South Africa and Zimbabwe: Kruger, the Panorama Route and Victoria Falls

1. Day 1: Arrive in Johannesburg

   O. R. Tambo International Airport to the Apartheid Museum, then your hotel in Rosebank

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Johannesburg
   Day 1 details

   Fly into O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB), about 25 km east of the city, where a driver meets you in arrivals. We stay in Rosebank or a similar walkable northern neighbourhood. If you land by about noon, join your See Sight Tours guide at 2 pm for a guided visit to the Apartheid Museum, south of the centre. Its rooms follow the country from the gold rush through forced removals and the 1976 Soweto uprising to the first democratic election in 1994; it takes about two hours and is not a light visit, so we keep the rest of the day easy. The museum is closed on Mondays, so if the group arrives on a Monday or a public holiday we visit Constitution Hill instead, the old prison that now houses the Constitutional Court. On the way back we cross the Nelson Mandela Bridge over the railway yards into Braamfontein as the city lights come on. In the evening the group meets for a short briefing on the days ahead, from early safari starts to what to wear in an open vehicle, then sits down to a welcome dinner nearby. If you land later, you join us at dinner.

   Included

   • Pick-up at O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)
   • Guided visit to the Apartheid Museum (Constitution Hill on Mondays and public holidays, when the museum is closed)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 2 pm museum visit, or until dinner if you land later

   Activity: Land by about noon to join the museum visit; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

2. Day 2: Over the escarpment to Graskop

   Johannesburg to Dullstroom, over the Long Tom Pass to Sabie, then Graskop and God's Window

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

   This is the one long road day of the trip, about 390 km and five hours of driving, and we break it into three stretches of under two hours each. Flying to Kruger Mpumalanga International would save little once airport time is counted, and the road is the scenery. We leave Rosebank at 8 am and head east on the N4 across the open highveld, with a coffee stop after about ninety minutes. Dullstroom, a trout-fishing town at around 2,000 m, is where we sit down to lunch. From there the road runs through Lydenburg and climbs the Long Tom Pass, named after the Boer field guns hauled up it in 1900, and we stop near the top for the view over the lowveld. Then down through the pine plantations around Sabie to Graskop, a small town on the edge of the Drakensberg escarpment. In the late afternoon light we walk out to God's Window, where the cliffs drop about 700 m to the lowveld, and to Pinnacle Rock, a single quartzite column standing out of a forested gorge. Dinner is your choice in town.

   Included

   • Drive from Johannesburg to Graskop with your guide, via Dullstroom and the Long Tom Pass
   • Sit-down lunch in Dullstroom
   • God's Window and Pinnacle Rock in the late afternoon, with entry fees

   Free time: Evening free in Graskop

   Activity: The longest road day, over the usual 4 hour cap: there is no shorter road to the escarpment, and flying to Kruger Mpumalanga International saves little once airport time is counted; three stops break it up. Short paved paths and steps at the viewpoints.

3. Day 3: Blyde River Canyon, then down to Hazyview

   Graskop to the Three Rondavels, Bourke's Luck Potholes and Lisbon Falls, then down the escarpment to Hazyview

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hazyview
   Day 3 details

   We are out by 7 am so we reach the Three Rondavels viewpoint near opening, before the coaches and while the morning light still reaches into the Blyde River Canyon, cut about 750 m deep into the escarpment. Three round, grass-topped peaks give the viewpoint its name, with the Blydepoort Dam far below them. Back south along the canyon rim, Bourke's Luck Potholes are deep round pools scoured into yellow rock where the Treur River meets the Blyde; a short path and footbridges cross above them. On the way back we stop at Lisbon Falls, about 94 m high, then sit down to lunch in Graskop. In the early afternoon we drive down off the escarpment to Hazyview, a market town about fifteen minutes from Kruger's Phabeni Gate, where we stay two nights. The rest of the day is free: a rest before tomorrow's early start, or the curio stalls along the roads into town, where carvers sell wooden animals and masks.

   Included

   • The Three Rondavels viewpoint over the Blyde River Canyon at opening
   • Bourke's Luck Potholes
   • Lisbon Falls
   • Sit-down lunch in Graskop
   • Panorama Route entry fees

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Hazyview

   Activity: Short walks on paths, steps and footbridges at each viewpoint.

   

4. Day 4: A full day in Kruger

   Hazyview into Kruger National Park by the southern gates, along the Sabie River to Lower Sabie and back

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Hazyview
   Day 4 details

   Kruger covers almost 20,000 square kilometres of lowveld and has been a national park since 1926. We leave Hazyview before dawn with coffee and rusks so we are at the gate when it opens, about 5:30 am in summer and 6 am in winter, because the first two hours give the best chance of finding lions and leopards still on the move, and the light is soft. You ride in an open safari vehicle with a qualified field guide at the wheel and your See Sight Tours guide alongside, no more than 8 guests to a vehicle. We follow the Sabie River east, looking for elephants, buffalo and hippos at the water, which in the dry months is where much of the game comes to drink. Breakfast is a picnic at a designated picnic site, and lunch is a proper sit-down meal at Lower Sabie rest camp, on a deck above the river. In the heat of the middle day animals rest, so we slow down at Sunset Dam and the waterholes, then work back west in the late afternoon and leave before the gates close. Dinner is together in Hazyview.

   Included

   • Full-day drive in Kruger National Park in an open safari vehicle with a qualified field guide
   • Kruger conservation fees
   • Picnic breakfast in the park
   • Sit-down lunch at Lower Sabie rest camp
   • Dinner in Hazyview

   Easier option: If a full day in the vehicle is too long for you, tell us when you book and we arrange a morning drive back to Hazyview by about 1 pm (cost confirmed at booking).

   Activity: About 11 hours out with stops. In the national park you stay in the vehicle except at rest camps and picnic sites. Bring a warm layer for the early start.

5. Day 5: North to a private reserve

   Hazyview north on the R40 past Hoedspruit to a private reserve (Karongwe planned)

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Karongwe (private reserve near Hoedspruit)
   Day 5 details

   After yesterday's early start, breakfast is unhurried. At about 9 am we drive north on the R40 through the lowveld, past Bushbuckridge, Acornhoek and Hoedspruit, to a private reserve west of Kruger. We are planning on Karongwe, a fenced Big Five reserve of about 9,000 hectares, and confirm the reserve and lodge with your dates. We arrive in time for lunch at the lodge, with free time to settle in. Here the rules change from the national park: rangers can leave the roads to follow tracks, drive after dark with a spotlight, and share sightings between a few vehicles by radio, so you are rarely in a queue. The afternoon drive leaves at about 4 pm with a tracker on the front seat, stops for a sundowner as the light goes, and comes back in the dark looking for owls, genets, hyenas and hunting cats. Dinner is at the lodge, full board, as all meals are here; we confirm the lodge and its facilities with your dates.

   Included

   • Drive from Hazyview to the private reserve with your guide
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge
   • Afternoon and night drive with a ranger and tracker, with a sundowner

   Free time: Free after lunch until the afternoon drive

   Activity: Open vehicles get cold after dark for much of the year; bring a warm jacket.

   

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

   A full day in the private reserve

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Karongwe (private reserve near Hoedspruit)
   Day 6 details

   Coffee is at about 5:30 am and we are out at first light, the coolest and busiest hours for animals, when the ranger reads the night's tracks in the sand and decides where to go. We look for rhinos, elephants and buffalo, and the tracker watches for fresh signs of lions and leopards; nothing is guaranteed, but off-road access helps. We come back at about 9 for a full brunch, and the middle of the day is yours to rest, read or sleep, with lunch at the lodge. At about 3 pm you choose. Walk for about two hours with an armed ranger, learning to read spoor, dung and birdcalls and seeing the small things a vehicle drives past, or stay at the lodge. Then everyone heads out on the last afternoon drive, with a sundowner on a rise and the drive home under a spotlight. Dinner is at the lodge, the last night in the bush before we fly north. We plan on Karongwe and confirm the reserve and lodge with your dates.

   Included

   • Dawn drive with a ranger and tracker
   • Guided bush walk with an armed ranger
   • Afternoon and night drive with a sundowner
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Sleep in and skip the dawn drive, or rest at the lodge instead of the walk.

   More active option: The guided bush walk of about two hours with an armed ranger, at an easy pace on uneven ground.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at the lodge

   Activity: Bush walks usually have a minimum age (often 16) set by the reserve; we confirm it when we name the lodge.

   

7. Day 7: Fly to Victoria Falls

   The private reserve to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport, fly via Johannesburg to Victoria Falls, then into town

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Victoria Falls
   Day 7 details

   There is time for a short last drive at dawn if you want it, or a slow breakfast if you do not. At about 10 am we leave for Hoedspruit's Eastgate Airport, about an hour away, and fly to Johannesburg, then on to Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) in Zimbabwe, about an hour and three quarters further north. Your See Sight Tours guide flies with the group and handles the connection and the visa queue at the other end. If the day's schedules do not connect, we route through Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport instead; you will see the flights in your final itinerary. We land in the late afternoon and drive about 20 km into Victoria Falls town, to a hotel within walking distance of the Falls entrance and the town's shops. In the wetter months you can see the column of spray above the trees from town and sometimes hear the water, which is where the local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders, comes from. The evening is free; your guide can point you to dinner nearby.

   Included

   • Optional short dawn drive in the reserve
   • Transfer to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport
   • Flights from Hoedspruit to Victoria Falls via Johannesburg, with checked baggage
   • Transfer from Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) to your hotel

   Free time: Evening free in Victoria Falls town

   Activity: A travel day with airport time. Have your Zimbabwe visa plan ready (see good to know).

8. Day 8: The Falls on foot, the Zambezi at sunset

   Victoria Falls Rainforest, then a sunset cruise on the Zambezi above the Falls

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Victoria Falls
   Day 8 details

   The Rainforest gate opens at about 6 am, and we walk in at about 7 with a licensed local guide, while the path is quiet and the morning sun behind us throws rainbows into the spray. The Falls are about 1,700 m wide and drop roughly 108 m into a narrow chasm, and from the Zimbabwe side you look straight across at most of that face. The path passes about sixteen viewpoints, from the Livingstone statue at Devil's Cataract to Danger Point, close to the Victoria Falls Bridge. From February to May the spray is heavy enough to soak you and sometimes hide the bottom of the gorge; in October and November the water is low and the rock face shows. Lunch is your choice in town and the afternoon is free. In the late afternoon we board a boat on the Zambezi upstream of the Falls for a cruise of about two hours with drinks and snacks, watching for hippos, crocodiles and elephants along the islands as the sun goes down.

   Included

   • Guided walk through the Victoria Falls Rainforest with a licensed local guide, entry included
   • Zambezi sunset cruise with drinks, snacks and the park fee

   Optional experiences

   • Helicopter flight over the Falls
   • Whitewater rafting in the Batoka Gorge (seasonal)
   • Victoria Falls Bridge tour or bridge swing

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 2 km on a level path that is wet and slippery in high water; a rain jacket is useful from February to May.

9. Day 9: Chobe, or a slow day at the Falls

   Victoria Falls, with an optional day trip across the Kazungula border to the Chobe River in Botswana

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Victoria Falls
   Day 9 details

   Today is yours, and there are two good ways to spend it. The optional Chobe day trip leaves at about 7 am and drives about 80 km west to the Kazungula border, about an hour and a half including formalities. In Botswana a boat takes you along the Chobe River in the morning, looking for hippos, crocodiles, buffalo and, in the dry months, the elephant herds that come down to drink. Lunch is in Kasane, then an afternoon game drive along the Chobe riverfront in the national park, and you are back in Victoria Falls by about 6 pm. Your guide goes with the Chobe group. If you would rather stay, walk to the Victoria Falls Bridge, built in 1905, and look down into the Batoka Gorge, browse the craft market, or rest at the hotel after a busy week. In the evening we all meet again for a farewell dinner together in town.

   Included

   • Farewell dinner in Victoria Falls

   Optional experiences

   • Chobe day trip into Botswana: Chobe River boat trip, lunch in Kasane and an afternoon game drive (price shown when you book)

   Easier option: Stay in Victoria Falls: the bridge, the craft market and a rest.

   More active option: The full Chobe day trip, about 11 hours out with a border crossing each way.

   Free time: The whole day is free unless you take the Chobe trip

   Activity: For Chobe you need a Zimbabwe visa that allows re-entry (see good to know) and your passport.

   

10. Day 10: Depart from Victoria Falls

    Victoria Falls town to Victoria Falls Airport (VFA)

    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    The last morning is free. Early risers can walk back towards the Falls for one more look at the spray in the first light, or along to the bridge, while others take a slow breakfast at the hotel. Pack with the airport in mind: the transfer to Victoria Falls Airport is about 20 km and takes around twenty-five minutes, and your guide sees the group off and checks each flight. The airport has direct flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town and onward connections, so most routes home go through Johannesburg. Book a flight leaving after about 11 am so the morning is not a rush. If you want more time in the region, we can add nights in Victoria Falls, a stay in Cape Town before the trip, or a few days on the Chobe River; ask when you request to book and we quote the extra nights and transfers.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Victoria Falls Airport (VFA)

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 11 am.

Wildlife and weather: Kruger's dry winter (May to September) thins the bush and draws animals to water, so sightings are easier, but dawn drives can be close to freezing in June and July. Summer (November to March) is hot, green and wet, with newborn animals and migrant birds, but thicker bush. Victoria Falls is fullest from about February to May, when the spray can hide the view and soak you, and lowest in October and November.

• Johannesburg1 night
• Graskop1 night
• Hazyview2 nights
• Karongwe (private reserve near Hoedspruit)2 nights
• Victoria Falls3 nights