AUTHENTIC AFRICAN SAFARI EXPERIENCES

11 DAY – ‘ESSENTIAL SOUTH AFRICA’ SAFARI

DAYS 1-4 – CAPE TOWN

Arrive Cape Town International Airport, transfer to your hotel and enjoy an African welcome dinner in the evening. Spend the next three days exploring Cape Town and surrounds with an expert local private guide. There are a wide variety of tours to choose from each day, and these can be customised to suit your preferences. Options include a tour of the famous Mother City herself including the cable way to the top of iconic Table Mountain (cable way is weather permitting), a tour of Robben Island, a visit to a local township, spend the day exploring Cape Point and the Peninsula where two oceans meet, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, the world-famous Winelands, and much more.

Situated at the highest point on Cape Town’s popular Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, The Commodore Hotel commands splendid views of Table Mountain, Signal Hill, Granger Bay, Table Bay and Robben Island. With its ideal and central location, superb service, excellent meals, beautifully decorated and air-conditioned rooms, and all the modern conveniences on offer, this hotel is an all-round winner.

The Mother City with her astonishing array of attractions, natural beauty and world-famous wines is a must-see on any South African itinerary!

Take an early morning flight from Cape Town to Hoedspruit and drive approx. 20 minutes to camp. The Timbavati Private Nature Reserve forms part of the Greater Kruger National Park, with over 10 000 hectares. The reserve shares a common border without fences with the Kruger National Park, allowing the animals free range and the opportunity to view the greatest diversity of wildlife that Africa has to offer. Enjoy an authentic wildlife experience in Big Five territory in an area also home to over 40 mammal species and 350 bird species. Experience the thrill of game drives in open Land Rovers, guided bush walks, and tracking game on foot with highly experienced rangers and trackers.

Located in the heart of the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, the eight chalets, main lodge buildings and the deck area of Kambaku Safari Lodge all overlook a private and busy waterhole. Meals are taken on the veranda or around the pool and dinners are served in the Boma.

This fenced lodge offers excellent game viewing and a superb junior ranger program for the young ones. 

After one last morning game activity in the Timbavati and breakfast, transfer by road to the famed Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve. The Reserve is part of the largest conservation area in South Africa and it is the oldest of all the private reserves, covering an area of 65 000 hectare/ 153 000 acre of savannah thornveld. It is now part of the Greater Kruger National Park and there are no fences between them, so the game moves freely through this enormous natural reserve.  The 16 000 hectares of the MalaMala Game Reserve stretches across the largest part of this conservancy and is the first of the bands of privately owned game land to make the transition from hunting to photographic safaris.

MalaMala shares 20 miles of open boundary with the Kruger National Park, allowing game to move freely across the large land mass, producing some of the most exciting wildlife encounters in Africa. The diversity of habitats is the secret behind the fantastic complexity of fauna and flora for which MalaMala has become so famous, and the reason for virtually guaranteed sightings of the “Big 5” on game viewing activities. Top qualified rangers and exceptional Shangaan trackers accompany all game viewing activities, revealing the secrets of the bush from the big and dangerous to the small and less-often seen aspects of this environmental paradise.

MalaMala Main Camp is ideally located on the banks of the Sand River, with its thatched ochre buildings dotted across manicured lawns under large shady trees and magnificent panoramic views of the surrounding bush. Nineteen spacious bungalows offer either waterhole or river views. Guest areas include a lounge with expansive wooden deck with elevated view of animals watering in the Sand River, a pool, dining room and traditional reed boma.

This private game reserve is the quintessence of an authentic safari experience, offering fantastic game activities in the heart of the vast sweeping plains of the Greater Kruger National Park.

DAY 11

Transfer by road to either Nelspruit or Skukuza for a flight to Johannesburg and onward home from there.