your hotel at 07h30 and transferred to Cape Town airport where you check in for your flight to Maun.

On arrival at Maun airport, you connect with your light aircraft flight to the airstrip near to your camp in the Okavango Delta. From here you are transferred by game-viewing vehicle or by boat (depending on water levels) from the airstrip to your camp.

Transfer time – Cape Town hotel to Cape Town airport: approx. 35 minutes

Flight time – Cape Town to Maun: 2 hours 30 minutes

Flight time – Maun airport to airstrip near your camp at the Delta: approx. 30 minutes

The Okavango Delta in Botswana with its richly diverse wildlife species is one of the premium destinations in the world for a dynamic safari experience. This 22,000 square kilometre area offers a truly unique wilderness safari in Africa. The Delta forms where the Okavango River disappears beneath the sands of Botswana.

Although the periphery is semi-arid, the Okavango Delta itself is a patchwork of cool clear streams, lagoons, floodplains and forested islands. In the dry winter season vast numbers of wildlife flock to where the floodwaters infiltrate the delta, providing one of the world’s most spectacular sights. The world-renowned Moremi Game Reserve covers part of the Delta and is known as the 'predator capital of Africa'. It is also home to the Big Five and large herds of elephant and buffalo. Famed for its big cat and bird population, the Delta is a peaceful haven where animals have been protected for decades. Watch giraffe and other plains game march across the savannah. You might even catch a glimpse of rare wild dogs stalking the plains. Wide grassy floodplains are host to a magnificent array of wild animals, including the specially adapted sitatunga and lechwe antelopes.

Within this lacework of channels, game viewing and bird watching is frequently guided from mokoro (dugout canoes) or more commonly, environmentally-friendly fibreglass replicas. In these slender flat-bottomed craft, guests are propelled by expert polers, many of whom were born in the Okavango Delta and know the winding waterways and their inhabitants intimately.

This morning you are transferred from your lodge (time to be confirmed by lodge) to the airstrip near the camp for your light aircraft shuttle flight to Kasane airport. On arrival in Kasane, you are transferred to your lodge in Victoria Falls where you check in for a two night stay.

Flight time – Okavango Delta Airstrip to Kasane: approx. 50 minutes

Transfer time – Kasane Airport to your lodge in Victoria Falls: approx. 2 ½ hours

Besides being one of the seven natural wonders of the world and a World Heritage Site, Victoria Falls is the unchallenged adventure capital of Africa with more than 50 activities available.

At 1708 metres wide, Victoria Falls is the most expansive curtain of water in the world and drops more than 100 metres into the sheer Zambezi Gorge. Straddling the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, these Falls and the Zambezi River are the central points in an area of spectacular scenic beauty: from the Falls themselves to the broad, picturesque course of the Zambezi River upstream, the rainforest adjacent and the stark jagged gorge downstream, the power and timelessness of nature's forces are evident throughout.

The Falls’ local name, Mosi-Oa-Tunya - "the Smoke that Thunders" - more accurately defines the essence of the place: the rising, shining spray that can be seen 30km away. This vapour has the effect of adding moisture in the form of humidity to the air in the "splash zone", so that a unique, small rainforest ecosystem clings to the edge of the Falls, providing a toehold for no less than 70 shrub and 150 herbaceous species, as well as trees such as pod and Natal mahogany, ebony, Cape and strangler fig and Transvaal red milkwood. There are two National Parks in the vicinity: the Zambezi National Park in Zimbabwe and the Mosi-oa-Tunya Zoological Park in Zambia, which means that herds of big game such as elephant and buffalo, as well as smaller species and even predators such as lion persist in the area.

This morning is at leisure until you are collected from your hotel reception for your transfer to Livingstone airport where you check in for your flight to Johannesburg. On arrival in Johannesburg you connect with your international flight home.

Transfer time – Victoria Falls Lodge to Victoria Falls airport: approx. 25 minutes

Flight time – Victoria Falls to Johannesburg: approx. 1 hour and 40 minutes

The Queen Victoria is a glamorous boutique hotel overlooking Cape Town's V&A Waterfront. Set in a colonial building, this 35-room boutique hotel evokes the romance of Queen Victoria's passionate early years with Prince Albert and embodies a sense of international flair fused with local flavour.

The style is anything but 19th-century, with spacious rooms, marble bathrooms and a soaring lobby decked out in whites and creams and warmed up with royal purples and opulent fabrics. All of the rooms have been individually designed and decorated, most of them with panoramic views of either Table Mountain or Cape Town Harbour.

In addition to the in-house restaurant, Dash, there are also four sister restaurants conveniently located in close proximity to the hotel. Guests can opt to have breakfast at either OYO Restaurant & Cocktail Bar or Dash Restaurant & Bar at no additional cost as breakfast is included in the room rate. You also have the option to have lunch at the Dock House Boutique Hotel & Spa’s pool deck and dinner at either Dash Restaurant & Bar or OYO Restaurant & Cocktail Bar. Lunch and dinner at restaurants within the Newmark Hotels portfolio can be billed to your room.

With a management team and staff dedicated to making every guest feel like royalty, a stay at the Queen Victoria Hotel will certainly exceed your expectation of what five-star luxury should be.

Adjacent to the Moremi Game Reserve on the South Eastern side of the Delta and overlooking the Gomoti River and its flood plains, the camp is located in a private concession of 272km² and designed to embrace the natural surroundings of the riverine forest. The camp is nicely tucked away with a real “Robinson Crusoe” feel, but still overlooking the Gomoti.

With eight tents set on stilts above the water, this lodge offers a treehouse glamping experience. Guests take meandering bridged walkways to the main thatched boma area, which contains a lounge for unwinding, a swimming pool to cool down in, and a bar for sundowners.

Each tent consist as either double or twin beds and an en-suite bathroom within the tent. The tents and main lodge have unique and incredible views of the river and flood plains.

Ilala Lodge offers distinguished yet affordable accommodation in a gracious and secluded ambiance. The decor evokes a bygone era of adventure and the quest of discovery in Africa. This small hotel is ideally situated and is the closest to the Victoria Falls as well as the town centre. The Victoria Falls National Park borders the front of property and wild animals often graze on the hotel lawns with the spray of the falls in the background.

The Pool & Garden Wing of Ilala Lodge offers 26 twin standard rooms with 2 x ¾ beds each, 6 double standard rooms and 2 standard suites with king-size beds. The West Wing has 23 double deluxe rooms with king-size beds, 13 twin deluxe rooms with two ¾ beds each and three executive suites with balconies.

The rooms are all spacious with railway sleeper teak furnishings and patio doors leading onto either open lawn or a balcony where you are afforded a view of the spray of the falls from the upper level rooms. All rooms at Ilala Lodge have an en-suite bathroom, satellite television, telephone, air-conditioning and an overhead ceiling fan, wall safe, hair dryer, tea & coffee facilities, Wi-Fi internet access, room and laundry services. The in-house Palm Restaurant is recognised as one of the finest at the Falls. Relax around the swimming pool or enjoy a drink at the open-air bar.

Spend time today at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. You can take a ferry from the Waterfront across Table Bay to Robben Island. An ex-prisoner takes you on an extensive tour of the prison, which includes a visit to Nelson Mandela’s cell, the limestone quarry and the old leper colony. You could also visit the Waterfront’s Two Oceans Aquarium, which is highly recommended for the insight it gives into life in the two oceans off the southern tip of Africa – the cold Atlantic Ocean and the warm Indian Ocean. The V&A Waterfront is South Africa’s trendiest shopping precinct and is full of great restaurants and bars. If the weather was inclement on the first day, take the opportunity to go up Table Mountain today.

A tour guide takes you on a city tour of one of the world’s most beautiful cities. You will visit the historic Castle and the Bo-Kaap Malay Quarter with its narrow cobbled streets and colourful mosques. You will also visit District Six, site of forced removals during the Apartheid era. You view the Houses of Parliament, the City Hall and the Slave Lodge and will enjoy a walk through the Company Gardens. Weather-permitting, you will ride the cable car up Table Mountain to enjoy the view over Cape Town and across Table Bay to Robben Island. If the weather is inclement, you will be taken on a scenic drive up Signal Hill.

You are collected from your hotel by a tour guide and taken on a drive along the Atlantic seaboard via glamorous Clifton to the quaint seaside village of Hout Bay. We continue via the scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive to Cape Point. Looking at this dramatic promontory jutting into the sea gives one an idea why early sailors nicknamed it the Cape of Storms. We then follow the coastline northwards via Simonstown, where you can visit the penguin colony of Boulders Beach. A leisurely drive through the leafy southern suburb of Constantia with stop at a wine estate will bring us back to the city bowl in the late afternoon.

You are collected from the hotel this morning and are taken on a full-day tour to Hermanus with a whale watching boat excursion (subject to sea conditions). Hermanus is best known for the Southern Right whales which travel up from the Antarctic during the winter months to give birth in the bays and inlets along the Southern Cape coast. Hermanus offers the best land-based whale watching in the world as the steep cliffs offer a grandstand view of the whales, who are often only metres off shore. The village even has a Whale Crier, who announces where the day’s best sightings are. After the tour you are dropped off at your hotel.

The Food – Edible map of Africa:
While honouring African culinary traditions we combine these with modern flavours and techniques to serve up a sophisticated African feast that we change seasonally. African food is traditionally shared and enjoyed with family and friends. Similarly, our 14-dish tasting menu is served in generous individual and shared portions. Each dish is brought to your table with country of origin, cooking techniques and spicing explained. All our Halaal-certified meat, poultry and fish dishes come with vegetarian or vegan substitutes.

The Entertainment - Storytelling through music, singing and dancing:
Guests at GOLD Restaurant cannot help but be swept up in the excitement of archetypal African stories told through our live entertainment. This includes praise singing to welcome you, Mali puppetry, and dancing to the rhythms of the marimba percussion and djembe drums. As community is everything in traditional African culture, at the end of the evening, all the staff voluntarily join in the festivities. It is their way of coming together as a family, to celebrate with you, and to wish you well until you we see you again.

The People – At the heart of GOLD:
GOLD Restaurant is more than good food and entertainment. Everything we do is an authentic reflection and extension of the people of Africa. In addition to hosting, cooking, and serving guests, our team contributes recipe ideas and cooking techniques. They help to design and oversee their beautiful garments, and even hand stitch their personalities and artistic ideas into the intricate details on our table linens. Coming from all over the African content, they provide the ambience, warmth and knowledgeable service for which we are well known.

Since this area normally receives floods last it contains some of the closest dry-season watering points for the game that spreads out toward Nxai & Makgadikgadi Pans during the rains. Around this, there is a high density of game in the dry season. As much of the reserve is mopane woodlands (A favourite location for animals during the rains and early dry season) good game viewing is expected all year round.

The river system attracts a wide variety of game. Familiar favourites include: Elephant, Buffalo, Giraffe, Kudu, Impala, Tsessebe, Hippo, Crocodile Genet, Honey Badger and a host of Plains Game. Rare Antelope breeds including Roan, Sable & Eland, not normally seen in the Okavango region, occur here. As the Gomoti is the main water source in the area, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah and Wild Dog come down to the riverside to drink and hunt.

Game drives are offered (day & night) in a private concession adjacent to Moremi Game Reserve, on and off road with a driver and tracker. Seasonal water activities on the Gomoti River and game walks are available depending on the local conditions.

As you approach the Falls and hear the water pounding and witness the vapour rising, you quickly understand why local tribesman called the Falls “Mosi-oa-Tunya” (the smoke that thunders) and why the explorer David Livingstone exclaimed that a scene “so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight”. The great columns of spray rising from the tumultuous falls can be seen from 80 kilometres away on a clear day. If you are lucky enough to be there at full moon, a "moonbow" can be seen in the spray instead of the usual daylight rainbow. Because the Victoria Falls fall into a chasm, rather than falling down an escarpment, it is possible to walk along the opposite side of the chasm, at the same height as the top of the Falls. From the unique walking trails the magnificence and glory of the Falls are head on and only about 60 metres (200 feet) away. The spray falls on the trails like soft rain, feeding the lush vegetation.

Follow in the footsteps of David Livingstone and travel up the Zambezi River above the Falls. There are several companies offering boat trips on the Zambezi River. Especially recommended is an evening sundowner boat cruise or a dinner cruise. As afternoon fades into twilight, animals come down to the river to drink as you go by.

Victoria Falls is the unchallenged adventure capital of Africa with more than 50 activities available. Here is our selection of the best:

Tiger fishing:
Spend a half day on the Zambezi River fishing for one of the great freshwater game fish - The Tigerfish. These powerful, swift predators are truly thrilling to catch.

Canoeing:
Paddle slowly down the Zambezi River in a canoe with some of the best wildlife guides in Africa and enjoy the beauty, peace and wildlife of this unique place. Explore islands and waterways and learn about the birds and animals you come across along the route.

Flight of Angels Helicopter Flip over the Falls:
At ground level you can feel the enormous power of the Victoria Falls as tremendous volumes of water pound into the chasm below. But it is only when you take to the air that you can take in the whole panorama and enormity of this mighty spectacle.

Bungi Jumping:
Bungi jump off the 111 metre high railway bridge into the Zambezi gorge, stopping just metres from the rushing water of the Zambezi River. This is a wild jump! There are two bungi options: A single jump on your own or a tandem jump with a partner.

White Water Rafting:
White Water Rafting on the Zambezi River is acclaimed as the best one day white water rafting trip available in the world. There are different options for rafting depending on the time of year and the level of water in the river.

Jet Boat Extreme:
Speedboats powered by huge jet engines shoot down the rapids below the Victoria Falls at 100 km an hour. Enjoy a thrilling half hour spent “flying” over the water.