ANNIE SOUTH AFRICA TRIP
A few quick facts for you!
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The Republic of South Africa (as it's officially called) has three capital cities, Pretoria (executive capital), Bloemfontein (judicial capital) and Cape Town (legislative capital).
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Johannesburg, informally known as Joburg or Jozi, is the largest city in terms of area and population.
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Cape Town, where you're headed is just about one of the most beautiful cities on Earth!
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South Africa has 11 official languages, one of which is English (the most widely spoken) and the others include Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans and so on.
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The official currency is the South Africa Rand (ZAR)
On the right (or down below, if you are viewing this on your phones) are a few locations where you'll likely be heading. Clicking the title e.g. "CAPE TOWN" will take you further down the page, and give you more in depth info on what you can get up to. Throughout this page, if you come across words that are underlined, they will have an external link taking you to a dedicated page with more information.
DAY 01: DEPART D.C.
DAY 02: ARRIVAL JOBURG
DAY 03: EXPLORE JOBURG
DAY 04: HOEDSPRUIT
DAY 05: SIMBAMBILI
DAY 06: SAFARI
DAY 07: TO CAPE TOWN
DAY 08: TABLE MOUNTAIN
DAY 09: CAPE POINT
DAY 10: ROBBEN ISLAND
DAY 11: WINELANDS
DAY 12: FRANSCHHOEK
DAY 13: DEPART JOBURG
DAY 14: RETURN D.C.
DAY 07 (3rd Aug): To Cape Town
Sadly, this will be our last morning at Simbambili lodge. We may have time to do one last morning game drive before we catch our flight to Cape Town, but I'll check with the lodge to see what they advise. We will have to leave the lodge at about 10am, as our flight from Hoedspruit to Cape Town departs at 1:55pm. We'll arrive in Cape Town at approx 4:40pm and once we've landed, we'll be picked up by Tim, our driver, who'll transfer us to our hotel. For the next few nights, we'll be staying at the Victoria & Alfred, right in the waterfront area.
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Victoria & Alfred - luxury accommodation in the heart of Cape Town's harbour and tourist area. Easy walking distance to shops and sites.
- Overnight in Cape Town -
DAY 08 (4th Aug): Table Mountain
Today we're getting to know Cape Town! We'll be doing a walking tour in Bo Kaap, the most colourful neighbourhood in Cape Town, taking a cable car up Table Mountain and finishing the day on Bloubergstrand beach taking in sunset with a spectacular view of table mountain. It might also be a nice for you all to have some family time and do some of your own exploring, so I'm happy to factor this in as well. For dinner we will be going to The Pot Luck Club, consistently voted one of South Africa's best restaurants.
Other Cape Town activities we could do:
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Lions Head Hike - A 1.5 hr walk and then a bit of a scramble (!!) up a peak that overlooks Cape Town, Camps Bay and then back onto Table Mountain. At sunrise and sunset it is stunning!
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Bo Kaap Cooking Tour // Class - a tour into the life, food and culture of the Cape Malay community. Whilst learning how to cook some Cape Malay delights.
- Overnight in Cape Town -
DAY 09 (5th Aug): Cape Point
This morning we'll head off early and drive South to Cape Point, which sits in the Cape Point Nature Reserve. This iconic spot marks the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The nature reserve is also home to plenty of wildlife including ostrich, eland, Cape mountain zebra and plenty of baboons. On our drive back to Cape Town we'll stop off in Simons Town, check out their antique stores and hang out with some Jackass penguins. We'll pass through the little fishing village of Kalk Bay and then head back to Cape Town via the stunning Chapman's Peak drive. For dinner, we'll head to a Cape Town classic!
Other activities we could include:
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Kayaking with penguins - rather than seeing the Jackass penguins from the land, we could paddle up to them in the water. This also means we could see seals and other sea-life, and even take a dip in the icey cold water!
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Ostrich Farm - on the way out of Cape Point, we could dip into the ostrich farm and rehabilitation centre. Selfie with an ostrich?!
- Overnight in Cape Town -
DAY 10 (6th Aug): Robben Island
This will be our final day in Cape Town, but before we leave, you'll be heading out to Robben Island on a 9am ferry. In a nutshell, Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela spent over 20 years in prison, and it's now one of Cape Town's UNESCO heritage sites and points of interest. The tour takes 4 hours in total, and departs from the Victoria & Alfred waterfront (right by your hotel). We'll be back in time for a late lunch, which we can grab in the waterfront, before heading inland to the winelands. We'll end the day in Franschhoek, South Africa's food and wine capita, where we'll spend the next two nights.
The drive from Cape Town to Franschhoek takes approx 1.5 hrs so, depending on how we feel, we can get there for early afternoon or evening. Sunset over the Franschhoek mountains is pretty spectacular.
Other activities we could include during the day:
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Helicopter tour of Cape Town - hands down the best view of Cape Town on a 8/12/16 minute helicopter trip.
Other activities we could include during the day:
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Maison d'Or - boutique house right in the centre of town, next to my parents house.
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30 Van Wijk Street - my parent's house in Franschhoek.
- Overnight in Franschhoek -
DAY 11 (7th Aug): Winelands
THE thing to do in Franschhoek (and the Winelands in general) is to eat, drink and be merry. So, today we'll be doing just that! I've organised for our driver to take us to a few vineyards (or, wineries, as they call the, in SA). We'll grab lunch together at one of the many wineries and finish the day at a Franschhoek classic, for dinner and sunset.
- Overnight in Franschhoek -
DAY 12 (8th Aug): Franshhoek
This will be our final morning in the Cape, so I thought we could do one last adventure and go horseback riding (or even go on a short hike). The other option is to just relax, read your books and take in the scenery, before we head to the airport in the afternoon. Your flight from Cape Town to Joburg departs at 7:30pm so we'll need to leave Franschhoek at about 4:30pm in order to get to the airport in good time. I won't be joining you on this flight, so this is where I'll leave you!
You will land in Joburg at around 9:30pm and, you'll be glad to hear that, you're staying at the Intercontinental hotel, right opposite the airport. Because you're arriving in the domestic terminal, you'll have to walk back to the International arrivals hall and then out to the hotel, which is a few steps away.
Accommodation:
- Overnight in Joburg -
