South Africa Safaris: WS ~ Best of South Africa 10nts

Please check for seasonality.

Day 1
On at OR Tambo International Airport,  After passport control, collecting your luggage and clearing customs, proceed to the international arrivals hall, where you will be met by a Wilderness Gauteng representative, who will assist you to The Inter-Continental Airport Sun.

Accommodation has been reserved for 1 night.

The Inter-Continental Airport Sun is situated right across from OR Tambo International Airport. Each of the 138 rooms has its own bathroom, air conditioning, television, radio, coffee and tea making facilities as well as a mini-bar, access to 24-hour room service as well as in-room flight information.  The hotel has a first class restaurant with an informal atmosphere, offering modern cuisine from breakfast through to late night a la carte dining. The cocktail bar is an ideal meeting place for the international traveller. In-room dining with an optional “flight friendly” menu is also available.  The hotel has its own health and fitness centre with fully equipped gym as well as indoor heated pool and Camelot Health Spa offers a full range of treatments.

Day 2
Today after breakfast, and check out procedures, walk to the Federal Air Kiosk to check in for light aircraft to Madikwe Safari Lodge.

Accommodation based on 3 nights.

Madikwe Safari Lodge is situated in the heart of the malaria-free and richly diverse Madikwe Game Reserve which is about 3½ - 4 hours drive from Johannesburg or 1½ hours flight time. Home to a variety of wildlife, this 75 000-hectare reserve is one of South Africa’s biggest wildlife sanctuaries. Overlooking Madikwe’s game-filled plains, the Lodge’s three intimate camps – East Camp (with 7 suites), West Camp (with 4 suites) and North Camp (with 5 suites) – each have a simple yet sophisticated Madikwe style. Interiors are in earthy hues from rust to rich buttery tones.

Each suite features a sitting area, a bedroom with circular fireplace, a spacious dressing area with personal bar, en suite bathroom with indoor and outdoor shower and wooden decking leading to a shaded plunge pool.  Guest areas for all camps feature a series of intimate sitting areas and shaded outdoor seating on the expansive covered decks. There are plentiful fireplaces both inside and outdoors with a pizza oven for fun dining. Pleasant, book-filled libraries and interpretive centres with Internet access offer more guest delight. A covered outdoor living room offers swinging chairs and beanbags and cushions on the floor for casual bonhomie. The nearby boma is the setting for evocative starlit dinners. An African crafts gallery is situated conveniently between the camps. West Camp is ideal for parents travelling with young children. Guests are offered a world-class interpretive experience of the bush on nature walks and morning, afternoon and night game-drives in open 4x4 safari vehicles, as well as nature walks led by CC Africa-trained rangers and trackers all providing exceptional Big Five game viewing and excellent bird watching (with over 350 bird species).

Day 5
Light aircraft transfer from Madikwe Safari Lodge to OR Tambo in time to connect light aircraft transfer to Exeter River Lodge.

Accommodation has been reserved for you for 3 nights.

Exeter River Lodge is located in the 10 000 hectare Exeter Private Game Reserve, in the western part of the Sabi Sands Game Reserve on the banks of the seasonal Sand River. Each of the eight luxury suites has views of the savannah from their private patios. The suites all have en-suite bathrooms with indoor and outdoor showers and offer air conditioning and private plunge pools. The main living area has a safari shop and the guest sitting and dining areas overlook the Sand River. Dinners are enjoyed in an open-air boma, in the dining room or even in the bush. Activities at River Lodge include morning and afternoon/evening game drives as well as bush walks.

Day 8
Light aircraft transfer from Exeter River Lodge to Phinda Forest Lodge.

Accommodation based on 3 nights.

Phinda Forest Lodge is situated in the Phinda Resource Reserve in Zululand, which spans seven diverse ecosystems and an extraordinary range of wildlife including the Big Five. Phinda Forest Lodge is a masterpiece of glass and timber, set on stilts above the floor of a rare sand forest. Forest Lodge’s 16 glass encapsulated air-conditioned rooms with en suite bathrooms are designed to give the feeling of being at one with the forest habitat.

In addition to twice-daily game drives in open Land Rovers, guests can enjoy riverboat cruises on the Mzinene River as well as canoeing. Phinda’s close proximity to the Maputaland coastline means that guests can also enjoy beach activities such as snorkelling and scuba diving, deep-sea fishing and beach picnics. The “Flight of the Fish Eagle” offers guests a birds-eye view of the pristine Maputaland coastline with some of the highest forested sand dunes in the world, as well as the famed Greater St Lucia Wetland Park.

Day 10
Light aircraft transfer from Phinda Forest Lodge to OR Tambo International Airport.
Departs 09:30, 11:30 or 13:30