Cape Kaleidoscope: Small Group Tour

Our adventure starts in Cape Town, South Africa’s most beautiful city. Leaving your hotel, we travel towards Oudtshoorn through the Cape Winelands along Route 62, the longest wine route in the country. You will be treated to breathtaking scenery and stunning vistas of lush valleys and vineyards, and through character-filled farming towns.

We lunch in Barrydale (at your own expense), a quaint town nestled between the Langeberg Mountains and the semi-arid Klein Karoo. Take in the slow pace of life and the breathtaking views as you sample the local cuisine. After lunch, it’s a scenic drive to Calitzdorp, South Africa’s port wine capital where you can treat your palate at a wine tasting (at your own expense).

Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world, is a short drive from Calitzdorp with over 400 hundred ostrich farms and the so-called Feather Mansions. Learn about different species of ostrich on a tractor tour through the farm’s breeder bird camps. The ostrich feather trade boomed during the Victorian era but collapsed during World War I. Modern farmers have successfully adapted and now farm mainly for meat, leather, and eggs. Spend the evening at leisure and enjoy the friendly Klein-Karoo hospitality as you dine in town.

Overnight at Hlangana Lodge or similar – Dinner and breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel and then experience the subterranean, enchanted realm of the Cango Caves, which are approximately 20 million years old. Don’t worry about claustrophobia; the Van Zyl’s Hall cave is 107m long and 54m in width. Back on the surface, travel through the beautiful Karoo, passing villages such as De Rust and De Vlugt before experiencing a section of the longest publicly accessible mountain pass in South Africa – Prince Alfred’s Pass.

Continue to the coastal town of Keurboomstrand for lunch (at your own expense) at a beachfront restaurant. The road then wanders to the misty, primal forests of the Tsitsikamma forest where elephants once roamed. Close to the powerful rush of the Storms River, the forests were once a haven for San hunter-gatherers. Tsitsikamma is a San word meaning “place of abundant water”. The ancient yellowwood, pear and stinkwood trees are part of a diverse ecosystem alive with animals and birds that inhabit the fern and moss-rich forest.

Feel the ancient power of the forest as you enjoy dinner and local hospitality in Storms River Village.

Tsitsimamma Village Inn or similar – Dinner and breakfast

Enjoy breakfast and spend the morning at leisure to explore this unique forest village on foot.

You have the option to join an hour guided forest walk through the forest (2km Goesa Hiking Trail at your own expense and subject to availability). We leave the village in the late morning and enter the Storms River section of the Garden Route National Park for a walk across the unique Storms River Suspension Bridge. There are a series of 3 bridges with stable wooden paths and stairs. This hour-long walk offers spectacular views of the gorge and ocean.

Leaving the forest behind, we take a short drive to the popular coastal town of Plettenberg Bay for lunch (at your own expense) before ending the day in Knysna. The town is famous for its inland waterways and the Knysna Heads, the sandstone cliffs towering over the entrance to a vast lagoon.

Spend an afternoon exploring Knysna with its fine art galleries, craft markets, Gin Distillery and Motorcycle Museum to name a few. The Thesen Island marina is an ideal place to enjoy the slow pace of the town. End a perfect day cruising the lagoon, tasting oysters, and watching dolphins at the river mouth as kingfishers hover and dive for fish. Listen to the cry of the wetland resident, the African Fish Eagle.

Another day winds to a beautiful close, with dinner at your hotel.

Overnight at Protea Hotel by Marriott Knysna Quays or similar – Dinner and breakfast

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and then it’s a short drive to Mossel Bay via the town of Wilderness and the Map of Africa viewpoint, where the Kaaimans River creates a clear map of Africa.

Mossel Bay is a beautiful seaside town featured in the Guinness Book of Records for having the mildest all-year climate. Discover the rich history of the town with a visit to the Bartholemew Dias Museum with its 500-year old Post Office tree; a living relic, used by sailors to leave letters hanging in a shoe.

Board the replica of the ship (subject to availability) sailed by Bartholemew Dias, the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope. Have lunch (at your own expense) in town before we move on to Albertinia, the aloe capital of South Africa. Relax before the thrill of an afternoon safari in an open game viewing vehicle.

Have your binoculars ready to look for lion resting in the shade. The endangered white rhino shares the plains with towering elephants and herds of buffalo. We may encounter a cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal. The reserve, close to the Langeberg Mountains, is a bird haven for 207 different species, including Rock Kestrels, Peregrine Falcons, Booted Eagles and the Blue Crane.

There will be plenty to see before returning to our lodge beneath a star-studded African sky.

Overnight at Garden Route Game Lodge or similar – Dinner, breakfast, and 2 game viewing excursions

It’s an early start with the thrill of a game drive in an open safari vehicle.

Listen to a riot of birdsong as the sun floods the plains and animals make their way to drinking holes. Add to your animal checklist, and be on the alert for the ‘Big 5’.

After breakfast, the drive takes us past fertile farmlands, across rivers and past fields dotted with aloes and proteas to Swellendam. Sample the youngberries and blackberries for which the town is renowned. Try a berry liquor or the export quality citrus fruit, peaches, and plums (all at your own expense). It’s a scenic drive from Swellendam to Arniston. Spend an afternoon at leisure in this seaside village.

Arniston is a kaleidoscope of colour with white beaches and brightly painted fishing boats bobbing on a turquoise sea. The town is famous for an enormous sea cave, “Wagon House Cliff” (Waenshuiskraal), large enough to hold a wagon and a span of oxen. The name of the town was changed from Waenshuiskraal after “The Arniston” was wrecked on the rocks in 1815. The town, with its natural beauty and whitewashed cottages, is an artist’s paradise. End the day with a relaxed dinner at your hotel.

Overnight at The Arniston Hotel or similar - Dinner and breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, we make the most of the last day with a visit to the Cape Agulhas National Park. The Park stretches along 200km of coastal plain between the towns of Gansbaaai and Struisbaai and covers 20,959 hectares. You will stand at the southernmost tip of the African continent and see the official line that divides the cold Atlantic and warm Indian Oceans at the Map of Africa Monument.

Visit the beautiful lighthouse and its museum. Cape Agulhas, the “Cape of Needles”, named by Portuguese navigators, is where the compass needle always points to true north. Our compass points us to Hermanus, a town renowned for its whale watching and natural beauty. Set against the majestic backdrop of the Overberg Mountains and with its toes in the Indian Ocean, you will be in another world.

With luck, we may even see whales (depending on the season). Find a spot for lunch (at your own expense) before we head back to Cape Town for the finale of our grand exploration.