Cape Town and Surrounds
Day 1: Cape Town (City Tour)
On arrival at Cape Town International Airport for the CApe Town group tour, transfer to your hotel where you check in and freshen up.
Your first excursion for today is a visit to Table Mountain (weather permitting). Take the cable car to the top of the Mountain. View what Sir Francis Drake described as “the fairest cape in all the circumference of the earth”.
Depart on a walking tour through the:
- Groote Kerk Building (oldest Dutch Reformed church in South Africa) – see the beautiful pulpit designed by Anton Anreith as well as the largest organ in the Southern Hemisphere built by the Dutch company Pels & Loon from the city Alkmaar in Holland.
- St George’s Cathedral where Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace award-winner, was Archbishop for 10 years.
- “Kompanjiestuin” – oldest garden in South Africa – est. 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck and “die Burgers” to grow fruit and vegetables to supply the ships passing from Europe to the Far East.
- SA Museum – Natural history displayed in this secret adventure destination. The display of the Bushmen and the whale skeletons are some of the many highlights.
- Green Market Square, former vegetable/fruit market. All streets on the square are declared national monuments. Browse through the stalls filled with curios, arts and crafts.
Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure browsing around the V&A Waterfront. Return to your hotel for dinner (own account) and overnight.
Overnight: Southern Sun Waterfront, Cape Town - or alternative (BB)
Day 2: Cape Town Peninsula Tour
Enjoy a scrumptious breakfast before departing on a tour of the Cape Peninsula. Travel via Lion’s Neck to Camps Bay. Then travel along the Twelve Apostles and the Atlantic Seaboard to the "Republic of Hout Bay". Embark on a boat trip to Duiker Island to view the seal colony frolicking in the sea around the island and various sea birds. View the sentinel from where guards watched the horizon for approaching enemy war ships in the early days of the Cape Colony. (Weather permitting; alternatively to Duiker Island is World of Birds - one of the world's largest bird sanctuaries.)
Proceed to Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, forming part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, which encloses more than 4500 plant species (fynbos) (the highest concentration of different species in such a small area anywhere in the world). As the funicular take you to the Lighthouse at Cape Point, imagine for a moment what it must have been like to sail round this point in the days of Dutch and Portuguese seafarers, in their small sailing ships, bringing spices and silk to Europe from the Far East. This is where the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean supposedly meet.
The tour then takes you to Simon's Town to visit the Jackass Penguin colony (also known as African Penguins), one of the only two breeding colonies on the mainland, at Boulders.
Your next stop is at the famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the third most popular tourist attraction in the Western Cape. Kirstenbosch is the oldest and largest botanical garden in South Africa, and was established on 01 July 1913 through an act of Parliament as a result of a bequest of Cecil Rhodes to the peoples of a unified South Africa (camphor and fig trees planted on his request are still to be seen as well as an almond hedge planted by 150 French shipwrecked people who were given food and shelter by Dutch Governor Jan Van Riebeeck some 340 years ago). Today, over 22,000 indigenous plants, and a research unit and library, attract researchers and botanists from all over the world. The gardens are magnificent, glorying in lush shrubs and exuberant blooms, which trail off into fynbos, covering a huge expanse of the rugged eastern slopes and wooded ravines of Table Mountain. The setting is quite breathtaking – this is a great place to have tea/coffee (own account) and stroll along the many paths, which meander along the eastern slopes. Opportunity to see some of the bird life of the Western Cape.
Overnight: Southern Sun Waterfront, Cape Town - or alternative (BB)
Day 3: Cape Town Winelands Tour
Start the Winelands tour with a visit to the “Afrikaans Taal Monument”, the only monument in the world dedicated to a language. Learn about the origin of this beautiful and dynamic young language, so dear to the hearts of the Afrikaans community. The monument is situated in the Paarl Rock Nature Reserve. Continue to a nearby Wine Estate situated in the heart of the beautiful and fertile Paarl winelands, for a wine tasting session.
Travel to the beautiful town of Franschhoek, a village with real French charm, originated in 1688 when land was allocated to some 200 Huguenots who fled persecution in France. It was originally known as 'Olifantshoek', after elephants took to calving in the sheltered valley of plentiful food and water. Most of the farms in the area still carry the original French names. Spend some time in this charming village, browsing through the many art, craft and antique stores and visit the Huguenot Museum & Monument, depicting the history of the French Huguenots.
Travel via Helshoogte Pass to Stellenbosch; second oldest town in South Africa in the heart of the winelands. Drive through the university and historic sections of town. Stroll down Dorp Street, which boasts the longest row of restored historic buildings in South Africa. Visit Oom Samie se Winkel, famous historic curiosity selling everything from traditional food to baskets and antiques and will also export wine. Return to Cape Town for dinner (own account) and overnight.
Overnight: Southern Sun Waterfront, Cape Town - or alternative (BB)
Day 4: Cape Town Township Tour
Today offers you an insight and interaction with cultures, communities and individuals living in our colourful society. Witness every day life in a demanding environment and share hopes and achievements.
The day starts with a tour of the Bo-Kaap. Cobblestone streets, colourful houses, mystical Mosques, spiritual shrines and beautiful views characterise the Malay Quarter. It's distinctive traditions and cultures have contributed to Cape Town's development. See the oldest mosque in South Africa. In District Six you explore the site that was once home to thousands of people of various hues and cultures, but is now a desolate wasteland because of forced removals in 1966.
The Cape Town group tour continues to the townships of Langa, Gugulethu, Cross Roads and Khayalitsha. This is the real Africa! Here traditional healers, traders, markets, shebeens and the Church play an important role in the community. You will also have a chance to buy arts and crafts of the local people and take back a souvenir of this amazing African experience.
Transfer to the V&A Waterfront to board a ferry to Robben Island. The ferry departs from the Nelson Mandela Gateway, situated in the Clock Tower Precinct at the V&A Waterfront. This once was the notorious high-security prison where former President Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years. For nearly 400 years, Robben Island was a place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment. It was here that rulers sent those they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society. During the apartheid years, Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. This historic landmark was recently established as a museum. Experience the conditions of incarceration - step inside Nelson Mandela's maximum-security prison cell, and see the lime quarries dug by inmates. This well-preserved landmark is a monument to the triumph of freedom, dignity and determination over humiliation and oppression. Learn about how Mandela used his time to read, study and keep abreast of internal affairs of South Africa and world events that made him such a wise and compassionate leader.
Overnight: Southern Sun Waterfront, Cape Town - or alternative (BB)
Day 5: Swartland, Tulbagh and Baines Kloof
Enjoy breakfast before you depart for a day spent in the areas of the farming, wine and fruit growing regions of the Swartland. Pass through Malmesbury whose skyline is dominated by the neo-Gothic Dutch Reformed Church. Visit the two villages straddling the slopes of the rugged Kasteelberg, Riebeek-Kasteel and Riebeek Wes. Riebeek Wes is the birthplace of two of South Africa’s most famous Prime Ministers – General Jan Smuts, who became a member of the British Imperial War Cabinet during World War I, and DR D.F. Malan, one of the principal architects of apartheid. Pay a visit to Allesverloren (Monday – Saturday) the Malan family home and wine estate, producing sought-after ports and red wines. The first vines were planted in 1780, originally to make brandy and house wine. Continue to Tulbagh, take a stroll along historic Church Street, completely renovated after a devastating earthquake in 1969 which registered 6.5 on the Richter scale,, and now an interesting blend of restored Cape Dutch architecture, incorporating informative displays on the redevelopment of the area, as well as village stores offering local crafts and produce. A visit is made to the picturesque Twee Jonge Gezellen Estate, for a wine tasting (Monday – Saturday). Travel to the most important deciduous fruit growing and fruit juice producing district of South Africa – Ceres. Return to Cape Town.
Overnight: Southern Sun Waterfront, Cape Town - or alternative (BB)
Day 6: Hermanus
Enjoy breakfast before you travel to Gordon’s Bay from where you travel on the R44 which hugs the coast, past Koeëlbaai’s spacious beach to Rooiels, a little settlement of holiday homes overlooked by spectacular cliff faces. There, there are quiet little bays and the fynbos grows almost to the water’s edge. Beautiful to look at, it’s extremely dangerous to line fish from this shore. Continue to Betty’s Bay, a holiday village and former whaling station.
Visit the Harold Porter Botanical Garden. This beautiful, secluded garden is set between mountain and sea, in the heart of the Cape fynbos region and encompasses 10 hectares of cultivated fynbos garden and 190.5 hectares of pristine natural fynbos. The garden is renowned for its waterfalls and amber pools.
The main fynbos families (Proteas, Ericas and Restios) are present as well as other important families such as irises, daisies and orchids. The garden boasts Disa uniflora in its natural habitat as well as the national flower, the king Protea (Protea cynaroides). There are approximately 88 species of birds, including the Orange-Breasted Sunbird and the rare Protea Canary, found only in the fynbos, present in the garden. Other wildlife, including mongoose, porcupines and genets are common but shy.
Continue past Kleinmond to Hermanus, a charming seaside village, built along the shores of Walker Bay. Magnificent mountains watch over the town, which is home to the Southern Right Whale, between the months of June and November when whales frequent the waters, courting, mating and calving. The world's first Whale Crier strides the streets of Hermanus with a sandwich board and maps, sounding his kelp horn to announce where whales have been sighted. Hermanus is acknowledged as one of the best land-based whale watching sites in the world.
Visit the Hamilton Russell Vineyards located in the cool, southerly, maritime Walker Bay appellation, in the beautiful Hemel en Aarde (Heaven and Earth) Valley behind the old fishing village of Hermanus, Hamilton Russell Vineyards specialises in producing internationally acclaimed, terroir driven Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (Monday – Saturday).
Return via Caledon, important town for the wheat, barley and wool farmers in the area. The town also has famous hot water springs which were discovered in the 17th century.
Pass Grabouw, situated in the Elgin valley famous for its apple industry. Cross over the Sir Louwry's pass and continue to Cape Town.
Overnight: Suothern Sun Waterfront, Cape Town - or alternative (BB)
Day 7: Departure
The last day of the Cape Town group tour is a day of leisure before you depart. Suggested optional excursions are:
- Castle of Good Hope, the oldest building in South Africa, built between 1666-1679.
- Harbour Champagne cruise (1 hour).
- Two Oceans Aquarium where you see marine life of the southern oceans.
- Helicopter flight across the peninsula.
Or simply spend the time relaxing and doing some shopping at the V&A Waterfront or Canal Walk. Late afternoon transfer to CPT International Airport for your outbound flight.
Contact Us for a quotation or to tailor make this tour.
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