Day 1: Tuesday 27 August
Guest will be picked up from their homes, and transferred to the airport.. Depart on domestic departing from Johannesburg to Cape Town.
On arrival at the Cape Town Airport, your Guide will meet you in the arrivals hall and you then depart from the airport to enjoy your first flowers. We travel along the coastline. If the weather is good on the day, we can drive to Langebaan via the West Coast National Park. It is one of the best places on the coastline to view the wildflowers. It is not a detour, just an alternative road to take. If we don’t visit it today we will visit the park over the next two days. We then arrive at the Glenfinnan Guesthouse in Langebaan. This is where we will be staying over for the first 3 nights of the trip, and you will have time to relax and unwind after the long flight and drive. Dinners will be at some of the well-known restaurants in town.
Day 2 and 3: Wednesday/Thursday 28 & 29 August
On these two days, we are going to drive you around to various places along the West Coast to experience many of the quaint little fishing villages and the wildflowers of the region. We would have just finished a flower tour of the area, so we should have a pretty good idea of where to take you. Some of the places we will be visiting (and more), are Saldanha, Vredenburg, Paternoster, Velddrift, Clanwilliam, Darling, Hopefield and Yzerfontein. So without describing too much, it would be a lovely 2 days in this lovely part of the country.
Day 4: Friday 30 August
Today we will travel inland for a while, on very scenic routes and mountain passes. This route will be via Malmesbury, Wellington, Paarl, Worcester and Montagu, where we will enjoy lunch. All along the route there will be wildflowers, fruit trees in flower, wheat, barley and canola fields, and various other farmland areas, before arriving in Barrydale where we will stay over in a Guesthouse.
Day 5: Saturday 31 August
The plan is to do a short drive to the charming old town of Swellendam (3rd oldest town in SA), and to visit its attractions via the fantastic Tradouw Pass. The town has charming old styled architecture, a wonderful museum, various lovely art galleries, and beautiful pavement gardens to see.
Lunch would be under the old oak trees that line the streets, before we do a casual drive back to Barrydale. We will enjoy a lovely wine and/or brandy tasting before we go back to our Guesthouse. A lovely walk can be done on the return, or you can just relax until dinner time
Day 6: Sunday 1 September
It’s time to move on again, but the scenery and the new destination will be worth it. Another very scenic drive takes us right to the Indian Ocean at Mossel Bay, where we visit some of the major attractions, viewpoints and museums. It’s also a town to enjoy a “Fish and Chips” lunch, overlooking the sea.
Oudshoorn is in the Klein Karoo region, which is also one of the most fertile valleys of South Africa. We will spend the next 3 days in this valley.
We will arrive at De Denne Country Guest house, which is again ideally situated for the things we are going to do for the next 2 days.. At the farm your rooms will have lovely views of the mountains and river, and various walking and birding trails are again available to do. It is also a working farm, and there is a lot to observe.
Relax, unpack, and enjoy the surroundings until it is dinnertime. We are going to have dinner at the farm on two evenings, and on one evening we will take a short drive into town to have dinner in the town of Oudtshoorn. Something to consider for either of the next 2 mornings is to do the Meerkat Magic tour. Early morning rise to go out with Devey to observe the Meerkat families on the farm. It’s something to consider, not compulsory, and not included in the price of the trip.
Day 7: Monday 2 September
A full day of real adventure and fantastic scenery lies ahead- a route that we do regularly. Not too many people do it as the trip is to an area lesser known and travelled- partly due to the road conditions, or that they don’t want to travel it with their expensive cars, or they may be scared of travelling over the Mountain. But do not fear, it is fantastic- and very safe, and really worth it. Travelling via the Prince Albert Valley to Prince Albert, where we will enjoy an early lunch, and explore the attractions of the town.
We will travel along the most scenic and finest mountain passes in the Karoo, (built in 1896). It is the historic Swartberg Pass, a National Heritage site. This 27 km un-tarred road winds up to a summit at 1583 metres above sea level, with breathtaking views on every turn, and wildflowers in bloom as well. We will stop at a few viewpoints along the route for photo opportunities. After reaching the summit, the pass descends into the valley close to the Cango Caves, which we will also visit before returning to De Denne.
Day 8: Tuesday 3 September
We will have a more relaxing day today. We will do a lovely farm tour, and then do a short drive into town to visit the very informative museum and art gallery, as well as have lunch in town. The afternoon is there to relax at the farm, go on a walk, use the swimming pool, etc. Pure pleasure in a wonderful environment.
Day 9: Wednesday 4 September
We first travel via the town of De Rust to the Meiringspoort Pass with its unbelievable rock formations and a wonderful waterfall. This pass also crosses a river 21 times as it meanders through the mountain. We will spend a good time here taking photos before we continue on route to the Karoo National Park where we will overnight. Enjoy a late afternoon game drive looking for the Lions that was released a few years ago into the Park.
Day 10: Thursday 5 September
After breakfast, we depart via the N1 motorway towards Johannesburg. Overnight in Bloemfontein at a Guesthouse.
Day 11: Friday 6 September
Our last day will be all along the N1 route to Johannesburg, which is a good double carriageway. We travel via Venterburg and Kroonstad towards Johannesburg. Guests will be dropped off at their homes in the mid-afternoon.
