Day-to-day schedule
Day 1: Johannesburg / Pretoria
You will overnight in Pretoria in a safe, friendly and cosy backpackers lodge for the first night. Pretoria is the administrative Capital of South Africa and has lots of historic buildings and monuments to explore. Depending on when you arrive, you can visit the city or take an optional excursion to Soweto. Former president Paul Kruger is a local hero, his statue is at Church Square, and you can visit his home. Sir Herbert Baker designed the impressive Union Buildings. As you only spend a short time in Pretoria, it will not be possible to visit both Soweto and Pretoria in the same day. You will have to make a choice between the two.
Pretoria, has a different name these days, ‘Tshwane’ its original African name meaning ‘we are the same’. The name change is part of a national program to aid affirmative action campaigns.
Day 2: Pretoria - Pilgrim's Rest - Sabie
In the morning you will travel to Mpumalanga. On the way you will stopover at the Sudwala Caves that you can optionally visit. The Sudwala Caves are one of the most important attractions of the Laagveld, and are in the Mankelekele hills in the valley of Houtbosloop (wood bush creek) about 35 km northwest of Nelspruit. These caves are comparable to the famous Cango Caves in the Klein Karoo. Here you will find magnificent stalactites and stalagmites. The caves are at least 2000 million years old. They were discovered at the beginning of the 19th century by Somquba, the sun of the Swazi King, Sobhuza I, who fled here with his followers in fear of his brother Mswati. Sombuqa and his people built a village next to the entrance to the caves, where they could hide every time Mswati and his men came. Still, one day Mswati and his men managed to kill Sombuqa and a large number of his followers. The survivors remained under a leader called Sudwala, after whom the caves were named.
You will drive on to Pilgrim's Rest, an old miner’s village. Gold was mined here from 1873 to 1972. It was then handed over to the government as an open-air museum. Here, you can get an idea of the life of the mineworkers in those days.
After Pilgrim's Rest you drive to Sabie and pitch your tent for the first time. Sabie is a small countryside village in a deep valley on one of the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga (‘place of the rising sun’) Sabie is a popular destination with breathtaking waterfalls from small mountain creeks. It has a lot of places to stay and restaurants. Sabie’s pride is its SAFCOL Forest Industry Museum. This museum is the only one of its kind and is definitely worth a visit.
Day 3: Sabie - Kruger National Park
On day 3 you travel via God's Window and the Blyde River Canyon to the Kruger National Park. The bizarre landscape is unique. The Blyde River Canyon is a long canyon (16 km) and is third on the world list of canyons after the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon. At the end of the day you will arrive in the Kruger Park. If time permits, you will have a game drive in the park at the end of the day.
For the next 2 nights you will sleep at one of the campsites in the park. If the campsites in the park are fully booked you will stay in Malelane, on the edge of the Park. You will go on game drives in the Kruger Park on day 4.
Day 4: Kruger National Park
You will spend this day game driving in the park. The game drives are mainly in the morning and late afternoon. The famous Kruger Park is enormous and offers protection to a great number of animals. Species such as wildebeests, the charming impalas, kudus, zebras, giraffes, buffaloes, warthogs, elephants and hippos, and the severely threatened rhino. You will find the big cats here, lions, cheetahs and (with a bit of luck) leopards. Bird lovers should know that 500 species have been spotted, from small weavers to the large Ground hornbill. When it comes to variety the Kruger Park is probably the best nature park in the world. Optionally, you can make an exciting sunset drive. The game drives we make with our own truck are included in the travel fee. You can also have an optional excursion with open land Rovers which can go off the beaten track. You must pay for the optional sunset drive yourself. Unfortunately, this excursion can only be booked at arrival at the campsite and only when places are still available.Day 5 -
7: Kruger National Park - Swaziland
After breakfast you will leave for Swaziland. This small kingdom is home to one million Swazis, who mostly live from farming and forestry. A former British colony, it gained independence in 1968 without any struggle. Past the border you will head for the market in Manzini where beautiful handmade items are on sale. Swaziland is a sharp contrast to South Africa. It is poorer and people live more traditionally. They are related to Zulus, which is clearly visible are very friendly and enjoy talking about their customs.
In the late afternoon you will reach the Mlilwane Game Reserve, here you will spend two nights at a cosy campsite by a small lake. There are no animals in Mlilwane that are a threat to humans so you can walk around freely. Early in the morning of day 8 you can have an (optional) escorted trek through the Mlilwane Game Reserve (the entrance fee for Mlilwane is not included in the travel fee). You will stand a good chance of seeing hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, impalas, gnus, hartebeests, blesboks and zebras. On the shores of the small lakes you’ll see lots of water birds. Optionally, you can have a game drive, go horse riding, make a night drive or go mountain biking.
Day 8 -
10: Swaziland - St Lucia
On Day 8, St Lucia awaits you 400 km away. For the next few days you can spend your time as you wish. In St. Lucia Park explore the nature reserve on foot or by boat. St. Lucia Park features the enormous St. Lucia lagoon. It is the oldest in South Africa. The Estuary is the largest in Africa consisting of a bay scattered with small islands, and a small opening to the ocean. The lagoon is shallow, the current is slow and the water is warm and very nutritious. The many fish attract crocodiles and large numbers of water birds. There are pelicans, ibises, fish eagles, goliath herons and kingfishers. The boat trip (which you will have to pay yourself) is the best way to enjoy the bird life and to observe the many hippos and crocodiles. Your tour guide can make a reservation for you. Another day you could take an optional excursion to Hluhluwe Park. This unique park was created to preserve the extremely rare and beautiful white rhino. These days t 1600 of them live here so you should see some. There are buffaloes, gnus, zebras, giraffes, and several kinds of antelopes, lions, cheetahs, hyenas and elephants in this scenic sanctuary. You can take an optional trip to Sodwana Bay for snorkelling or diving. You will stay two nights in an apartment in St. Lucia; each is shared with 5 or 6 people. There are plenty of restaurants in the vicinity.Day 11: St Lucia - Durban
After a wonderful time in St. Lucia you will drive southwards for a day along the coast to Durban. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa. Situated on a bay in the Indian Ocean, Durban has one of the most important harbours in the country. This cosmopolitan city has a subtropical climate, popular surfing beaches and many great facilities. The city is home to most of the Asian people living in South Africa. You will spend the night in a guesthouse, just outside the city, sharing a room with 6 people. There are restaurants in the neighbourhood.
Day 12 -
13: Durban - Drakensberg
Now its time for the impressive Drakensberg Mountains where you will spend two nights close to the magnificent Royal Natal National Park. The mountain range covers 960 km from Storm Mountain in the Eastern Cape Province to Cloud Mountain in Mpumalanga. The mountains are most impressive on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho. An enormous wall of mountains rises in front of you up to the peaks of the Sentinel (3274m) and the Eastern Pillar (3133m). You will also have a perfect view of the ‘amphitheatre’, a sheer wall of rock, 8km by 1200 m. The Zulu’s call the range ‘quathlamba' meaning 'battlement of spears'. However, the Voortrekkers, or early Dutch settlers compared it to the toothed back of a dragon naming the range Drakensberg (Dragons Mountains). In the background is Mont-aux-Sources (3298m) the sources of South Africa’s most important rivers; Orange River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Tugela that flows into the Indian Ocean. The Tugela pours spectacularly down 5 waterfalls, through a narrow overgrown cleft of extraordinary beauty, coming to rest in the valley. The land is very green and fertile and the mountains offer fantastic possibilities for optional walking trips. There are several walks available, short and long. You can also opt for a horse back tour of this amazing landscape.
You will spend the night in a resort consisting of several little 6 bedroomed houses. The resort has a restaurant.
Day 14: Drakensberg - Johannesburg
Today you will travel back to Johannesburg.
It is the last day of your tour but rather than being about ‘Goodbye’ your thought should be ‘Go further’!
Visit your personal ‘my.shoestring’ page on our website. ‘my.shoestring’ is the perfect way to make contact with other travellers before and after your trip. You can read and create journals from trips and upload your photos onto the photo gallery. Visit my shoestring today.
When booking your tour, please check to see whether you need any post-tour nights, bearing in mind that accommodation for the night of the final day of the tour (day 14) is not included.