Self drive holidays in South Africa
| country: | South Africa |
| location: | Garden Route, Kruger National Park, Western Cape, Eastern Cape |
| departures: | This trip can be tailor-made and departures can be arranged all year. The sample itinerary below can be modified to your personal wishes including departure date, duration, accommodation used & how long you spend in each destination. |
| price: | From £2700 (15 days) including flights from the UK, private transfers, accommodation and hire car. Most excursions are not included in the price but simply suggestions for how to spend your time as you will be self-driving. This trip can also be booked without flights |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
This itinerary is a great showcase for South Africa, and ideally suited to the first-time visitor. It starts in Cape Town, one of the major highlights of the country and one of the great cities of the world. Apart from the iconic Table Mountain, you have the cosmopolitan city to enjoy, and are well placed for exploring the Cape Peninsula, now all part of the Table Mountain National Park.
Moving on, during whale season, head for Hermanus. Unlike the wet, cold whale-watching experiences you find elsewhere, in Hermanus you can bask under a clear sky, on the edge of a cliff sipping a local Chardonnay whilst watching the whales just off the shore. You can of course take a boat trip too!
Moving on to the Garden Route, you come to South Africa’s playground. Beautiful coastal scenery, dominated by lagoons, forested hillsides and long beaches are at the heart of the region’s attraction, explored on steam trains, cruises, and in your own time and pace by car and foot.
The trip concludes with a few days on safari in the Sabi Sands. This reserve, sharing an unfenced border with the Kruger National Park, is arguably the best place in the world to see the Big Five in the wild – concentrations of game, notably leopard, are so great that you would be very unlucky indeed not to have close and exciting encounters with the denizens of the bush.
Moving on, during whale season, head for Hermanus. Unlike the wet, cold whale-watching experiences you find elsewhere, in Hermanus you can bask under a clear sky, on the edge of a cliff sipping a local Chardonnay whilst watching the whales just off the shore. You can of course take a boat trip too!
Moving on to the Garden Route, you come to South Africa’s playground. Beautiful coastal scenery, dominated by lagoons, forested hillsides and long beaches are at the heart of the region’s attraction, explored on steam trains, cruises, and in your own time and pace by car and foot.
The trip concludes with a few days on safari in the Sabi Sands. This reserve, sharing an unfenced border with the Kruger National Park, is arguably the best place in the world to see the Big Five in the wild – concentrations of game, notably leopard, are so great that you would be very unlucky indeed not to have close and exciting encounters with the denizens of the bush.
best time to travel
This itinerary can be done year-round. In terms of the game viewing on safari, the Sabi Sands offers excellent game viewing throughout the year. The whale season runs from around June until around November, and this is the best time to travel if you want to see these amazing animals up close. The weather will be at its best between October and March – Cape Town can be windy much of the time, although locals say it calms down a bit in March / April.day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly overnight from London to Cape Town. |
| Day 2: | Transferred on arrival to your hotel at the V&A Waterfront. The afternoon is at leisure. |
| Day 3: | Walk to Freedom tour – visit a township, before being guided round Robben Island by a former inmate of the prison there. |
| Day 4: | Hire car delivered to the hotel. Take a drive round the Cape Peninsula. |
| Day 5: | Organise a city tour, or perhaps enjoy a picnic lunch in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. |
| Day 6: | Drive to Hermanus, based here for 2 nights. |
| Day 7: | Either walk the coastal paths to watch the whales close inshore, or take a boat trip out to get even more up close and personal with them. |
| Day 8: | Drive to Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route, and spend four nights here. |
| Day 9: | Take a daytrip into the Tsitsikamma Forest to visit Storms River Mouth (a dramatic canyon emptying into the sea), and the Monkeyland primate rescue centre. |
| Day 10: | Perhaps spend the day on the water – either a boat trip into the Plettenberg Bay to see the whales and dolphins, or perhaps across the Knysna Lagoon to the Featherbed Nature Reserve. |
| Day 11: | Take a trip on the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe, a steam train running along a scenic route between George and Knysna. |
| Day 12: | Drop the car at a local airport and fly up to the Kruger for three nights on safari in a private reserve. |
| Day 13: | On safari. |
| Day 14: | On safari. |
| Day 15: | Fly back to Johannesburg, then on to London (overnight). |
travellers' tales
Our visit to the Western and Eastern Cape areas of South Africa was nothing short of sensational. It far exceeded expectations. It was more beautiful, more interesting and more diverse than we'd imagined. (more)
tailor made holidays
This trip can be tailormade to create a unique holiday for your individual requirements by travel experts with intimate knowledge of the destination. It is a more individual trip that will suit those who enjoy immersing themselves in new cultures and environments, with the flexibility to plan a trip at your own pace. Quality and value are the hallmark of these trips, with most services being provided on a private basis.how this holiday makes a difference
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This itinerary offers the chance to use FTTSA-accredited accommodation (Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa) such as Hog Hollow, near Plettenberg Bay, and Sabi Sabi Reserve, in the Sabi Sands.
There is also the opportunity to visit a large number of national parks and reserves: Table Mountain National Park; Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens; De Hoop Nature Reserve; Wilderness National Park; Tsitsikamma National Park; The Greater Kruger Park. The locals rely on tourism to sustain their economy so a visit to a township in Cape Town, as well as Robben Island, and the District Six museum (District Six was a vibrant coloured slum area razed to the ground under the apartheid regime) are a must. Monkeyland, a rescue centre where primates from zoos and private hands are allowed to return to their natural habitat, is also well worth a visit. There are guides to take you on walks through the forested enclosure and introduce you to the monkeys and gibbons now living here. |
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