Victoria and Albert Waterfront,Kruger National Park,Boulders Beach,Sevilla Rock Art,Mapungubwe Gold,Nelson Mandela Sq.

Day 1   (Sun - 03-May-2009 )

Arrive at the Cape Milner Hotel on the slopes of Table Mountain for lunch with your Mmilo guide. After lunch, if time and weather allow, we will ascend Table Mountain via the Cable Car for an unforgettable experience and view of sea, city and mountain. How about a slightly more challenging option, that is, to ascend the mountain on foot with an experienced guide, who has been taking tourists up for several years? You will leave a little earlier than your colleagues who are ascending by cable car.The feeling of achievement on getting to the top when walking up is tremendous.  The guide will supply small backpacks and water for the trip and is intimately informed about the mountain, its history and wildlife. You will meet the rest of the group on top and descend with them in the cable car. You need to be reasonably fit, but the guide is understanding and won’t rush you. Otherwise, if the weathers not right, we will take a walk with the knowledgeable Mmilo guide to see some of the historic and famous sights around the Hotel. Among these will be the SA Museum (www.iziko.org.za ) which has interesting early Homo Sapiens artifacts, most famous of all the “Blombos Beads”, the oldest example of anything made purely for adornment, and arguably the oldest known example of art! Professor John Parkington from the University of Cape Town, will help interpret the exhibits. We will also take a stroll through the Company Gardens that surround our Houses of Parliament and see the slave bell, whose tolling heralded the much larger Atlantic Slave trade. Lunch included.

Optional Activities:

Day 2   (Mon - 04-May-2009 )

Leave this morning for one of Cape Town's premier attractions, The Victoria and Albert Waterfront, where we will take a ferry to the beautiful, but infamous, Robben Island. As well as enjoying the trip and the sea air, you will learn much about what the brave men, who nurtured the origins of democratic government in South Africa, sacrificed and endured to achieve it. We should be back in time for lunch, and a quick shopping spree at the Waterfronts excellent mall, and then off we go to either ascend Table Mountain, or proceed as for yesterday afternoon's alternative. Breakfast Included

Day 3   (Tue - 05-May-2009 )

Today we are visiting the astoundingly beautiful Cape Peninsula. Our route takes us on the west side through the fishing port of Hout Bay, which multi-millionaires and humble fishermen share as a home. We will drive along Chapman’s Peak Drive, a road that follows the precipitous edge of the coast, and affords magnificent panoramic views of the ocean. Then, into the Cape Point Game Reserve, where we will catch a glimpse of one of the “Padrones”, stone crosses placed by the Portuguese merchant explorers as they plied the coast; the first recorded European presence in Southern Africa. We will alight and catch the small funicular railway to the light house near Cape Point where there is a breathtaking 360 degree view of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the peninsula mountains. We will have coffee at the café overlooking the ocean, and take a little longer to savour the view.  Our journey continues through Simonstown,  the historic naval port, with local and visiting “ships of war” at berth. Our final stop will be Boulders Beach for a stroll, or if the weather allows, for a quick dip with the famous African penguins who use this as a nesting and breeding spot. We visit the historic estate of Groot Constantia, site of the origins of viticulture in the region, and as the “sun is past the yardarm” taste the excellent vintage. There is a restaurant for a light meal with our wine. Then back to our central Cape Town hotel for the evening at your leisure. Breakfast included.

Day 4   (Wed - 06-May-2009 )

Today, we visit the Slave Museum and get a view of slavery before it reached the horrendous levels of a century or so later.  Indeed we can see here the origins of the later "Atlantic " slave trade.This museum is a very well presented but respectful representation of the suffering off people transported here to “the end of the world”, to work without reward and end their days far from their kith and kin. We will also visit The Castle of Good Hope, an early Cape Dutch fortification, and then after lunch, in one of the centre city's  restaurants, we will take a drive around the False Bay coast to spot the massive Southern Right Whales, that come very close to shore at this time of the year. Breakfast included.

Day 5   (Thu - 07-May-2009 )

Today an early start sees us depart by luxury air conditioned coach to Clanwilliam, 300km to the north of Cape Town, to meet there with Professor Parkington who is an expert on San Rock Art, which is one of the earliest and most beautiful of art forms. We will visit the “Living Landscape Project” which he has helped to found. The LLP promotes the rock art sites as part of the legacy of the people inhabiting the region, and who are largely the descendants of its creators, encouraging both them and visitors to see it in this perspective. This in various ways gives people a sense of identity, connection and ownership of the landscape. Professor Parkington will be our host and he will explain the project and how it directly benefits the local community. Accommodation will be at three four star establishments in Clanwilliam; The Clan Court Guest House and Ndedema and St Du Barry lodges. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included.

Day 6   (Fri - 08-May-2009 )

Today we will cross the Pakhuis Pass in the Cedarberg Mountains and visit the Sevilla Trail, an area where well preserved San Rock Art is situated, conveniently and scenically, for viewing on a trail of about 5km. Professor Parkinson will accompany us to give us an in depth insight into what is and is not known about the people who made these beautiful creations in their hunter-gatherer world, as much as 15,000 years ago. This trail also affords a wonderful opportunity to see the unusual and beautiful semi-desert plants which will be flourishing after the winter rains. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included.

Day 7   (Sat - 09-May-2009 )

We return to Cape Town Airport to catch our flight to Johannesburg, arriving at the Centurion Lake Hotel in Pretoria (Tshwane) that evening. Breakfast included.

Day 8   (Sun - 10-May-2009 )

Today we will visit the Mapungubwe Exhibition at Pretoria University as a prelude to visiting the actual site later in this tour. We will see the relics and treasures of a civilization that flourished and traded in the north of South Africa  in the beginning of the first millennium. Mapungubwe  was probably one of the region’s first “city states”representing the origins of international trade in the region. Eleventh century Chinese porcelain has been found here, in an age  long before European traders came to southern Africa. From here,  we will drive south west along the foot of the majestic Magaliesberg mountain range, at 3,000 million years one of the oldest ranges in the world. to the caves at Sterkfontein. Sterkfontein is one of the richest fossil sites in Africa and the world for the remains of man’s early ape like ancestors, and early species of Homo, such as habilis and erectus. We will descend into the caves where the fossils are found, and look at the interpretive centre at the surface,  where there is an excellent interpretation of our early primate origins. From here we will drive to the Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, historic hideout of Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the ANC and SACP. After  the apartheid security police raided and got the “evidence” that led to the arrests of these struggle leaders in 1963, they were tried in the Rivonia Trial, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. in 1965. The day will finish at Monte Casino, a modern entertainment centre in the affluent north of “Jo’burg”, which houses theatres, restaurants, a Casino and other attractions for the night time crowd. Breakfast included

Day 9   (Mon - 11-May-2009 )

Today we will visit Soweto, the house in which Nelson Mandela once lived, the Hector Peterson Memorial and Museum that commemorates the Student uprising of 1976 and those, like Hector, that died. Lunch will be at a typical Soweto restaurant where the food has an excellent local flavour. From here we will go to Gold Reef City to find out about the origins and pursuit of gold, and how this city of Johannesburg was built on it. We will see gold melted and poured, go down into an old gold mine and back at the surface see how the miners danced to entertain themselves in their spare time. There is also a theatre and range of restaurants and other amusements. Breakfast and Lunch included.

Day 10   (Tue - 12-May-2009 )

Depart for the northern border of South Africa, where the Baobab tree flourishes, in a climate that is virtually always warm and dry, on the banks of the Limpopo River. Here is the land of the mysterious Mapungubwe civilization. We will stay at The Tshugulu and Little Muck lodges right on the Mapungubwe National Park’s doorstep. After a short game drive, dinner will be outside in the “boma” in the warm lowveld air, enhanced with the smoke from the campfire of scented subtropical wood. Breakfast,Lunch and Dinner Included.

Day 11   (Wed - 13-May-2009 )

We will rise early to a truly magical dawn in the Land of The Baobab! We will be taken for a “Heritage Walk” and shown and told what has been discovered about the city that thrived here at Mapungubwe, and like many others in the ancient world, disappeared mysteriously. Snacks and beverages will be “on the hoof” as it were and a return to the lodges for a brunch. Then, off we go for a bit of a drive (just under 300 km) through the often misty Soutpansberg mountains to Punda Maria, one of the northern gates of the Kruger National Park. Accommodation that night will be at Punda Maria inside the park. There is a swimming pool and you can stroll around the camp (which is fenced) before bedtime. Anyone who knows will tell you there is no substitute for sleeping inside the park at night and waking to the “call of the wild”! Brunch and Dinner included.

Day 12   (Thu - 14-May-2009 )

This is the least visited and less “touristy” part of the KNP and the better for it. In the morning, we will depart in a Parks Board open vehicles to see Thulamela, ruins of another civilization that followed Mapungubwe, and that predated Greater Zimbabwe. We will also see some of the phenomenal range of birdlife and game that thrives on the banks of the Luvuvhu River, where we stop for refreshments. Hopefully, we will  also see one or two of the “Big Five” on our journey. Return to camp for breakfast and back on the coach to journey south in the park stopping to see any interesting game or other sights. After a stop for lunch at Shingwedzi, we will reach Mopani Rest Camp where we shall stay again in air conditioned accommodation for the night. Here you can relax and swim or walk around in the evening air of the park, which normally at this time of the year, in this part of the country, we must repeat is superlative. You may also like to go for an (optional) evening game drive in one of the park’s open vehicles with the ranger, who knows more about the game and the park than you will ever need to know. Escorted night walks are also available and quite safe. Breakfast and Dinner included.

Optional Activities:

Day 13   (Sat - 16-May-2009 )

There is time for one more (optional) early morning game drive or escorted walk in the reserve, before a leisurely breakfast and departure to Johannesburg International Airport  and the end of the tour. Breakfast included.

Optional Activities:

Tour Notes