BLUE TRAIN EXTRAVAGANZA

ITINERARY

Day 1. Arrival in JOHANNESBURG (B)
Welcome to Johannesburg!  Upon arrival at O.R. Tambo International Airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel.

Day 2. JOHANNESBURG to KRUGER NATIONAL PARK (B/L/D)+ 2 Game Activities
This morning after breakfast, you will be collected from your hotel and transferred to O.R. Tambo International Airport for your domestic flight to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (flight excluded).  Upon arrival at Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, you will be collected and transferred to Jock Safari Lodge where you will be spending the following two nights.  Please note that this is an approximate 2-hour transfer.  Lunch and relaxation time is enjoyed until the big game drive starts in the late afternoon.  Beverages and snacks are served at a scenic place en route to watch the African sunset.  Once back from the evening game drive, dinner is served at the lodge or in your own room if you wish.

Game drives in open landrovers, with a professional team of game rangers, offer guests the thrill of close encounters with Africa’s Big Five. Walking safaris, Birding safaris and guided Historical tours will take you along the paths of legend and mystery. Interpret the signs, sounds and scents of wild animals in this unspoilt wilderness.

Day 3. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK (B/L/D)+ 2 Game Activities
Today is spent enjoying all the activities that the lodge has to offer.  Early morning game drives start with a wakeup call between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.; tea and coffee is served in the lounge before heading for your game drive. Leave in time to catch the sunrise & great animal viewing. Return to camp by 9am and enjoy a hearty breakfast.  Join guided Walking safaris after breakfast where game rangers offer fauna and flora lectures and magnificent rock art viewing. Each topic is discussed and guests are welcome to set the pace as they wish. There is of course always the good possibility of game viewing on these outings.  Lunch and relaxation time is enjoyed until the big game drive starts in the late afternoon.

Day 4. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK to CAPE TOWN (B/L)
After your early morning game activity and breakfast, you are collected and transferred back to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport for your flight to Cape Town via Johannesburg (flights excluded).  Upon arrival in Cape Town, you are met and transferred to your hotel in the lush suburb of Constantia.

Day 5. CAPE TOWN  (B)
You will be collected from your hotel and taken to the lower cableway station on the slopes of Table Mountain. Weather permitting, ascend the mountain by aerial cable car, and from a height of 1067 metres, view the city and Table Bay below, Robben Island, the Atlantic Seaboard as well as most of the spectacular Cape Peninsula. Afterwards, head down into the Malay Quarter with its narrow cobbled streets and colourful Mosques.  Next we continue to Government Avenue where we will stroll to the National Gallery and SA Museum, as well as view the Houses of Parliament. We then travel to the City Hall on the Grand Parade and afterwards, visit the Castle. Enter the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront – a region that abounds with shops, pubs, restaurants and entertainment. A visit to the Shimansky Diamond Museum offers an insightful look at the intricate process of achieving the ultimate stone. Shimansky prides itself on offering a unique and unforgettable jewellery and diamond experience at their flagship showroom and workshop in the Clock Tower.

Day 6. CAPE POINT (B)
After being collected from your hotel, you will view the exclusive suburbs of Sea Point, Clifton and Camps Bay before continuing via Llandudno to the fishing harbour of Hout Bay. If calm seas prevail, join an optional launch cruise to view the Duiker Island seals and cormorants at close quarters. Travel along the spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive to Kommetjie, and enter the Cape Point Nature Reserve where you will be taken to the best vantage point to view what is erroneously said to be the meeting place of two mighty oceans. After a stop for lunch (own account), the tour continues to an African penguin colony, the Naval hamlet of Simon’s Town and then continues via Fish Hoek and Kalk Bay to Muizenberg. In the early afternoon visit the famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Return to the city via Rhodes Drive, which bisects the plush suburbs of Bishopscourt, Claremont and Newlands. You will be returned to your hotel again in the late afternoon.

Day 7. CAPE TOWN to PRETORIA on THE BLUE TRAIN (B/L/D)
You will be transferred to Cape Town railway station this morning for the Blue Train northbound journey. The train leaves Cape Town at 8.50 a.m. and arrives in Pretoria at 12.30 p.m. the following day, in time for high tea. En route to Pretoria there is a stopover and excursion in Matjiesfontein; with its Victorian buildings and original nineteenth century London lamp-posts it imparts to the traveller, the uncanny sense of entering a colonial time warp – an oasis suspended in a different age.

Day 8. A fond farewell… (B)
In the afternoon after The Blue Train arrives in Pretoria, you are collected from the station and transferred to O.R. Tambo International Airport for your onward flight.

BLUE TRAIN EXTRAVAGANZA Tour Costs include:

1. Accommodation as stated above, subject to availability.
2. Transportation in a luxury air-conditioned vehicle.
3. D’Oreale Grande includes Bed & Breakfast.
4. Jock Safari Lodge includes Accommodation, All Meals including 2 Game Activities daily.
5. The Constantia includes Bed & Breakfast.
6. The Blue Train includes All Meals, High Tea & Off-train excursions.
7. Services of a professional driver.
8. Services of a registered and experienced tourist guide.
9. Entrance fees and excursions where stated in above itinerary.
10. Welcome Pack: (e.g. itinerary, welcome letter, general information, maps, flags, brochures)

EXCLUDED:

1. All airfares & airport taxes.
2. All other meals other than stated in above itinerary.
3. All other entrances and excursions than stated in above itinerary.
4. Items of personal nature such tips, beverages, laundry etc.
5. Porterage.