Essence of South Africa
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Experience Overview
Bush, beach and two vibrant cities – capture the essence of South Africa on this culmination of a Cape Town to Kruger experience, including Johannesburg, the 'City of Gold'. Then, the power and beauty of Africa’s wilderness is revealed as you take in the thrill of Victoria Falls and visit Chobe National Park, Botswana’s home of the elephants.
Highlights
Dining Summary
- 7 Dinner (D)
- 12 Breakfast (B)
- 1 Be My Guest (BMG)
- 5 Lunch (L)
Must-see Highlights
- Explore Cape Town, Johannesburg, Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park
- Visit Table Mountain, Bo-Kaap, Cape of Good Hope, Franschhoek, Hermanus, the Karongwe Private Game Reserve, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, and Chobe National Park
- View the Castle of Good Hope, Boulder's Beach penguin colony, Mandela's House in Soweto, and Victoria Falls
How You'll Travel
- Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
Iconic Experience
- Cape Town: Spend the day discovering the wonderful views of Table Mountain.
- Cape Town: Take in the landmarks of Cape Town during a city tour with your Travel Director. See the Company Gardens, Bo-Kaap and the Castle of Good Hope.
- Cape Peninsula: Discover the incredible views of the Twelve Apostles.
- Cape Town: Spend the day surrounded by penguins on Boulders Beach.
- Franschhoek: Visit Rickety Bridge Winery in Franschhoek for a tasting of the Foundation Stone range, inspired by the forebears of the Shona tribe. Sampling a rosé, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage, you’ll learn how these wines are produced as you compare styles from crisp and aromatic to a fuller red.
- Hoedspruit: Have your camera ready to capture the beautiful scenery and fascinating wildlife on your Reserve Tour with a Shangaan tracker-guide.
- Learn to track animals on an African bush walk with a Local Specialist. You’ll uncover the secrets of medicinal plants, identify animals from just their tracks and spot birds, insects and small animals in their natural habitat. This is your chance to connect with nature like never before and leave with stories – and skills –that will stay with you forever.
- Karongwe Portfolio: Spend the day marveling at Africa's iconic wildlife on your Karongwe Private Reserve Visit.
- Johannesburg: Learn about South Africa's turbulent past on an interactive Johannesburg and Soweto Freedom tour.
- Johannesburg: Spend the day seeing the iconic sight of Mandela's house on your Johannesburg City Tour.
- Victoria Falls: Experience the beauty of Africa's islands on your Zambezi River Cruise.
- Victoria Falls: Admire the cascading waters at Victoria Falls.
- Chobe National Park: Have the experience of a lifetime as you explore Botswana's Chobe National Park.
Be My Guest
- Hermanus: Join a local Hermanus business owner for a traditional braai (barbecue) and some of his homemade wine against a clifftop backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean.
Trafalgar Difference
- Hoedspruit: Your stay in Karongwe Private Game Reserve contributes to the area's environmental sustainability and community development.
MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®
- Hoedspruit: Meet the Shangaan people and learn about their way of life through music, dance and daily traditions. Watch a performance celebrating the heritage of the San, Shona, Venda, Tswana, Zulu and Shangaan communities. Try your hand at grinding maize or building huts, and learn how architecture, agriculture and family customs shape daily life, before sharing a traditional meal with the community. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Trip Details
Product Code: 35301
Tour Type: Group Tour
Accommodation: Deluxe
Transport: Private
Guide Language: English
Travel Styles:
Explorer, Budget
Tour Operator:
Trafalgar (CA)
Supplier Code: 380.2165A
Starts: Cape Town, South Africa
Finishes: Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Zimbabwe
Duration: 13 days
Departures: Guaranteed
Physical Rating:
Easy
Includes
Whats Included
- All transport and transfers shown
- An expert Travel Director and professional Driver
- Cherry-picked hotels and safari lodges, all tried and trusted
- All porterage and restaurant gratuities
- All hotel tips, charges and local taxes
- Breakfast daily and up to half of your evening meals
- Air-conditioned coach or Quantum bus
- Must-see sightseeing
- Optional Experiences and free time
- On occasion, hotels of similar standard and location may be utilized.
- Flight from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls
Price
Price per person: (Double Occupancy) CAD $9415 ($724 /day)
Itinerary
South Africa’s ‘Mother City’ and her iconic Table Mountain extend a warm welcome as you embark on a small group journey that will reveal the highlights of South Africa. Spend the day delving into Cape Town’s cosmopolitan surrounds before joining your fellow travelers and Travel Director for a dinner.
Accommodation: Southern Sun The Cullinan
Meals: Dinner
This morning, you'll encounter Table Mountain first-hand, ascending via aerial cableway to its vast flat top – a rocky wonderland of rich Cape fynbos and curious dassies (hyraxes). Peer over the bustling City Bowl and Atlantic Seaboard, keeping a keen eye out for the landmarks your Travel Director will show you during this morning's city tour, including the Company Gardens, Bo-Kaap and District Six Museum. The rest of the day is yours to explore Cape Town at leisure. Ramble up Bree Street to sample the city’s vibrant coffee culture or take a stroll along the Sea Point promenade with fellow outdoor enthusiasts. Consider joining our Optional Experience to explore the infamous Robben Island, with your guide revealing its turbulent past and the cell where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his prison term.
Accommodation: Southern Sun The Cullinan
Meals: Breakfast
Circumnavigate the Cape Peninsula, from trendy Camps Bay to Cape Point and back. With the crashing waves of the Atlantic to your right, the rocky 12 Apostles to your left, wind your way along one of the world’s most magnificent coastal roads towards the outcrop that is Africa’s most extreme south-western tip. Say a quiet hello to the shy penguins of Boulders Beach, admire the Cape of Good Hope and travel through charming coastal towns along the way.
Accommodation: Southern Sun The Cullinan
Meals: Breakfast
Venture to the town of Franschhoek and discover during your orientation why it is proclaimed as one of the most beautiful wine valleys in the world. Enjoy a wine tasting at Rickety Bridge Winery, sampling a selection of local wines from the estate. Then, travel on to the coastal town of Hermanus for your Be My Guest experience. Meet local business owner Stefan, who will treat you to a delicious traditional braai (barbecue) featuring delicacies such as boerewors, pap and melktert. Over a glass of his homemade wine, he’ll share stories of his life in South Africa’s whale watching capital. Return to Cape Town via a scenic driving route, arriving in the late afternoon. Enjoy your evening at leisure.
Accommodation: Southern Sun The Cullinan
Meals: Breakfast, Be My Guest
This morning, bid farewell to your Cape Town Travel Director and the Mother City before flying to Hoedspruit. Here, a private game reserve near Kruger National Park and your Safari Local Specialist for this next adventure await. Begin your time in the South African bushveld with a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience at a Shangaan village, learning about their traditions, customs and way of life. Later, settle into Shiduli Private Game Lodge, a Stays with Stories accommodation and your home in the bush for the next three nights.
Accommodation: Shiduli Private Game Lodge, Chisomo Safari Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Your adventure begins with an early morning game drive through Karongwe Private Reserve with a Local Specialist game ranger and a Shangaan tracker-guide. As the sun rises, the bush come alive with the sights and sounds of awakening birds and insects. This creates the perfect backdrop for your search for the Big Five. After lunch, join a local ranger for a hands-on bush walk, where you’ll learn how to track animals and uncover the hidden stories of the African bush, followed by an afternoon game drive.
Accommodation: Shiduli Private Game Lodge, Chisomo Safari Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today, enjoy another full day of game drives through Karongwe Private Reserve. Continue exploring the dense brush with your Local Specialist for incredible encounters with Africa’s iconic wildlife. End the day with a traditional sundowner drink overlooking the Game Reserve, keeping an eye out for wildlife emerging from their cover of darkness.
Accommodation: Shiduli Private Game Lodge, Chisomo Safari Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
This morning, have your camera ready for the last of your game drives. Bid farewell to your Safari Local Specialist before your flight to Johannesburg. Meet your Johannesburg Travel Director and check into your hotel in the heart of Sandton, ideally located for exploring the nearby restaurants and shopping during your free evening.
Accommodation: The Maslow
Meals: Breakfast
Unlock the secrets of the 'City of Gold' on a full-day tour. Dive Into Culture during a visit to the Constitutional Hill, the Mandela House Museum and Regina Mundi Church, which chronicles South Africa's tumultuous Apartheid years.
Accommodation: The Maslow
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Welcome to Zimbabwe. After bidding farewell to your Johannesburg Travel Director, you’ll meet your Trafalgar representative on arrival at Victoria Falls Airport and transfer to your accommodation. Buckle up for an exhilarating small-group encounter with Victoria Falls, an untamed natural wonder that has captured the imagination of explorers and adventurers since David Livingstone declared it the most wonderful sight he had seen in Africa. Board a cruise on one of Africa’s mightiest rivers, navigating past islands of basking crocodile and hippo pods lazing in the waning African sun, before returning to your lodge for dinner.
Accommodation: Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Join a Local Specialist on a guided tour of the world's largest waterfall. Admire the powerful curtain of water from various vantage points in Zimbabwe – feel the fine spray and hear the thunderous roar as water crashes over a hundred meters into a swirling mass in the gorge below. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure with the sound of the 'Smoke that Thunders' never far from your ears. Tonight, you may choose to join an Optional Experience Boma dinner and interactive drum show.
Accommodation: Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Cross the Botswana border for a day-trip into Chobe National Park, where large herds of African elephants roam. Board your Chobe River cruise, watching herds of elephants and buffalo come to the edge of the river to drink. See the flash of a kingfisher hovering over the water to catch its next meal, then enjoy an included lunch at Chobe Safari Lodge on the banks of the mighty Chobe River. Later, return to Victoria Falls Safari Lodge for your last night in Zimbabwe.
Accommodation: Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Bid farewell to the 'Smoke that Thunders' and return to Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls Airport for your onward journey.
Meals: Breakfast
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Tour Operator
Trafalgar (CA)
Family owned and run since 1920, The Travel Corporation (TTC) is the world leader in immersive travel experiences across an extensive range of travel categories. Each year TTC's 40 award winning hospitality and travel brands connect over 1 million happy travellers to the world. We give you access to the 12 DMC’s behind these brands, so you can build your business by capitalizing on the extensive experience, local expertise, and financial assurance of TTC. LOCAL EXPERTISE The world leaders in travel for over 100 years, we offer unparalleled local expertise with a global footprint. Our 12 DMCs, led by experienced in-destination teams, deliver experience rich travel solutions in more than 80 countries. Additionally, our market based teams are on hand to support across our 40 offices worldwide
In Business Since 1931
Reviews
James Michalek - Traveled, October 2019
Once in a lifetime, that I want to do again. Great Trip. I definitely recommend Trafalgar Tours. Their choice of hotels, guides, and activities were outstanding and had something for everybody. I was a little nervous about some of the things in the itinerary, but it was overall great. There were two reasons why I gave this a 4 star instead of 5. The first. We had to book our flights extremely early. The tour itinerary was not final until a week or so before the trip. The Welcome reception on day one was not announced that it was a dinner. We did not want to miss anything, so we flew in the night before the trip. Although Trafalgar says they cover the transfers, because we came in a day early, we were on our own. I felt that was misleading, and we had to pay out of pocket to get from the airport to the hotel. The hotel did not have a free shuttle. The second issue was the Manager at Beck's Safari lodge was unpleasant. He never smiled, and although he never said or acted grabby, he seemed off put when we asked about extra excursions that took us away from Beck's during the day on down time from the safari. However, besides those two inconveniences, the tour was outstanding!! I would do it again. I never felt unsafe or out of place. The hotels were all 5 star diamond quality with excellent locations. the travel guides were knowledgeable and friendly. They seemed to truly go out of their way to make sure the whole group had an outstanding experience.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/25/2019
Pamela Mitroff - Traveled, October 2019
Staff were generally very knowledgeable, helpful and pleasant. contractor in heapsort dumped us at the airport without direction or assistance. The itinerary could be beefed up. Include whale watching, Robben island. Add Kruger. Offer shark diving option.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/24/2019
Trusted Customer - Traveled, October 2023
Africa was just amazing! Most of our locations were very good. Had a few glitches in Johannesburg, Went to 2 museums which were closed (apparently they are closed every Monday) just thought Trafalgar should have known that. Cape Town was excellent and Beck's Safari Lodge was outstanding. Wildlife viewing was beyond our expectations. Everything was great. Hotels and Safari Lodge were wonderful.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/21/2023
Adrienne Frazier - Traveled, October 2023
Time of a lifetime. The TD Nahti for Cape town was the best professional guide ever! We were educated informed properly of next steps. And were very excited about all upcoming adventures? The safari package should be only 2 days.! 3 days was overkill! Johannesburg should have been the first place to visit. The guide assigned to our adventure didn’t have professional training or advice. We struggled with a bad accent, a broken piercing microphone and just tolerated him.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/27/2023
Thomas Allder - Traveled, April 2023
Great trip, wish it were easier to contact Trafalgar. Everything was handled seamlessly with very professional and friendly tour directors. Our flight was delayed and it would have been good if there was an easier way to contact Trafalgar and ensure alternate arrangements for airport pick up were received. As it turn out there was no problem, but we did not know that would be the case. The only option was an email address which had a 48 hour response time. Great itinerary. Think it would be better to start in Johannesburg and end in Capetown. Arranged a side trip to Pretoria which was very good and would suggest including that on the itinerary.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 05/03/2023
Trusted Customer - Traveled, November 2022
It was a well planned trip, but the air travel was kind of strange. Hotels, lodge and transportation was top notch.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 12/21/2022
Subhasis Das - Traveled, October 2019
Essence of South Africa is a good experience. This is my first travel with Trafalgar. I have traveled quite a bit with " Go Ahead Tour " which holds a very high standard. After traveling with Trafalgar I feel the same experience from beginning to end. With the expansion of 2-3 days and some extra dollar the your can be extended including Victoria Falls. While we were at Johannesburg , there were travel group from Globus and they were going to V Falls . Ours was not included. While we were traveling so far another 3 days with some extra dollars, it would be more enjoyable and memorable.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/26/2019
Trusted Customer - Traveled, March 2019
Our guides, our accommodations, the meals offered, and the tours it included were all excellent. Highly recommend this tour.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 04/20/2019
Trusted Customer - Traveled, October 2019
I have been on other Trafalgar trips, but this far surpassed all others. Wonderful meet and greet help at airports, so important when in a strange airport. Yes, can't say enough about a wonderful trip.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/27/2019
Trusted Customer - Traveled, October 2019
Incredible, Trip of a life time. Incredible service. Very accommodating staff at all hotels and lodges. Tour guides all very friendly and approachable. Incredible food. Perfect balance of tours and free time to explore. Enjoyed all day tours included in the trip.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 11/29/2019
