6
Day Garden Route Tours / Safaris Itinerary
Select your own tour dates! (Minimum 2 guests)
These
extended Garden Route Tours include:
• Schotia Safaris
• Addo Elephant Park
Day
1:
HIGHLIGHTS:
Hugenots Tunnel
Breede River Wine Region
Kleinplasie –Open Air Agricultural Museum
Route 62
Oudtshoon-capitol of Ostrich Industry
We depart from Cape Town to head for Worcester, heart of the biggest
grape producing region of South Africa. We visit Kleinplasie, a living
agricultural open air museum before we travel through Montagu, Barrydale
and towns like Calitzdorp to Oudtshoorn. We travel on what is known
as Route 62 and that was previosly known as the “ Fruit Route.”
The Karoo region is an area characterized by vast plains, typical
hills and picturesque sunsets. This is a rugged world – “big
sky country” – a region of surprises known as the “Little
Karoo.” Travel to the centre of the worlds Ostrich Industry
–Oudtshoorn.
Overnight at Cul De Sac Guest House
Day
2:
HIGHLIGHTS:
World Famous Cango Caves
Ostrich Show Farm
Ostrich Palaces
Crocodile Ranch and Cats of the World
We start our day with a visit to an Ostrich Show Farm for some unique
experiences, including Ostrich riding and racing. We will also have
a look at the so-called Ostrich Palaces of former years. Lovely sandstone
buildings that was built out of sandstone at the time when Ostrich
Feathers was known as “White Gold”. .Commercial ostrich
farming started during the late 1880's in South Africa in Oudtshoorn.
This was also the start of the ostrich industry worldwide. The fashion
demand in Europe for ostrich feathers inspired the growth of the industry,
with the Oudtshoorn district quickly being established as the Ostrich
capital of the world. Once we have learned all about the ostrich business
we will travel to the fertile Cango Valley at the foot of the Swartberg
Mountains – South Africa's 6th World Heritage Site in a area
also known as the Little Karoo .Here we will visit the world famous
Cango Caves..
The Cango Caves are located in limestone formations at the foothills
of the Swartberg range .The Main cave that is open to the public is
one of the country's finest, best known and most popular tourist caves
and attracts many visitors from overseas. It is the second most visited
natural attraction behind Table Mountain in South Africa. Although
the extensive system of tunnels and chambers go on for over four kilometers,
only about a quarter of this is open to visitors, who may proceed
into the cave only in groups supervised by a guide. After your guided
tour we will visit the CANGO Wildlife Ranch. The Cango Wildlife Ranch
is the oldest and biggest cheetah contact centre worldwide and offers
visitors the rare opportunity of interacting with our hand reared
cheetahs and getting actively involved in saving this species and
others from extinction. Other cats of the world such as Jaguar and
Tigers can also be seen. Overnight Oudtshoorn.
Day 3:
HIGHLIGHTS:
De Rust , Uniondale
Route 62
Langkloof –spectacular Apple Producing Area
City of Port Elizabeth
Addo Elephant Park
Our journey goes through the Langkloof (continue on Route 62) –
the spectacular apple growing area – up to Port Elizabeth and
to ADDO ELEPHANT PARK. Tonight will be your first experience with
Africa’s wild animals when you will do a Sundowner evening Game
Drive for about two hours in open Safari Landrovers with spotlights
to also find your nocternal animals.
We will overnight in ADDO PARK or a Guest House if no accommodation
is available in the Park.
Day
4:
HIGHLIGHTS:
Addo Elephant Park
SCHOTIA SAFARI’S
Today we explore Addo Elephant Park in our search for the Big 5 that
we have not seen yet. We will do a game drive after breakfast to about
lunch time before we leave for Schotia Safari’s where you will
go on a Safari on an open Safari Landrover truck at 15H00. You will
also enjoy your evening meal at Schotia and return at about 21h00
.This trip is also known as the TOOTH AND CLAW SAFARI. Please have
a look at Schotia Safari’s website for a detailed list of animals
that can be seen. http://www.schotia.com/
We travel to the city of Port Elizabeth to overnight at 5th Avenue
Guest House.
Day
5:
HIGHLIGHTS:
Port Elizabeth –the Friendly City.
Storms River Bridge
The Big Tree-800 year old Yellowwood Tree
Tsitsikamma National Park
Bloukrans Bridge-216 meter Bungy
Plettenberg Bay
Lagoonside Town of Knysna
Sundowner Cruise on Lagoon
We will do a very short introduction of the City of Port Elizabeth
.Today’s tour program will take you the heart of the Garden
Route. We will explore areas like the Tsitsikamma National Park, Plettenberg
Bay down to the very popular town of Knysna. The Knysna area is regarded
as one of South Africa’s most beautiful areas. The town offers
plenty of shopping opportunities and is apart front its beauty also
known as the “Arts and Crafts Capitol “of South Africa.
Other highlights for today will include a brief stop at the very impressive
Bloukrans Bridge-the highest commercial Bungee Jump in the world.
This bridge is 216 meters high and is one of the most impressive pieces
of engineering being found on the Garden Route. This stretch of the
Garden Route today is also characterized by massive cliffs, very narrow
isolated beaches and shady indigenous forests along river valleys.
We will end this day with a lagoon cruise on the Knysna Estaury. This
will be the Sundowner Cruise. Overnight in Knysna on a B&B Basis.
Day
6:
Mossel Bay Museum Complex
Albertinia –Aloe Skin Products
Swellendam -3 rd oldest town in RSA
Scenic Mountain Passes-Sir Lowry’s Pass
We start today with our return journey to Cape Town. The program will
first of all take us via the town of Sedgefield, Wilderness to Mossel
Bay. Our morning is spend on exploring the Diaz Museum Complex. Learn
more about the Portuguese History at the Cape as they where looking
for the sea route to India. We also visit the Post Office Tree which
is regarded as the original Milkwood Tree in which letters was found
in a shoe about 500 years ago. The oldest Post Office in Africa. We
travel further to the town of Albertinia. This area is known for two
unusual products- Thatching Reed and the plant known as Aloe Vera.
Aloes are found in great numbers in and around this town and therefore
the Aloe Factories in Albertinia. We will make a short visit to an
Aloe Factory /Shop for a brief introduction into this business of
making export skin products from this unique plant. We will get to
historical Swelledam (3rd oldest town) mid afternoon to catch up on
their early rebelious history. We travel along scenic mountain passes-like
Sir Lowry’s, huge apple producing areas (Grabouw) to get to
Cape Town late afternoon.
R
8 950 per person sharing (R900 single room supplement)
Bed & Breakfast, all entrance fees at above mentioned venues
Lunch, Dinner & Drinks
From
our experience, we have compiled the above Garden Route tours and
safaris. These are merely suggestions. Please feel free to talk to
us about adjusting, changing or personalising any of the tours for
you. We're
VERY flexible - JUST ASK!
