South Africa: West Coast Flowers and the Whale Coast

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Cape Town

   Cape Town International Airport to your hotel, then the Green Point sea front and the V&A Waterfront

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Cape Town
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Cape Town International Airport (CPT), about 20 km east of the city centre, where a driver meets you in arrivals for the transfer to your hotel. Plan to land by about 2 pm if you want to join the afternoon walk; the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary. Mid-afternoon your See Sight Tours guide meets the group and we drive the few minutes to Mouille Point, then walk the flat sea-front promenade past the Green Point lighthouse and Cape Town Stadium, built for the 2010 football World Cup, into the V&A Waterfront, the working harbour where Table Mountain fills the view behind the fishing boats. It is an easy walk of about 4 km to shake off the flight, with the Atlantic on one side and Signal Hill on the other. In August and September it is dark by about 6:30 to 7 pm, so we finish with a short briefing on the week ahead (what the flowers need, how whale season works, what to pack for cold nights in the Cederberg) and a welcome dinner together at a local restaurant.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Cape Town International Airport (CPT)
   • Guided walk along the Green Point sea front to the V&A Waterfront
   • Welcome briefing and welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the mid-afternoon walk

   Activité : About 4 km of flat, paved walking.

   

2. Jour 2 : Table Mountain early, the Bo-Kaap at lunch

   Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, then the Bo-Kaap and a free afternoon in the city

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cape Town
   Détail du jour 2

   We go up Table Mountain first thing, on one of the first cable cars of the morning, before the queues build and while the air is usually at its clearest. The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway climbs to the plateau at about 1,067 m in a few minutes, and the floor of the car turns so everyone gets the view. On top your guide walks the easy paths to the viewpoints over Lion's Head, Robben Island and the Twelve Apostles, and shows you the fynbos, the shrubland unique to the Cape, much of it in flower in spring. The cableway stops in strong wind or thick cloud; if it is closed all morning we drive up Signal Hill instead for the view back over the city and the mountain. Late morning we walk the steep, cobbled streets of the Bo-Kaap, with its brightly painted houses and the Auwal Mosque, founded in 1794, with a local guide who tells the story of the Cape Malay community, then sit down to a Cape Malay lunch of curries and bobotie. The afternoon is yours.

   Compris

   • Table Mountain Aerial Cableway return ticket, on an early car
   • Guided walk on the summit plateau
   • Bo-Kaap walk with a local guide
   • Cape Malay lunch in the Bo-Kaap

   Activités en option

   • Robben Island ferry and tour from the V&A Waterfront (book well ahead; we can book it for you at cost)

   Option plus facile : Ride the cable car both ways and keep to the short, flat paths near the top station.

   Option plus active : Hike up Platteklip Gorge with a mountain guide, about 2.5 to 3 hours of steep stone steps, and ride the cable car down to meet the group.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Cape Town

   Activité : The summit is often 5 to 10 degrees cooler than the city and windy: bring a warm layer.

   

3. Jour 3 : West Coast flowers: Darling and the Postberg

   Cape Town north on the R27 to Darling, then the West Coast National Park and Langebaan

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Langebaan
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave Cape Town at about 8:30 am and drive north on the R27 along the Atlantic, with the long view back to Table Mountain across Table Bay. Spring flowers need sun and warmth to open, usually from about 10 am to 4 pm, and they turn to face the sun, so the day is planned around them. First the renosterveld flower reserves around Darling, about an hour from the city, where in a good year the fields fill with daisies, bulbs and orchids after the winter rain. Lunch is at !Khwa ttu, a San heritage centre just off the coast road, with time in its exhibition on the first people of the Cape. In the afternoon we enter the West Coast National Park and drive into the Postberg section, which opens to visitors only in the flower season, for fields of orange, white and yellow above the turquoise Langebaan Lagoon, with antelope and ostriches grazing among them. The display depends on the winter rain and on the weather on the day, so your guide picks the best fields each morning from the latest reports. We stay tonight in Langebaan, on the lagoon.

   Compris

   • Flower reserves around Darling with your guide
   • Lunch and the exhibition at !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre
   • West Coast National Park entry, including the Postberg flower section in season

   Option plus facile : Stay close to the vehicle at each stop: many of the best flower views are a few steps from the road.

   Option plus active : A longer walk on one of the marked Postberg trails while the group drives between viewpoints.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Langebaan

   Activité : On cold, cloudy or rainy days the flowers stay closed; the guide then moves the flower stops to the sunniest hours or to day 4 in Clanwilliam.

   

4. Jour 4 : North to Clanwilliam and the Sevilla rock art

   Langebaan to Velddrif and Piketberg, over the Piekenierskloof Pass to Clanwilliam, then the Pakhuis Pass to the Sevilla Rock Art Trail

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Clanwilliam
   Détail du jour 4

   A relaxed start, then about two and a half hours north (3.5 hours of driving in all, with the Pakhuis Pass there and back), inland past Velddrif and Piketberg and over the Piekenierskloof Pass into the Olifants River valley, where the citrus orchards of Citrusdal sit under the Cederberg mountains. We reach Clanwilliam, a small town at the northern edge of the Cederberg, in time for a sit-down lunch. In the afternoon we drive over the Pakhuis Pass, among orange sandstone boulders and past the grave of the poet C. Louis Leipoldt, to the Sevilla Rock Art Trail on the farm Travellers Rest. A local guide walks with us along a river valley to a series of overhangs painted by San hunter-gatherers: people, animals and figures in red and white ochre, left hundreds to a few thousand years ago. The trail is about 4 km there and back, mostly flat on sand and rock, and the afternoon light is kind to the paintings. In flower season we stop on the way back where the roadside is in bloom. Dinner tonight is your choice in town; Cederberg nights in late winter can be close to freezing.

   Compris

   • Drive to Clanwilliam over the Piekenierskloof Pass
   • Sit-down lunch in Clanwilliam
   • Sevilla Rock Art Trail with a local guide, permit included

   Activités en option

   • The Clanwilliam Wildflower Show, if your dates fall on it (usually late August or early September)

   Option plus facile : Walk only to the first few painted sites, about 1 km from the start, and return at your own pace.

   Option plus active : Walk the full trail and scramble up to the higher overhangs with the local guide.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Clanwilliam

   Activité : About 4 km on sand and uneven rock, with little shade; bring a hat and water.

   

5. Jour 5 : The long road to the whale coast

   Clanwilliam south on the N7, around Cape Town to Gordon's Bay, Clarence Drive and Betty's Bay, then Hermanus

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Hermanus
   Détail du jour 5

   This is the trip's one long day, about 380 km and four and three quarter hours of driving, because there is no shorter road from the Cederberg to the whale coast: the Cederberg and Hermanus sit at opposite ends of the Western Cape, and Cape Town lies between them. We break it into four legs, none longer than about two hours. We leave at 8 am and drive south on the N7 through the Olifants River valley and over the Piekenierskloof Pass to Piketberg, about an hour and a quarter, for coffee. The second leg, about two hours, skirts Cape Town to Gordon's Bay. Then we take Clarence Drive slowly, a cliff road above False Bay where whales are sometimes seen from the lay-bys in season, about 45 minutes to a sit-down lunch near Betty's Bay. After lunch we walk the boardwalk at Stony Point, a mainland colony of African penguins, a species now listed as critically endangered. The last leg, about 45 minutes past the Kogelberg mountains and the Bot River lagoon, reaches Hermanus, our base for two nights, by about 4:15 pm. Walk down to the cliff path before dinner: whales are often visible from the town itself.

   Compris

   • Coffee stop in Piketberg
   • Clarence Drive (R44) along False Bay
   • Sit-down lunch near Betty's Bay
   • Stony Point penguin colony, entry included

   Temps libre : Evening free in Hermanus

   Activité : The longest drive of the trip, in four legs of about 1.25, 2, 0.75 and 0.75 hours, broken by coffee in Piketberg, lunch and the penguin walk.

6. Jour 6 : Walker Bay by boat and the cliff path

   Hermanus: a morning whale-watching boat from the New Harbour, then the cliff path

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Hermanus
   Détail du jour 6

   Southern right whales come into Walker Bay to calve and mate from about June to November, and numbers are usually highest in September and October. We go out in the morning, when the sea is often calmer, with a licensed Walker Bay whale-watching operator from the New Harbour, for about two hours on the water. Permitted boats are allowed closer to the whales than other craft, and the skipper switches off near a mother and calf so you can hear them breathe. Back on land, lunch is on your own in town. In the afternoon your guide walks the cliff path with you from Gearing's Point to the Old Harbour, where the whales often come in close to the rocks and the benches look straight down into the bay; this shore-based watching is what Hermanus is known for. Late afternoon is free. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner together at a local restaurant.

   Compris

   • Whale-watching boat trip in Walker Bay with a licensed operator, about 2 hours
   • Guided cliff path walk from Gearing's Point to the Old Harbour
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Skip the boat and watch from the cliff path benches and the Old Harbour with your guide instead.

   Option plus active : An afternoon hike in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve above town, among fynbos in spring flower, with sea views over Walker Bay.

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own and the late afternoon free in Hermanus

   Activité : The boat runs only when the sea is safe; if it is cancelled we try again on the morning of day 7. Bring seasickness tablets if you need them.

   

7. Jour 7 : The cliff path at breakfast, Kirstenbosch and home

   Hermanus over Sir Lowry's Pass to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, then Cape Town International Airport

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   Détail du jour 7

   Start with an early walk on the cliff path while the bay is still and the whales are easiest to spot, then breakfast. We leave at about 9:30 am and drive back over Sir Lowry's Pass, with the view over False Bay and the Cape Flats, about an hour and three quarters to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Kirstenbosch grows only plants native to southern Africa, and spring is its finest season: proteas, pincushions, ericas and the bulbs and daisies you saw wild on the West Coast. Walk the Boomslang, a curved steel walkway through the treetops, and the fynbos beds with your guide, then sit down to a last lunch in the garden. From Kirstenbosch it is about 25 minutes to Cape Town International Airport, where we arrive at about 2:30 pm; we can drop you in the city centre or at the Waterfront instead if you are staying on. Your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye.

   Compris

   • Early cliff path walk in Hermanus
   • Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden entry and a guided walk, with the Boomslang canopy walkway
   • Lunch at Kirstenbosch
   • Drop-off at Cape Town International Airport (CPT) or in central Cape Town

   Option plus facile : Stay on the paved paths near the garden entrance; buggy tours of the garden run on most days.

   Activité : We reach the airport at about 2:30 pm, so book international flights leaving after about 5 pm; for an earlier flight we go straight to the airport from Hermanus.

   

Faune et météo : Spring brings the West Coast flowers (best late August to mid-September) and the peak of the southern right whale season in Walker Bay (September and October). Cold or cloudy days keep the flowers closed, and rough seas can cancel the boat.

• Cape Town2 nuits
• Langebaan1 nuit
• Clanwilliam1 nuit
• Hermanus2 nuits