Southern Africa: Cape Town, Kruger, the Okavango Delta, Chobe and Victoria Falls

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cape Town

   Cape Town International Airport to your hotel in central Cape Town

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cape Town International Airport (CPT); from Canada most routes connect through Europe or the Middle East. Plan to land by about 3 pm (the latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you at arrivals for the drive of about 20 km into the city, with Table Mountain filling the windscreen as you come in on the N2. Our hotel is central, in the City Bowl or near the V&A Waterfront, so restaurants and the harbour are a walk away. Take the afternoon to rest after the long flights or walk the waterfront. Your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at about 6 pm for a briefing on the trip: the flights, the light-aircraft luggage limit in Botswana, the border into Zimbabwe and how each safari day is paced. Then we walk to a welcome dinner together, a first taste of Cape cooking.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cape Town International Airport (CPT)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Table Mountain and the Bo-Kaap

   Up Table Mountain by cableway, then the Bo-Kaap and the Company's Garden

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 2 details

   We are at the lower station of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway for the first cars of the morning, before the queues build and while the air is usually clearest. The rotating car climbs to the plateau at about 1,067 m in a few minutes. On top, your guide walks the short paths with you: the city and harbour below, Robben Island out in Table Bay, Lion's Head and the Twelve Apostles running south along the Atlantic. If the wind closes the cableway, we swap with day 4. Back down, we walk the steep, cobbled streets of the Bo-Kaap, with its brightly painted houses and mosques, and hear the story of the Cape Malay community that has lived here since the 18th century. We finish in the Company's Garden, first planted by the Dutch East India Company in the 1650s. The afternoon and evening are free: the V&A Waterfront, the Zeitz MOCAA museum or a slow lunch.

   Included

   • Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, return ticket
   • Guided walk on the Table Mountain plateau
   • Walk through the Bo-Kaap and the Company's Garden with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • Zeitz MOCAA museum at the V&A Waterfront

   Easier option: Stay on the flat paths near the upper cableway station and take a taxi back from the Bo-Kaap.

   More active option: Walk up Lion's Head in the afternoon, about 2 to 3 hours return with chains and ladders near the top, with a local hiking guide (priced at booking).

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The Bo-Kaap streets are steep and cobbled. The cableway closes in strong wind; we move the visit to day 4 if needed.

3. Day 3: Penguins, Cape Point and Chapman's Peak

   Cape Town down the False Bay side to Boulders Beach, Cape Point, back by Chapman's Peak Drive

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 3 details

   We leave after breakfast and drive south along False Bay through Muizenberg and Kalk Bay to Boulders Beach near Simon's Town, arriving as it opens so the boardwalks are quiet. A colony of endangered African penguins nests here among granite boulders, a few metres from the path. Next comes the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park: fynbos heath, ostriches and baboons by the road, and the walk or funicular up to the old lighthouse at Cape Point, with cliffs dropping to the ocean on three sides. Lunch is a proper sit-down meal at a harbour restaurant in Kalk Bay. We come back along the Atlantic side on Chapman's Peak Drive, a road cut into the cliff above Hout Bay, with stops at the viewpoints, and are in town by late afternoon. About 160 km and 3.5 hours on the road in all, broken into five stops.

   Included

   • Boulders Beach penguin colony, entry included
   • Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, Table Mountain National Park entry included
   • Sit-down lunch in Kalk Bay
   • Chapman's Peak Drive with viewpoint stops

   Optional experiences

   • Cape Point funicular (a few minutes; or walk up)

   Easier option: Take the funicular up to the Cape Point lighthouse viewpoint instead of the path.

   More active option: Walk the cliff path from the lighthouse towards the Cape of Good Hope, about 3 km one way, and meet the van there.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: The path up to the old lighthouse is about 1 km with steps; the funicular saves most of it.

4. Day 4: Robben Island and Kirstenbosch

   The ferry from the V&A Waterfront to Robben Island, then Kirstenbosch

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 4 details

   A morning ferry takes us from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront across Table Bay to Robben Island, a crossing of about 30 to 45 minutes with Table Mountain behind. The island has been used as a place of banishment and a prison since the 17th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A bus tour passes the lime quarry where prisoners worked and Robert Sobukwe's house, then a guide, on many tours a former political prisoner, leads the walk through the maximum security prison to the cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. Tickets sell out, so we book them when your trip is confirmed. Back on the mainland, we drive to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, for an unhurried afternoon in its fynbos and protea beds and on the Tree Canopy Walkway. The evening is free; tomorrow we fly to the bush.

   Included

   • Robben Island ferry and guided tour, tickets included
   • Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, entry included

   Optional experiences

   • Cape Winelands day in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek instead of Kirstenbosch (priced at booking)

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel after Robben Island and skip Kirstenbosch.

   More active option: Walk the Skeleton Gorge trail up from Kirstenbosch towards the mountain with a local guide (priced at booking).

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: If the sea is too rough, the ferry is cancelled and your guide arranges an alternative; if the cableway was closed on day 2, it goes in here.

5. Day 5: Fly to the Greater Kruger

   Cape Town by air to Hoedspruit, then a safari lodge in a private reserve

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Greater Kruger
   Day 5 details

   After breakfast we drive to Cape Town International Airport for a flight north-east to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport, non-stop on some days (about two and a half hours), otherwise via Johannesburg, confirmed with your final itinerary. Hoedspruit sits at the foot of the Drakensberg escarpment, on the western edge of the Greater Kruger: a group of private reserves that share unfenced borders with Kruger National Park, so the animals move freely between them. A lodge vehicle meets us for the drive of about 40 km to our safari lodge, where we stay three nights, full board, in rooms with their own bathrooms. Lunch at the lodge, a rest, and at about 4 pm the first game drive in an open vehicle with a ranger and tracker, at most six guests to a vehicle. Drives here can leave the road to follow animals. A drink at sunset, the drive back by spotlight, and dinner at the lodge.

   Included

   • Flight from Cape Town to Hoedspruit (non-stop on some days, otherwise via Johannesburg)
   • Afternoon game drive in an open vehicle with a ranger and tracker
   • Sundowner stop
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

   Activity: Bring a warm layer for the open vehicle after dark from May to August.

6. Day 6: Dawn drive and a walk in the bush

   A full day in the private reserve

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Greater Kruger
   Day 6 details

   A wake-up call before sunrise, coffee and a rusk, and we are out in the open vehicles at first light for a drive of about three hours, when lions and leopards are still moving and the air is cool. The ranger reads the night's tracks with the tracker on the bonnet seat and follows what the radio and the sand suggest; elephants, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and impala are likely, the cats possible, never promised. We stop mid-morning for coffee in the bush and are back for a late breakfast. The middle of the day is free: the lodge's waterhole, the pool or a sleep. In the afternoon, for those who want it, a ranger leads a walk of about two hours on foot, single file and quiet, looking at what a vehicle drives past: dung beetles, termite mounds, medicinal plants and birds. Then a short sunset drive and dinner at the lodge, often outside around a fire.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive in an open vehicle
   • Guided bush walk with an armed ranger
   • Sunset drive
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the walk and take the afternoon game drive instead.

   More active option: The bush walk, about two hours on uneven ground at a slow pace.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at the lodge

   Activity: Walks follow the ranger's rules: neutral colours, closed shoes, single file. Minimum age for walks is set by the lodge.

   

7. Day 7: Last day in the bush

   The private reserve, with a free afternoon

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Greater Kruger
   Day 7 details

   One more dawn drive of about three hours, and a chance to look for what you have not yet seen: the ranger asks the group and plans the route around it, whether that means waiting at a dam for elephants to come down to drink or tracking a leopard seen the night before. Rhinos live in the Greater Kruger, though the reserves keep their locations quiet because of poaching. After a late breakfast the rest of the day is yours until the afternoon drive: sit at the hide or on the deck, swim, or sort your bag for tomorrow, since the light aircraft in Botswana take soft bags of about 20 kg. The afternoon drive runs into a sundowner stop and back after dark by spotlight, when you may see genets, bushbabies, hyenas and owls. The last dinner at the lodge is a good night for stories from the three days.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive
   • Afternoon game drive with a sundowner and a spotlight return
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Sleep in and join only the afternoon drive.

   Free time: Late morning and early afternoon free at the lodge

8. Day 8: Into the Okavango Delta

   Hoedspruit by air via Johannesburg to Maun, then by light aircraft to a camp in the Delta

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Okavango Delta
   Day 8 details

   Today is the trip's one long travel day, and it is long because it saves you a night in Johannesburg and another in Maun. After breakfast we drive about 40 km to Hoedspruit and fly to Johannesburg, connect to the flight to Maun in Botswana, clear immigration, and board a small light aircraft for the last 20 to 45 minutes into the Delta. Your guide handles the check-ins and connections; lunch is on the move between flights. From the light aircraft you see the Delta's shape: channels and lagoons through the papyrus, palm-ringed islands and game trails between them. The Okavango River rises in Angola and spreads into the Kalahari instead of reaching the sea; the Delta was listed by UNESCO in 2014. A camp vehicle meets the plane, and we arrive in time for a sundowner on the deck before dinner. Three nights here, in tents with their own bathrooms.

   Included

   • Flights from Hoedspruit to Maun via Johannesburg
   • Light-aircraft flight from Maun to the camp airstrip
   • Dinner at camp

   Activity: Light aircraft take soft bags of about 20 kg each, hand luggage included. Flight times are confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

9. Day 9: On foot and by mokoro

   A full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Okavango Delta
   Day 9 details

   Coffee by the fire before sunrise, then we cross by mokoro to one of the larger islands for a guided walk with a licensed camp guide and your poler, in the coolest hours. On foot you read the place closely: last night's tracks in the sand, termite mounds that seed new islands, red lechwe splashing off through the shallows. The guide decides how close is safe; we walk in single file and talk quietly. Back at camp by late morning for brunch, and the middle of the day is free: rest in your tent or watch the lagoon from the deck. In the late afternoon we go out by mokoro, the Delta's narrow poled canoe, two guests to a boat, slipping through the reeds and water lilies past reed frogs and kingfishers, with hippos kept at the distance your poler judges safe. A drink as the sun goes down over the floodplain, then dinner at camp.

   Included

   • Dawn guided walk on an island with a licensed guide and your poler
   • Late-afternoon mokoro trip with a local poler
   • All meals at camp

   Easier option: Skip the walk and stay at camp, then join the afternoon mokoro.

   More active option: A longer walk of about three hours on a bigger island, where the camp guide allows it.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at camp

   Activity: Walks are 2 to 3 hours on flat, sandy ground at a slow pace. Wear neutral colours and closed shoes.

10. Day 10: A game drive on the islands

    A second full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

    • By boat
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Okavango Delta
    Day 10 details

    Today we see the Delta from a vehicle. After an early breakfast we head out with the camp guide in an open 4x4 across the dry islands and floodplain edges, where the land holds elephants, buffalo, giraffe, zebra and the Delta's lechwe and tsessebe, and where lions and wild dogs are seen, though never promised. The guide reads the morning for tracks and alarm calls and decides where to go. We are back at camp for lunch and a free afternoon, the hottest part of the day. Late in the afternoon we go out again, by boat or mokoro depending on the flood and the camp's area, to the open lagoons where hippos surface and fish eagles call from dead trees. Your guide picks a spot for the sunset and a drink, and we are back at camp for dinner and a last night with the hippos calling in the dark.

    Included

    • Morning game drive in an open 4x4 with the camp guide
    • Late-afternoon boat or mokoro trip to the lagoons, with a sundowner
    • All meals at camp

    Easier option: Stay at camp in the morning and join only the afternoon on the water.

    Free time: Afternoon free at camp

11. Day 11: To Kasane and the Chobe River

    Okavango Delta by light aircraft to Kasane, then a boat on the Chobe River

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Kasane
    Day 11 details

    Coffee on the deck and breakfast, then the camp vehicle takes us to the airstrip for the flight north-east to Kasane, about an hour to an hour and a half in the air, sometimes with a stop at another airstrip. Below, the water gives way to dry woodland and then to the green line of the Chobe River. A vehicle meets us at Kasane Airport for the short drive to our lodge near the river, where we stay two nights. After lunch and a rest, we board a boat for the afternoon on the Chobe River inside Chobe National Park, Botswana's first national park. From the water, the river edge is the show: elephants come down in family herds to drink, swim and cross to the islands, buffalo and hippos graze the floodplain, and crocodiles lie on the sandbanks. We stay out until the sun goes down over the Namibian bank. Dinner is at the lodge.

    Included

    • Light-aircraft flight from the Delta to Kasane
    • Afternoon boat cruise on the Chobe River in Chobe National Park, park fees included
    • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

    

12. Day 12: Chobe by land at dawn

    Kasane to the Chobe riverfront and back

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Kasane
    Day 12 details

    We leave the lodge before sunrise in two open 4x4s, at most six guests in each, to be at the Sedudu gate of Chobe National Park as it opens. The first hours are the best on land: the air is cool, the cats are still active, and the riverfront track is quiet before the day visitors arrive. The drive follows the river west along the floodplain, with stops wherever the animals are: elephant and buffalo herds, giraffe, sable antelope in the woodland, and the puku, an antelope rare elsewhere in Botswana. Lions and leopards are seen here, though never promised. We are back at the lodge by late morning for brunch. The afternoon and evening are free: swim, sleep, walk into Kasane, or take the optional small photographic boat on the river for a second, lower look. Dinner tonight is your choice, at the lodge or in town.

    Included

    • Dawn game drive in Chobe National Park in an open 4x4, park fees included
    • Brunch at the lodge

    Optional experiences

    • Small-boat photographic trip on the Chobe River (priced at booking)

    Easier option: Sit the drive out and take a slow morning at the lodge.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Kasane

    Activity: Bring a warm layer and a hat: dawn in an open vehicle is cold from May to August.

    

13. Day 13: Across the border to Victoria Falls

    Kasane through the Kazungula border to Victoria Falls, then a cruise on the Zambezi

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Victoria Falls
    Day 13 details

    A free morning for a late breakfast or a last look at the river, then we leave Kasane at about 10 am for Victoria Falls, about 80 km and an hour and a half on the road. First comes the Kazungula border: we leave Botswana and enter Zimbabwe, where you buy your visa at the post in US dollars cash if you do not already have one, and your guide steers the group through the forms. Allow up to an hour here. Past the border, the road runs through mopane woodland, where elephants sometimes cross, into Victoria Falls town. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town, then we check in to our hotel for three nights. In the late afternoon we board a boat on the upper Zambezi, above the Falls, for a sunset cruise past islands where hippos surface and elephants come down to the banks, while the spray of the Falls rises downstream. Dinner tonight is your choice in town.

    Included

    • Transfer from Kasane to Victoria Falls through the Kazungula border with your guide
    • Sit-down lunch in Victoria Falls town
    • Zambezi sunset cruise, national park fee included

    Free time: Morning free in Kasane; evening free in Victoria Falls

    Activity: Keep your passport, visa fee in US dollars and a pen in your day bag for the border.

14. Day 14: Victoria Falls at opening

    The Victoria Falls Rainforest, then a free afternoon in town

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Victoria Falls
    Day 14 details

    We are at the gate of the Victoria Falls Rainforest, in Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls National Park, when it opens in the morning, before the tour groups arrive. The Falls are about 1.7 km wide and drop up to 108 m into a narrow gorge, and the path on the Zimbabwe side runs along the opposite lip of that gorge, facing the water. Your guide walks you through the viewpoints, from the statue of David Livingstone at the western end past the Devil's Cataract and the Main Falls to Danger Point, where you look down into the gorge and across to the Victoria Falls Bridge. From March to May the spray can soak you and hide parts of the Falls; later in the year the view is clearer. We are back for a late breakfast, and the rest of the day is yours: the craft market, a walk to the bridge, or a nap before tomorrow's free day.

    Included

    • Guided walk of the Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening, entry included

    Optional experiences

    • Helicopter flight over the Falls (priced at booking)

    Easier option: The opening start is optional: sleep in and your guide helps you visit later in the day, entry still included. Or walk only to the Devil's Cataract and Main Falls viewpoints.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: About 3 km on a mostly flat path with some steps, wet in high water. A rain jacket and a dry bag for your phone help from about March to June.

15. Day 15: A free day at the Falls

    Victoria Falls, at your own pace

    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Victoria Falls
    Day 15 details

    After two weeks of early starts, today has nothing scheduled until the evening. Your guide is in town and helps you book whatever suits you, with prices shown before you commit: a helicopter flight over the Falls and the gorges, the Victoria Falls Bridge tour on the old 1905 bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia, white-water rafting in the gorges below the Falls when the river is low enough, or a slow morning by the pool. You can also go back into the Rainforest on your own for a second look in a different light (a new ticket is needed). In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner, the last meal together after fifteen nights, three countries and four kinds of transport, and your guide checks everyone's flight times for tomorrow.

    Included

    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • Helicopter flight over the Falls (priced at booking)
    • Victoria Falls Bridge tour
    • White-water rafting on the Zambezi below the Falls, in season

    Easier option: A slow day by the pool and a stroll through the craft market.

    More active option: White-water rafting in the gorges below the Falls when the river is low enough, usually from about July to January (confirmed at booking).

    Free time: Free day until the farewell dinner

16. Day 16: Departure from Victoria Falls

    Victoria Falls to Victoria Falls Airport

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 16 details

    Breakfast at the hotel, then a free morning to walk out to the Victoria Falls Bridge, pick up carvings or baskets at the craft stalls, or simply pack slowly. Your guide stays with the group until the transfers leave. Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) is about 20 km south of town, roughly 25 minutes by road, and a driver takes you there in time for your flight; most flights from here go to Johannesburg for connections home. If you would like longer at the Falls, or a night across the river in Livingstone, Zambia, ask us when you book and we arrange the extra nights, the transfer and the visa advice. For the flight home, allow at least two hours at the airport for check-in and departure formalities, and choose a flight that leaves after about noon so you do not lose the morning. Your connection in Johannesburg should leave room for a late arrival.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Victoria Falls Airport (VFA)

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about noon to keep the morning.

Wildlife and weather: May to October is the dry season in the Kruger and Botswana: the bush thins, animals gather at water, and the Delta flood is usually highest from about June to August, which suits the mokoro. Cape Town is in winter from June to August, cooler and wetter, and the Table Mountain cableway closes in strong wind, so day 4 is the backup. Dawns are cold in open vehicles until August; September and October are hot inland, often above 35°C. Victoria Falls is fullest from about March to May and lowest in October and November.

• Cape Town4 nights
• Greater Kruger3 nights
• Okavango Delta3 nights
• Kasane2 nights
• Victoria Falls3 nights