South Africa: Cape Town, the Winelands and Kruger

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), about 20 km east of the city, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall. Our hotel is central, in the City Bowl or near the V&A Waterfront, so you can walk to restaurants, the harbour and the Company's Garden in the evenings; we name it when we confirm your dates. Table Mountain fills the view above the city, and if its flat top is clear on the drive in, enjoy it, because the cloud locals call the tablecloth can roll over it in minutes. Try to land by mid-afternoon. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing: how the Cape Town days are ordered around the weather, what to pack for early safari drives, and how the two domestic flights work. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Cape food and South African wine at a local restaurant.

   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

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

   We start early to ride the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway in the first cars of the morning, before the queues build and while the summit is most often clear; first-car times change with the season. The car's floor turns as it climbs, so everyone gets the view. On top, easy paths loop around the plateau, more than 1,000 m above the city, with views across Table Bay to Robben Island, along the Twelve Apostles and down onto Lion's Head. If wind closes the cableway, which happens often, we swap today with day 3 or day 4. Back down, a local guide walks us through the Bo-Kaap, the hillside quarter of brightly painted houses, cobbled lanes and mosques shaped by the Cape Malay community, descendants of people brought to the Cape, many enslaved, from the 17th century. Lunch is a sit-down Cape Malay meal in the neighbourhood: curry, samoosas and something sweet. The afternoon and evening are free.

   Included

   • Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, return ticket
   • Walk on the summit plateau with your guide
   • Bo-Kaap walk with a local guide
   • Sit-down Cape Malay lunch in the Bo-Kaap

   Easier option: Stay on the short, flat paths near the upper cable station, with benches and a cafe.

   More active option: Hike up Platteklip Gorge with a mountain guide, two to three hours of steep stone steps, and meet the group at the top; ride the cableway down.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free: the V&A Waterfront, the Zeitz MOCAA art museum or the District Six Museum (closed Sundays) are all close.

   Activity: About an hour on flat paths on top. Bring a warm layer: the summit is often windy and cooler than the city.

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

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

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

   We run the Cape Peninsula day in the order that avoids the crowds. We leave at about 7:45 am down the False Bay side, past Muizenberg's beach huts, Kalk Bay's fishing harbour and naval Simon's Town, to reach Boulders Beach close to opening, when the boardwalks above the granite coves are quiet and the African penguins are busy on the sand. They are critically endangered, so we watch only from the boardwalks. Next is the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park: walk or ride the Flying Dutchman funicular up to the old lighthouse at Cape Point for the long view down the cliffs, then stop at the Cape of Good Hope sign on the rocky shore. Watch for ostriches, bontebok and baboons, which are wild and must never be fed. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the sea. In the afternoon we drive back up the Atlantic side on Chapman's Peak Drive, when the sun is on the cliffs, through Hout Bay and Camps Bay.

   Included

   • Boulders Beach penguin colony, with the park fee
   • Cape Point, with the Flying Dutchman funicular
   • The Cape of Good Hope, with the Table Mountain National Park fee
   • Sit-down lunch on the peninsula
   • Chapman's Peak Drive, with the toll

   Easier option: Ride the funicular both ways at Cape Point and stay with the vehicle between viewpoints.

   More active option: Walk the cliff path from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope, about 1.5 hours, and meet the vehicle at the sign.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About three and a half hours of driving, split into five short legs. If Chapman's Peak Drive is closed for weather or rockfall, we return over Ou Kaapse Weg.

4. Day 4: Langa and Robben Island

   Langa in the morning, then the ferry from the V&A Waterfront to Robben Island

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 4 details

   This day is about Cape Town beyond the postcard. With a guide who lives in Langa, the oldest of Cape Town's townships, we walk its streets for about two hours: past family homes and the hostels built for migrant workers under apartheid, to the Guga S'Thebe arts centre and small businesses run by residents. It is a walk with a resident host, not a drive past in a bus, and we photograph people only when they say yes. Lunch is at a local restaurant in Langa, and the guide and restaurant are paid directly. In the afternoon we take the ferry from the V&A Waterfront to Robben Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. Robben Island Museum guides lead the tour through the maximum-security prison and around the island; with the crossing it takes about three and a half hours. If the sea cancels the ferry, we try another Cape Town day. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Langa walking visit with a resident guide
   • Lunch at a local restaurant in Langa
   • Robben Island ferry and museum tour

   Free time: Evening free at the V&A Waterfront or near the hotel

   Activity: About two hours on foot in Langa on pavements and dirt lanes. The Robben Island ferry is weather-dependent and tickets are booked ahead.

5. Day 5: Franschhoek and Stellenbosch

   Cape Town to Franschhoek, then over the Helshoogte Pass to Stellenbosch

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stellenbosch
   Day 5 details

   We leave Cape Town after breakfast for the Cape Winelands, about an hour and a quarter east to Franschhoek, a valley of vineyards closed in by mountains on three sides. French Huguenot refugees settled here from 1688, and the Huguenot Monument at the end of the main street remembers them. We taste at one wine estate in the morning, with time in the cellar and among the vines, then sit down to a long lunch in the valley. Non-drinkers get a grape juice or food pairing where the estate offers one. Mid-afternoon we cross the Helshoogte Pass to Stellenbosch, about 30 km, a town founded in 1679 with oak-lined streets and whitewashed Cape Dutch gables. Your guide walks you down Dorp Street to the Braak, the old town square, and past the period houses of the Village Museum, and a second tasting at an estate just outside town closes the afternoon. Dinner is free, and the old town is easy to walk.

   Included

   • Huguenot Monument, Franschhoek
   • Wine tasting at an estate in the Franschhoek valley
   • Long sit-down lunch in Franschhoek
   • Guided walk through old Stellenbosch: Dorp Street, the Braak and the Village Museum houses
   • Second wine tasting near Stellenbosch

   Easier option: Skip the second tasting and rest at the hotel in Stellenbosch.

   More active option: Ride an e-bike between Franschhoek estates with a local guide instead of the vehicle, on farm roads (confirmed at booking).

   Free time: Evening free in Stellenbosch

   

6. Day 6: Fly to the bushveld

   Stellenbosch to Cape Town International Airport, fly to Hoedspruit, then a safari lodge in the Greater Kruger

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Greater Kruger
   Day 6 details

   An unhurried breakfast, and for early risers a walk among the vineyards at the edge of town, then about 45 minutes to Cape Town International Airport. We fly north-east to Hoedspruit's Eastgate Airport, direct where a flight runs on your date, otherwise with a change in Johannesburg, which replaces the long road day other trips spend reaching Kruger. From the small airport it is a short transfer to our safari lodge in a private reserve of the Greater Kruger, where the fences with the national park are down and animals move freely; we name the lodge when we confirm your dates. Lunch is at the lodge, or on the way if we connect, then a briefing on how drives work: stay seated, keep voices low, never stand up near animals. At about 4 pm we head out in open vehicles with a ranger and tracker for the first drive, stopping for a sundowner as the light goes, and return in the dark with a spotlight picking out eyes in the bush. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

   • Transfer to Cape Town International Airport
   • Flight from Cape Town to Hoedspruit (Eastgate), direct or via Johannesburg
   • Transfer to the lodge
   • Afternoon game drive in an open vehicle with a ranger and tracker, with a sundowner
   • Reserve conservation levies

   Easier option: Skip the first drive and settle in at the lodge with a drink on the deck.

   Free time: A short rest at the lodge before the afternoon drive

   Activity: If we connect in Johannesburg we reach the lodge later and the first drive may be shorter. Pack a warm layer in your hand luggage: evening drives turn cold quickly, especially from May to August.

   

7. Day 7: Dawn drive, bush walk and dusk

   A full day in the private reserve

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

   Safari days follow the animals' clock. A wake-up knock comes at about 5 am in summer and a little later in winter, with coffee and rusks before the dawn drive, the best hours for lions, leopards and wild dogs, which are most active in the cool. Where the reserve's rules allow, the ranger can leave the track for a sighting, and only a few vehicles may gather at one sighting, so it stays quiet. Back at the lodge for a late breakfast, then a guided bush walk with an armed field guide, about two hours at an easy pace, reading tracks, dung, termite mounds and birds rather than chasing big animals. The middle of the day is yours while the animals rest too: the pool, a nap, or the waterhole from the deck. After afternoon tea the second drive runs past sunset, with a sundowner stop; at dusk look for vultures settling into dead trees. Then home under the spotlight, and dinner at the lodge.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive in an open vehicle with a ranger and tracker
   • Guided bush walk with an armed field guide
   • Afternoon and evening game drive with a sundowner
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the bush walk and rest at the lodge until the afternoon drive.

   More active option: Ask the field guide to stretch the bush walk where the reserve's rules and the group allow.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at the lodge

   Activity: Each drive lasts about three hours. Minimum ages for drives and walks are set by the lodge and confirmed at booking.

   

8. Day 8: A full day in Kruger National Park

   The lodge to Orpen Gate, then across the central plains toward Satara and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Greater Kruger
   Day 8 details

   Today we go into Kruger National Park itself, proclaimed a national park in 1926 and close to two million hectares of bush. We leave before breakfast to be at Orpen Gate as it opens (gate times change by month), about an hour's drive, then spend the day on the park's roads in an open safari vehicle with a registered guide, heading east across the central plains toward Satara, known for lions, elephants, buffalo and big herds of zebra and wildebeest. Breakfast is a picnic at a stop inside the park, and lunch is a sit-down meal at a rest camp, with time to stretch. Park roads are public and vehicles must stay on them, so this is a different safari from the reserve: wider landscapes, more ground covered and more vehicles at the big sightings. We leave the park before the gate closes and reach the lodge in time for dinner. It is a long day, about ten hours and mostly seated, so there is an easy option.

   Included

   • Full-day safari in Kruger National Park in an open vehicle with a registered guide
   • Kruger National Park conservation fee
   • Picnic breakfast and sit-down lunch at a rest camp

   Easier option: Stay at the lodge and join its usual dawn and afternoon drives in the reserve instead.

   More active option: Stay at the lodge and go out on a second guided bush walk with an armed field guide instead, where the lodge offers one.

   Free time: Time to stretch your legs and browse at the rest camp after lunch

   Activity: About 2 hours of road driving to and from Orpen Gate, plus about 6 hours of slow game viewing inside the park. Bring a hat, sunscreen and a warm layer for the early start.

9. Day 9: Last full day in the bush

   The private reserve, with an optional half-day to the Blyde River Canyon

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Greater Kruger
   Day 9 details

   Our last full day stays close to the lodge. The dawn drive is the time to look for anything still missing from your list: rangers share sightings over the radio, and your guide can ask to focus on leopard, rhino or birds. Rhino sightings are never shared with a location, and the lodge asks guests not to geotag their photos, because poaching is still a threat. After breakfast the middle of the day is free. For a change of scene, an optional half-day goes to the Blyde River Canyon, about an hour and a quarter away by road, for the view of the Three Rondavels above the river, back in time for the last drive. The late-afternoon drive ends with a sundowner as the light goes, and then a farewell dinner in the boma, the open-air enclosure around a fire, with the sounds of the bush around you.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive in an open vehicle with a ranger and tracker
   • Afternoon and evening game drive with a sundowner
   • Farewell dinner in the boma
   • All meals at the lodge

   Optional experiences

   • Half-day to the Blyde River Canyon and the Three Rondavels viewpoint, priced at booking

   Easier option: Sleep in and skip the dawn drive.

   More active option: Go out on foot with an armed field guide instead of the dawn drive, where the lodge offers a second walk.

   Free time: Middle of the day free

10. Day 10: Fly to Johannesburg

    The lodge to Hoedspruit (Eastgate), then fly to Johannesburg O. R. Tambo International Airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    A last short drive at first light, or a slow coffee on the deck if you would rather, then breakfast at the lodge and the transfer to Hoedspruit's Eastgate Airport. The flight to Johannesburg's O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) takes about an hour and a quarter, and your guide flies with you and sees you to your onward check-in. Most long-haul flights from Johannesburg to Europe and North America leave in the evening, which suits the day: book an onward flight leaving after about 6 pm. If your flight leaves late in the evening, after about 9 pm, ask us to add a guided visit to the Apartheid Museum, about 30 km from the airport, which tells the story of segregation and the transition to democracy through photographs, film and personal accounts; it is priced at booking. If you want to stay on in Johannesburg, we can book extra nights and an airport transfer for you.

    Included

    • Short dawn drive, if you want it
    • Transfer to Hoedspruit (Eastgate)
    • Flight from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg (JNB)

    Optional experiences

    • Guided visit to the Apartheid Museum for flights after about 9 pm, priced at booking

    Easier option: Skip the last dawn drive and take a slow breakfast on the deck.

    Free time: Time at the lodge after breakfast before the airport transfer

    Activity: Book an onward flight from Johannesburg leaving after about 6 pm.

Wildlife and weather: April to May and September to November suit both halves of the trip. In the Kruger area the dry winter, about May to September, thins the bush and draws animals to water, with cold dawns and the lowest malaria risk; October is hot and dry. The rains from about November turn the bush green, bring newborn impala and more birds, but make animals harder to see in thicker cover. Cape Town is driest and warmest from November to March and wettest from June to August, and the cableway can close for wind or cloud in any season.

• Cape Town4 nights
• Stellenbosch1 night
• Greater Kruger4 nights