On arrival in Johannesburg, our representative will assist you to domestic departures for your flight to Hoedspruit . From Hoedspruit Airport you are transferred by road to the Timbavati Game Reserve, part of the Greater Kruger National Park.

You have time to settle in at your lodge before you set off on the afternoon game drive in the Timbavati.

The Timbavati forms part of the 2 million hectare Greater Kruger National Park. It was the first private game reserve to be incorporated into the Kruger National Park and is part of one of Africa’s most innovative conservation partnership agreements. The Timbavati is 14 700 hectares (36 300 acres) and shares an unfenced boundary with Kruger National Park. Track the Big Five, as well as a rich variety of other game such as antelope, zebra, warthog, giraffe and hippo, in the company of an armed ranger and local Shangaan tracker. Bird viewing is spectacular, with over 360 recorded species including various eagles, vultures, kingfishers, woodpeckers, buzzards, herons, egrets, owls, weavers. The Timbavati is also home to the world-famous “White Lions of Timbavati”.

After your morning game drive, you are collected from your Lodge and are transferred southwards to your game lodge in the Sabi Sand Reserve, also part of Greater Kruger.

There is time to check in before you depart on your afternoon game drive.

Forming part of the Greater Kruger National Park, the Sabi Sand Reserve has no fences and the wildlife is able to cross freely between the Sabi Sands and the rest of the Greater Kruger National Park. The safari experience in the Sabi Sand is highly personalised because game drive vehicles have exclusive traversing rights in their area. The Sabi Sand Reserve is a remarkable natural sanctuary known for its exceptionally high concentration of animal and bird life. Close contact encounters are guaranteed as the animals are not threatened by the presence of vehicles thanks to sound conservation management policies. Safaris are led by experienced rangers coupled with local Shangaan trackers. With exceptional sightings of leopard (usually the most elusive of cats), lion, rhino, elephant and buffalo during game drives – visitors are never lacking in exciting photographic content.

This morning you enjoy your last game drive before bidding farewell to this African wonderland. You are collected from your lodge and transferred to Nelspruit Airport for your flight to Johannesburg.

On arrival in Johannesburg, you connect with your flight to Port Elizabeth, a city set on the sweeping shores of Algoa Bay. Here you collect your hire car and drive to your beachfront hotel for your overnight stay.

This morning is a leisurely start as you set off for the scenic Tsitsikamma forest, an indigenous primeval forest with towering ancient yellowwood trees, lush vegetation and deep gorges. You check in at your country-style hotel in the village of Storms River.

In the afternoon, you can pay a visit to the Tsitsikamma National Park and drive down the steep pass to the aptly-named Storms River Mouth. The Tsitsikamma’s spectacular scenery includes the Indian Ocean breakers, pounding rocky shores beneath 180 m high cliffs, evergreen forests and fynbos (proteas and heath) rolling down to the sea in a lush carpet where ancient rivers have carved their path to the ocean through rocky ravines. There are several short walking trails through the forest, including one that leads to the swing bridge over Storms River.

After breakfast, you depart Tsitsikamma and continue over spectacular single-span bridges on your scenic drive to Knysna, stopping for lunch in the nearby seaside town of Plettenberg Bay.

Knysna is the perfect base for exploring the Garden Route. Set on the shores of the beautiful Knysna lagoon and surrounded by the Knysna Forest, which form part of the Garden Route National Park, Knysna is blessed with great scenic beauty. This quaint seaside town is brimming with quirky arty-crafty shops and markets. Find yourself in foodie-heaven – with superb fine dining restaurants, legendary Knysna oysters and bustling wholefood markets.

Take a trip on the sunset ferry ride which will take you out to the Heads, the large sandstone cliffs guarding the mouth of the lagoon.

After breakfast, you leave the Garden Route’s lakes and lagoons behind, and at George you cross the protea-covered Outeniqua Mountains heading inland to the Klein Karoo region and the town of Oudtshoorn.

Here you can visit the Cango Caves, where you embark on a magical journey through massive caverns and fascinating limestone formations. Stop at an ostrich show farm for an insight into the world’s largest bird and then check into our guesthouse on a working farm near Oudtshoorn. Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world and ostrich farming has played a large role in the town’s story.

We suggest an early start this morning as you join De Zeekoe’s wild habituated meerkat tour. The tour commences at sunrise and lasts between 2-3 hours. Upon arrival at the meerkat burrows, guests are treated to a hot cup of coffee, after which they are issued with a lightweight aluminium chair to sit in while observing the meerkats as they come out of the burrow into the sunshine and then go about their daily routine of foraging and frolicking. Please note that the tour is dependent on fair weather, since these little creatures will not venture outside their burrows on cold and rainy days.

Travel through the unique landscape of the arid Little Karoo, passing through Calitzdorp and Barrydale. The Klein Karoo is an ecological hotspot where three distinct plant biomes (succulent karoo, cape thicket and fynbos) converge, and the Swartberg mountain range is part of the Cape Floral World Heritage Site.

After breakfast you continue your journey along the scenic Route 62 through the verdant Breede River Valley, the largest of the Western Cape’s fruit and wine producing valleys. As you follow the “fruit route”, enjoy magnificent mountain views, vineyards, orchards and indigenous flora. Stops can be made at roadside farm stalls to purchase fruit or at one of the wine estates of the Robertson Wine Region for a wine tasting where you can pop into the Viljoensdrift Wine Estate for a tasting, boat trip and picnic.

Continue along the route to Franschhoek. French Huguenots settled in the Franschhoek Valley in the late seventeenth century, seeking refuge from religious persecution in Europe and bringing with them precious root-stock to establish the wine-growing industry in South Africa.

After a leisurely morning, depart Franschhoek and drive through the Cape Winelands, with its backdrop of majestic mountain ranges, lush valleys and verdant vineyards.

You can stop for wine tastings at wineries and estates along the way and you will have the chance to purchase some of the wines you have tasted. Visit Stellenbosch, the “town of oaks” and South Africa’s second oldest town, en-route to Cape Town where you check into your hotel for a 3 night stay.

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.

After an early breakfast, you check out of your hotel and drive to Cape Town airport where you return you hire car and make your way to the international departures to check in for your return flight home.