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  The fascinating travel destination South Africa is one of the most exciting countries in the world. Hence the attention it has gathered during the last couple of years amongst well travelled holiday makers. The road system is well developed making it a great country for self-drive individuals even with the left side driving.
Warm sunshine, easy lifestyle, friendly people, art and culture of the rainbow nation, white beaches and deep blue oceans, manifold landscapes like adventurous desert, impressive mountain ranges, far-reaching savannas, rumbling waterfalls, expansive winelands and fertile ground, exuberant subtropical vegetation, overwhelming flower fields, unique sights and a huge variety of animal species can be found in this natural paradise also known as ‘one world in one country’. A versatile cuisine with culinary specialities as well as superior wines - in short all what the heart desires forms part of the picture of South Africa and makes it therefore a returning dream destination for travellers.
During the last few years prices in South Africa have increased enormously, but it is still great value for money due to the favourable exchange rate. Food and drinks in fine restaurants are still much cheaper than in Europe or America.		  
 

Day 1

 

 

Day 2

Day 3

Villa Ticino Guest House, Sabie, Mpumalanga

 

Arrival at the airport in Johannesburg,

take-over of your hired car and driving

to Sabie, Mpumalanga

Panorama Route (northern tour)

Natural Beauty Tour (southern tour - unknown as seldom mentioned in guides.

Guests enjoying rare birds, wild horses, botanic and great scenery will be impressed - insider info from Villa Ticino.)

Day 4

Day 5

Kruger National Park or

Private Game Reserve

Animal viewing 

with safari

Day 6

Swaziland

Glass factory & curio markets on roadsides

Day 7

Hluhluwe/Umfulozi Game

Reserve or St. Lucia

 

 

and from St. Lucia as a day trip

Day 8

Day 9

St. Lucia, Kwa-Zulu Natal

Guided boat tour, Cape Vidal and Estuary

(World Heritage Site iSimangaliso Wetlands

Park) Beaches, Duma Zulu

Day 10

Day 11

Salt Rock

 

or

Ramsgate

Harbour Cruise in Durban, Beaches and

Natal Shark’s Board

 

Banana Express, Beaches and Oribi gorge

Day 12

Day 13

Bergville/Winterton

 

or

Underberg/Himeville

Tugela Falls, Amphitheatre, Cathedral Peak

and Champagne’s Castle (Giants Castle)

 

organised Sani Pass Tour

Day 14

Day 15

Clarens

via Golden Gate Highlands National Park

guided day trip Katse dam

Day 16

Day 17

Graaff Reinet

It’s a long distance but worthwhile

Karoo Nature Reserve & Valley of Desolation

Day 18

Addo Elephant Park

or

Jeffrey’s Bay

Game viewing

 

via Tsitisikama Coastal National Park

Day 19

Day 20

Knysna, Garden Route

Nature’s Valley with Storms River Mouth

The Heads

Day 21

Outdtshoorn

Swartberg Pass, Ostrich Farm

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Stellenbosch or Cape Town vicinity

Route 62 via Montagu

Day 25

Return flight

 
 
The suggested tour as listed above is serving as a basic foundation and can be adjusted according to ones own personal preferences. The here introduced route contains the classic “must see” sights one really should see on the first trip to South Africa. Travellers with a time limit could cut days 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17 and 21 to shorten the trip to 18 days and still have experienced the most important and interesting sights in South Africa. For other days like day 10 11, 12, 13, 22, 23 & 24 two possibilities are offered by us. This gives you the freedom and opportunity to select according to your preferences and likings for your own personalised itinerary.
Below please find the description of this tour.
  The picturesque, malaria free mountain village of Sabie in Mpumalanga is reached after four to five hours comfortable driving from Johannesburg International Airport or one hours drive from the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport. The province of Mpumalanga (“land of the rising sun”) is world renowned for its scenic splendours and breathtaking beauty. Therefore Sabie is the ideal and most central base to acclimatise and to explore the numerous sights.

Hints:
- The north and south tour is recommendable, but only a small highlight of what attractions the area has to offer.
- A minimum stay of three nights would be worthwhile for sightseeing and to do the last minute shopping.

Then depart northwards to the province of Limpopo typical for the gentle rolling hills through tea plantation areas, Magoebaskloof, Lebowa valley and Duiwelskloof. Kruger National Park fanatics should drive via the Soutpans mountain to the most northern part of the Kruger National Park to enter at the Pafuri Gate and carry on to Punda Maria. From there wind your way down south through three different vegetation zones direction Crocodile Bridge. Especially during wintertime the southern parts of the Kruger National Park are better for animal viewing.

Hints:
- A day visit from Sabie to the Kruger National Park is also easily possible. This could be combined with a night safari which has to be booked in advance.
- Time limited travellers can head directly from a Swaziland to Kwa-Zulu Natal.

The Kingdom of Swaziland has its own flair and is best viewed in good weather condition as it consists of a beautiful mountainous highveld, the lush valleys of the middleveld and the lowveld area. The drive via the highlands towards the inland passes scenic mountain hills and picturesque villages down to the flat area with fruit plantations. Traditional arts and crafts of the Swazi people are glass blowing, weaving, fabric printing as well as stone and root carving which can be viewed en route. Next to citrus, pineapple and cane plantations you also find some small game parks which cannot be compared to the bigger ones in South Africa.

Hint:
- For travelling through Swaziland from north to south one should at least estimate five hours. Permits are available at the border posts.

After an impressive and eventful drive it is pleasant to make a relaxing stop in the Wetlands region where the most southern coral reef can be found. The iSimangaliso Wetlands Parks (formerly Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park) has been declared a World Heritage site on 1 December 1999. In that region snorkelling, swimming, boating and animal viewing can be combined. From here you carry on southwards direction Durban. The nature changes drastically en route from Durban in southern direction to a steep more vigorous coastal region with lots of small bays, which are ideal for a short sunbathing stop. It is a feast for the eye viewing all these white beaches, rocky cliffs, and dense exotic vegetation of hibiscus, wild bananas and giant strelitzias.

Hint:
- Time limited travellers can drive directly on the N2 via the Transkei to the Garden Route or alternatively can fly from Durban to Port Elizabeth.

Continue your trip via the southern, central and northern Drakensberg mountains (Sani Pass region, Giant’s Castle and Royal Natal National Park) where the area invites for short walks or hikes. Carry on via the Golden Gate National Highlands Park into the highland of the Free State Drakensberg mountains which have total different vegetation due to the dryer climate. The routes divide here for guests, moving on direction Cape area from those ones, which have to get back to Johannesburg. For those even the highland is offering a beautiful drive via sunflower and maize fields and ending the journey in Johannesburg.
 
  
  Travelling in the direction of the Cape area  
  Now the route runs along the Lesotho border (day trips to Lesotho are possible) to the dry countryside of the Great Karoo, where National Parks have been proclaimed, partly with mysterious, ghostly rock formations.

Hint:
- Make a stop over in Graaff-Reinet

The scenery changes fast into wild mountain chains where the way leads through gorges and over mountain passes to the coast line of the legendary Garden Route. The last few kilometres will strain your eyes and senses because of extreme climate and vegetation changes. The proposed route to the cape region runs over the superb mountain dessert of the Klein Karoo to the world famous wine lands. Wine routes, whales (mainly September- November) and West Coast National Park including the wild flowers from Namaqualand (August/September) can either be viewed from one destination as day trips or also from different stopovers along the way.

Hint:
- For information about the Namaqualand wild flowers as well as for whale watching please phone the Info-hotline at 083-910 1028.

Once here, detailed insider information on the above are available for our house guests! 		 
     
   
Johannesburg – Sabie – Blyde River Canyon – Kruger National park – Swaziland (not recommendable in bad weather) – KwaZulu Natal North Coast (St. Lucia Wetlands Park, Hluhluwe/Umfolozi; the best beaches: Umhlanga Rocks, Ballito, Shaka’s Rock, Salt Rock) – Durban – KwaZulu Natal South Coast (Hibiscus coast - the best beaches: Ramsgate, Margate, Marina Beach & San Lameer) and via the Drakensberg mountain range back to Johannesburg. For a detailed description please view “the classic tour”.

Hint:
- This trip is best for people who only have the possibility to travel during the “cooler” season (May to August) as the climate at the coastline along the Indian Ocean is very pleasant.
 
Stay in Tshwane (Pretoria) or vicinity and do the following day tours from there:
- Organised Soweto tour
- Cullinan Diamond Mine & Museum, Union Buildings and Voortrekker Monument.
The following day travel in a westerly direction to Pilanesberg/Sun City. The Pilanesberg National Park is malaria free and offers great animal viewing year round due to the meagre vegetation and hilly landscape. Thereafter the journey goes northwards to the unknown Limpopo province via Polokwane (Pietersburg) to Tzaneen and surrounds. Tours in this area can be found on the following website www.tzaneen.co.za/tzntourism/tours.htm. The journey leads from Tzaneen area south via the Abel Erasmus Pass, Ohrigstad, Lydenburg over the Long Tom Pass to Sabie. Day tours from Sabie can be viewed on our website under “Sightseeing day tours”.
 
Kruger National Park fanatics and animal lovers should drive from Tzaneen via the Soutpans mountain to enter the most northern part of the Kruger National Park. From there one has the possibility to wind the way down from north to south through all three vegetation zones or if in for a treat stay at a private game reserve with safaris. From there depart to Sabie for some relaxation or easy day tours or even country shopping.

Hint:
- If you wish to get insider information before hand then the above mentioned tour could be turned around to start off with Sabie then drive via Kruger National Park, Limpopo, Pilanesberg/Sun City to Tshwane (Pretoria).

The Combo is an assembled tour of “The Unknown” and “The Versatile” tours.
 
Start from Johannesburg to Kimberley where the Diamond Museum with the biggest by hand dug hole can be viewed. On the R64 from Kimberley to Upington the landscape is getting dryer and dryer until it changes into a desert. From Uptington one could view one of the biggest wine region and of course also the Augrabies Falls National Park. Depart northwards to the well-known Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, which links far up in Botswana with the Kgalagadi Park. The Park is well known for its distant views due to the likes of vegetative sand dunes and the extreme temperature difference between day and night. Afterwards carry on to the west via Keetmanshoop to Lüderitz where you encounter the biggest shifting dunes of the world. Do not speed, as there are some obstacles in form of sandstorms at noon and wild horses. Lüderitz with the ghost town of Kolmanskop and the fjords leave a rather interestingly odd impression. Formerly a whale catching and trading town, today it is still known for the German colonial style houses. The onwards journey to Namaqualand goes via the second biggest Canyon (Fish River Canyon) to Ai-Ais. From Ai-Ais the road leads only southwards through Namaqualand, which is a flower carpeted desert from approximately end of August to beginning of October depending on the rainfall, to Clanwilliam. Clanwilliam is the only cultivated rooibos area in the world as well as the beginning of the Cedarberg mountain range. From here you have two possibilities to reach Cape Town:
  1. Towards Ceres via the Cedarberg with the well-known bushman paintings (gravel road) or
  2. via Paternoster, West Coast National Park, via the Swartland wineries and wheat fields to Cape Town.
This tour may easily be combined with “The Unknown Tour” and/or the “The Versatile Tour” depending on the length of your holidays.
  • The provinces of Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Free State are summer rainfall areas, which will present itself in form of heavy rains within a short period. Eastern and Western Cape (wine areas) are winter rainfall areas, but also with beautiful mild and rainless days in between.
  • Should your trip go through Lesotho or Swaziland please ensure that you have an appropriate permit from your car rental company.
  • South African roads are well maintained and in good condition and government have made a huge amount available for upgrading all roads for 2010. Therefore one should be able to drive around with a normal car. Traffic is much less than in Europe and for that reason it is possible to drive 700 km in approximately 8-9 hours however without sightseeing. Most of the gravel roads (dirt roads) were in a driveable condition. However, there are some gravel roads which are not used frequently or which have had lots of rain and therefore are less accessible. For this eventuality a 4x4 would be of advantage.


Villa Ticino
 
Address : Louis Trichardt Street, Sabie, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Telephone & Fax : +27 13 764 2598  Email: stay@villaticino.co.za
 
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