Whilst here a tour of Durban and its lovely BOTANICAL GARDENS is included and there is an optional tour to the valley of a thousand hills where friendly, spirited Zulu people will show you their traditional way of life.

After a short flight to PORT ELIZABETH, you arrive for a 2 night stay at Shamwari****, an 18,000 hectare private game reserve where luxury and the wildness of nature come together to give you an unforgettable experience. The knowledgeable rangers can find amongst others, elephant, cape buffalo, giraffe, zebra, lions, cheetah, monkeys, 18 antelope species, white rhinoceros and the endangered black rhinoceros, as well as numerous birds and reptiles.

By lunchtime on the day you leave Shamwari you will have arrived at the TSITSIKAMMA FOREST and STORMS RIVER CANYON which is where the GARDEN ROUTE is generally accepted to start. Tsitsikamma Village Inn*** is your base for 2 nights and from here you can explore the forest and the little town of Plettenberg with its beautiful bay; or take boat trips to see dolphins, and scenic ferry cruises up the Keurbooms and Storms rivers.

Leaving Storms River we reach KNYSNA where we take a ferry across the lagoon to visit the FEATHERBED NATURE RESERVE. From Knysna, the route continues through some spectacular forested scenery and the South African lake district to the sea at WILDERNESS and along the coastline to VICTORIA BAY. Our next stop is GEORGE and the King George Hotel*** for a stay of 2 nights. This hotel has splendid views over the golf course to the jagged OUTENIQUA MOUNTAINS and, whilst here, there is a trip over these mountains to OUDTSHOORN in the Little Karoo.

The next stage of the GARDEN ROUTE takes you to SWELLENDAM and across a vast wheat growing area, so that the scenery changes once more until passing through the hills to reach the coast at HERMANUS. Here you stay for 2 nights at Auberge Burgundy, set above the picturesque harbour  in the historic heart of Hermanus with iits craft market, old harbour, many shops and restaurants, and of course ideally placed for whale-watching.

From here a scenic drive through three mountain passes, Houwhoek, Franschoek and Helshoogte, brings you into the lush WINELANDS and 2 nights at The Country Inn, Zevenwacht Wine Estate***. Whilst here there is plenty of opportunity to sample various very good South African wines and cheeses, have an excellent lunch at BOSCHENDAL and visit the attractive university town of STELLENBOSCH.
Zevenwacht has far-reaching views over the vines to TABLE BAY, FALSE BAY and CAPE TOWN, and this spectacular city is where the tour finishes with 4 nights at the gracious Mount Nelson Hotel*****.

TABLE MOUNTAIN presides over the landscape and we include a tour of the peninsula for the colony of seals at HOUT BAY, panoramic Chapman’s Peak Drive, the Jackass penguins at BOULDERS COASTAL NATIONAL PARK, CAPE POINT and THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Taking the ferry to historic ROBBEN ISLAND, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so many years, is well worthwhile and there is much to see in Cape Town including the KIRSTENBOSCH BOTANICAL GARDENS, museums, the Malay quarter and the lively VICTORIA AND ALFRED WATERFRONT with its wide choice of shops and restaurants.