Itinerary

Cape Town is a wonderful place to start your Southern African adventure. It is a great place to relax, enjoy the wharf and take a guided tour of the town and Table Mountain. Or head out of the city to Simon's Town, Robben Island, the Cape of Good Hope, or the wine country and Cheetah Outreach Sanctuary. You can choose to be as busy as you want to be. We spent most of our time enjoying Cape Town on our own, but we did take advantage of a guided tour of the town and Table Mountain to get our bearings, we went to see the Penguin Colony at Simon's town and Cheetah Outreach in the wine country.

Accommodations:
Cape Grace Hotel
West Quay Road, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town
PO Box 51387, Waterfront 8002, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 410 7100 Fax: +27 21 419 7622
E-mail: info@capegrace.com
Concierge: concierge@capegrace.com

Free day. We took a guided tour of Cape Town and Table Mountain to get our bearings, and then enjoyed the rest of the day.

Free day. We decided that a short trip to see penguins was just the ticket.

Less than an hour drive time.

This was the only activity we pre-booked. We booked two one-hour visits to the Cheetah Outreach and Bird Sanctuary on the Spier Estate in Stellenbosch. (They only allow 3 people at a time in the cheetah area, so we split our group of six, and alternated). I would put this on a Don't Miss list. The drive through the wine country is beautiful; you will want to take your time and even stop on the way for lunch.

There is nothing quite like petting a cheetah – unless it's petting a baby cheetah. The kids loved the hawks and birds too.

Free day. We spent the day on the wharf. Kids loved it. There was something for everyone – from a simulator ride for Emerson, to shopping for Morgan and Ali, to great restaurants.

9am – Transfer from Cape Grace Hotel to Cape Town Airport
10:30 – Departure from Cape Town International Airport to Tambo International airport in Johannesburg (2 hour flight)
2pm – Light aircraft to Rocktail Bay. Scheduled to arrive at 5:15 (1:15 flight)

Accommodations:
Rocktail Bay Lodge

Rocktail Bay is situated in the northern reaches of the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This whole area has been declared a World Heritage Site. The lodge is situated just meters inland from the warm Indian Ocean and one of the most incredible beaches in all of South Africa.

Rocktail Bay is not Big Game country, although they have their own "Big Five" – Leatherback Turtle, Loggerhead Turtle, Buitons Skink, Zululand Cycade and Red Duiker. Whales and dolphins are seen offshore. There are hippo pools nearby. And birding is great.

Activities include boating, fly fishing, scuba, snorkeling, swimming, boogie boarding, horseback riding, bird watching, and turtle drives, as well as excursions to Black Rock, the nearby hippo pools, and the surrounding community in open 4x4 Land Rovers.

Rocktail Bay is integrally involved in ongoing turtle research. Guests are able to accompany the resident turtle expert on research drives at low tide at night helping to monitor the turtles' nesting numbers and behavior. Activity can be pre-booked, but the movements of the turtles will determine each day. Researchers look at tracks from 9pm-1am. You may see 3 or 4 turtles, both Leatherbacks and Loggerheads.

We choose Rocktail Bay for beach days and because we wanted the kids to experience all that goes on with the turtle research and drives. This lodge was an eco camp, nestled in trees. You never know if you have a budding ecologist in the family. The kids really loved the night drives. Was it to see the turtles or because they got to stay up so late? Time will tell.

Private flights to Vumbura Plains Camp. Door-to-Door approximately 5 hours.
First flight on private light aircraft to Polkwane takes approximately 3 hours. Here you clear customs. Second flight to Maun Airport in Botswana is short, approximately 45 minutes. There you'll be picked up by 4 x 4 Land Rover and transferred to Vumbura Plains Camp. Drive time approximately 45 minutes.

Accommodations:
Vumbura Plains Camp

Vumbura Plains is a luxury camp situated to the north of Mombo, in a private concession bordering the Moremi Game Reserve in the extreme north of the Okavango Delta. The Vumbura Reserve offers both land and water activities in a park that has a wonderful variety of habitats and a great diversity of wildlife.

The main activity at Vumbura Plains is game viewing in wonderful and varied countryside. Open 4x4 Land Rovers allow close proximity to animals in the savannah and forested areas. The Vumbura area is possibly the only area in the Okavango where one can see Red Lechwe and a Sable antelope on the same game drive. Add in Lion, Leopard, Elephant, cheetah and Buffalo along with all the plains animals and one has an excellent all round wildlife experience. Birding too is great with large varieties and quantities. Walks, mokoros and boating give Vumbura's guests the opportunity to enjoy Africa from many different perspectives.

You'll arrive early enough to get settled in, get an introduction to the camp and its wildlife, and go on a game drive. Our first day was amazing. We saw a leopard, elephants, giraffes, zebras, buffalos, cheetahs, antelopes, monkeys, hyenas and all kinds of birds. And lots of babies!

Today you'll get to take a morning water safari, followed by lunch in the bush. Generally, the safaris are by canoe, but I requested that we have a motorboat safari so that we could all be in one boat. This was spectacular. Such a different experience. The kids really loved our guide – and all got to help steer.

Today you get to go on two safaris – an afternoon and a night drive. A great opportunity to see the animals in their nighttime behavior. It gets dark by 5:30-6pm so it's not as late as it sounds. You can get back to the camp by 8pm, and have a light supper. Another fantastic day! We saw lions, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes, and of course monkeys and birds.

Today you'll board a private light aircraft to Abu Camp. You will be given exact transfer time by your camp manager the night before. Flight time is 20 minutes.

Accommodations:
Elephant Back Safaris
Abu Camp

Abu is situated in a 400 000-acre private reserve in the heart of the Okavango Delta. The camp has 6 luxurious tents that are located under a shady canopy in an ancient riverine forest. The tents have a unique and wonderful design with a private viewing deck overlooking the beautiful lagoon.

Guests at Abu Camp are invited to share with the resident elephant family what is, without doubt, the ultimate elephant education safari. The elephant experiences offer many magical moments including interacting with the resident herd of eight elephants by riding or walking with them, as well as getting an elephant's eye view of the delta, forests and other game. You'll see giraffe, zebra, elephant, impala, tssessebe, lechwe, wildebeest, buffalo and warthogs. The camp's resident pride of lion should announce their presence at some time during your stay, and it is very likely that you will hear them calling at night.

As soon as you arrive and are settled, you're given an introductory tour around the elephant camp to meet the elephants and hear about the camp's special work with elephants, how the elephants come to them, how they care for them and ultimately how they release them back into the wild.

We all fell in love with the elephants. They all have their own personalities, their likes, dislikes and quirks. Ali especially took to the baby Abu.

Each day we had the opportunity to go for as long as we wished in whatever directions we wanted to go on the backs of these gentle giants. You feel so safe. The elephants aren't afraid of anything. The Mahoots, or trainer/guides, go with you.

The first day, we chose to have a water day, traveling though water lilies, reeds and other water plants. Quite an experience. The water was almost too tall for Baby Abu, a very precious memory.

The next day we stayed on dry land. We rode for a couple of hours and then took a tea break. (How civilized!) We were given a choice to go back or continue farther on. And we didn't want the adventure to end.

It's important to stay at the camp if you want to ride the elephants. Those that were day visitors did not get to ride. Since this is one of the 2 last elephant safaris in Africa, it is important to book early (2 years out is not unheard of) or you might miss out.

Today you'll board a private light aircraft to Mombo Camp. You will be given exact transfer time by your camp manager the night before. Flight time is 15 minutes.

Accommodations:
Little Mombo Camp & Mombo Camp

Mombo and Little Mombo are situated on Mombo Island within the Moremi Game Reserve, in an area set aside for "low intensity" safari use. So both camps are remarkably exclusive and remote. The luxury tented guest rooms and connecting walkways are up to two meters off the ground, allowing game to wander freely through the camp, while at the same time allowing for guest safety.

When you first arrive, the guides will take you around the camp and talk about the smaller animals and birds that are around the tents. Don't be surprised to see baboons sunning themselves on the decks, or see an elephant walk by on its way to a favorite watering hole.

The main activity is game drives. This may be the best place in Botswana for game viewing. The sheer numbers and variety of large mammals in this area defy description. Lion, leopard, cheetah, zebra, giraffe, antelope, monkeys, elephants, rhinos, white rhinos, hippos. Herds of wildebeest, buffalo, wild dog and hyena, and prolific birdlife.

Game drives are scheduled for either the morning, afternoon or both. On the first day, we all went out on Safari at both times. By the next day, the kids and Terry decided to sleep in, enjoy a late breakfast, the pool and the resident animals at camp. I took off at dawn with a guide/photographer and really had the time of my life as we stalked and photographed the amazing animals in this reserve.

You may wish to break your flight in Frankfurt and continue traveling the following day. That's what we did. Much easier on the kids and the adults!