B = Breakfast
L = Lunch
D = Dinner
INCLUDES:
- Roundtrip, international, economy airfare from Washington, DC or New York, to Cape Town and back via Johannesburg
- Rovos Rail journey from Cape Town to Pretoria
- Charter Air flights Johannesburg/Game Lodge/Johannesburg
- All services as specified
- 9 Breakfasts
- 4 Lunches
- 4 Dinners
- Game drives as specified in itinerary
- Transportation in luxury air-conditioned vehicles
- Entrance fees for sight-seeing as indicated
- Lion World Tours representative Platinum Meet and Greet upon arrival
EXCLUDES:
- Items of a personal nature such as laundry, telephone calls, etc.
- All other services not mentioned above
- Gratuities/tips for game rangers, tour guides, and drivers
- Costs of obtaining passports and/or visas
- Applicable taxes
- Trip cancellation insurance
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Day 1
Depart from New York (JFK) or Washington (Dulles) on your international South African Airways flight to Cape Town, South Africa via Johannesburg.
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Day 2
Upon arrival at Johannesburg's Oliver Tambo International Airport a security approved representative will meet you at the aircraft, and escort and assist you through customs and immigration and then to the baggage carousel where you will be assisted with your luggage. You will be accompanied into the arrival hall where a Lion World Tours representative will welcome you and escort you to the Domestic Departure Hall for your flight to Cape Town.
On arrival in Cape Town a Lion World Tours representative will meet you and hand over your travel documentation. They will answer any questions you may have regarding your travel arrangements in South Africa and then assist you to your onward transfer to hotel.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Cape Town Hotel
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Day 3
After breakfast at the Hotel you will depart on a full day Cape Peninsula and Winelands tour. You will travel along the Atlantic Seaboard, to Hout Bay. From Hout Bay, travel to Noordhoek and through Ou Kaapse Weg.
Proceed to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, where you are able to ride the funicular to the viewpoint where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.
The Cape Peninsula is the thin finger of land in the south-western most corner of Africa with the city of Cape Town at its head.
As you travel south towards Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, the land gets narrower until the great Indian and Atlantic Oceans combine into one vast southern ocean, with nothing beyond except Antarctica. After leaving the Nature Reserve, you will proceed to Simonstown.
You will then continue on the Winelands tour. This classic tour takes you through spectacular vineyard covered valleys and along scenic country roads. During the course of the afternoon you will visit Franschhoek, first settled by the French Huguenots in 1688.
Then make a stop in Stellenbosch, the second oldest European settlement in South Africa which has some of the best preserved historical buildings in South Africa. The scenery is combined with two wine tastings, a cellar tour and the opportunity to purchase some local wines.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Cape Town Hotel (B)
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Day 4
Today you will be at leisure to visit Table Mountain (weather permitting). You will make your own way to Table Mountain, which is well known for its spectacular views. The new revolving cable cars give stunning views over Cape Town.
Once at the top, there is time to wander around and take photographs from the numerous viewing decks. Take a look at the curio shop, take a walk around to the different viewpoints or you may want to stop for refreshments. After making your descent you will have the rest of the afternoon at leisure.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Cape Town Hotel (B)
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Day 5
After breakfast at the hotel the remainder of the day is at leisure to explore Cape Town. Visit the fabulous stores and restaurants at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, or just relax at the hotel.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Cape Town Hotel (B)
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Day 6
This morning transfer to the Cape Town station for your Rovos Rail departure to Pretoria. Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining other guests in the observation carriage at the rear of the train. Lunch will be served in the dining car.
The "Pride of Africa" departs northwards from Cape Town on its 960 mile journey to Pretoria, covering with stately ease a 160-year-old pioneering trail forged out of the African bushveld. The trip north takes the train through the carefully tended vineyards of the Western Cape into the stark but somehow strangely haunting barrenness of the Great Karoo. From Paarl in the heart of the winelands, the train starts to gain altitude almost imperceptibly, and over lunch reaches the first mountain terrace and the town of Worcester.
The railway line wends its way through the vineyards of the Hex River Valley, a valley mothered by a series of weathered mountains wreathed in snow during the winter. Then up to the second terrace (Touws River) to an altitude of about 4,000 feet and the dry Karoo (a Hottentot word). The change in landscape is immediately apparent. The dramatic scenery of the Western Cape fold mountains fall away to the south as the train moves towards the flat, dry vistas of the interior
Disembark at Matjiesfontein. Passengers have one hour to stroll through this quaint little village. (For refreshments we recommend the pub in the Lord Milner Hotel).
Depart Matjiesfontein, heading for Beaufort-West only a few hours away. The town was founded in 1818 by the then Governor of the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset, and named after his father, the Duke of Beaufort.
Soon after passing Beaufort-West, the train passes Three Sisters, a trio of buttes or rounded, eroded hillocks well known to all seasoned travelers in South Africa, heading north by road or rail. De Aar, a major railway junction to Namibia and the northern Cape line, is the next town reached by the train while travelling through the Karoo.
Dinner will be served in the dining car. More formal attire is worn in the evening on the "Pride of Africa" although, of course, black tie/tuxedo is not obligatory.
Accommodation: Aboard Rovos Rail (B, L, D)
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Day 7
Breakfast will be served in the dining car until 10:00 am.
Arrive in Kimberley. Here you will disembark and if time permits, proceed by coach/minivan for lunch at the Kimberley Club, then for a tour of the city, the 'Big Hole', the Mine Museum, and a ride through the city in a historic tram.
Passengers will also visit the Diamond Museum, an intensely interesting and carefully constructed display of historical memorabilia housed next to the "Big Hole", the largest man-made excavation in the world.
Dinner will be served in the dining car as you pass through Bloemhof and Leeudoringstad en route to Klerksdorp.
After leaving the Diamond City, the train passes through Warrenton. The "Pride of Africa" finally leaves the Northern Cape and Orange Free State as it crosses the Vaal River into Gauteng Province, climbing steadily towards the skyscrapers of Johannesburg, the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa. It is on the heights of the Witwatersrand, some 5,900 feet above sea level, that the greatest goldfields in history were discovered before the turn of the last century.
After a short stop in Elandsfontein where we exchange locomotives, the "Pride of Africa" will continue its journey to Pretoria.
Accommodation: Aboard Rovos Rail (B, L, D)
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Day 8
Breakfast will be served in the dining car. Journey's end is at Rovos Rail's private station at Capital Park, Pretoria, where you will arrive at 11:30 am.
Upon arrival in Johannesburg you will be met and transferred to your Hotel.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Johannesburg Hotel (B)
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Day 9
After breakfast you will be transferred to Johannesburg Airport for your light charter air flight to your private Game Reserve. On arrival at the game reserve you will be met and transferred to your lodge for a 2 night stay.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Game Lodge (B, L, D)
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Day 10
Early morning game drive followed by breakfast. The rest of the day is at your leisure to relax. Then in the evening you will go on a second game drive, followed by dinner.
Accommodation: Your choice of Platinum Game Lodge (B, L, D)
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Day 11
This morning you depart the African bush on a flight to Johannesburg. From here you will bid farewell to South Africa and depart on your international flight back to the USA on South African Airways. (B)
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Day 12
Arrive home with a lifetime of memories!
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