5-day Package Tour -

 

Kruger Park, Panorama Route & Eswatini Tour

 

Mpumalanga means “The place where the sun rises!” ascends towards mountain peaks and then terminates in an immense escarpment in the north-east. In some places, this escarpment plunges hundreds of meters down to the low-lying area known as the Lowveld. This Safari holiday to South Africa is an excellent choice for people who want to enjoy spectacular scenery, combined with game drives to see the renowned big five (elephant, rhinoceros, lion, leopard and buffalo). It traverses into Eswatini after 4 days to showcase the best there is to offer.

 

     Itinerary:

 

If you arrive a day or two earlier, we recommend booking an excursion to Soweto or the Apartheid Museum.

 

You will be picked up at any of the following spots for the start of the tour between 6 am and 8 am:

1. O.R.Tambo Airport, 2. Gautrain Centurion Station,

3. Your centrally located hotel, 4. Home pick up

Please request a quote (info@amatungulu.com) for home pick up, or if your hotel is not on our route. (Between the O.R.Tambo Airport and our destination.) Pick up point must be indicated on the booking form.

 

Day 1: You will begin the journey at a centrally located spot in Gauteng and drive through some of the most scenic areas of the Eastern part of South Africa. Drive for about 5 hours to the Panorama Route then view Pinnacle Rock and experience the amazing view from God’s Window. (Lunch en-route not included, restaurants available) You will then visit the Berlin Falls, where numerous local arts and crafts are for sale. From here, you will visit Bourke’s Luck Potholes, and then head to the Blyde River Canyon, where you will overnight in a chalet at the resort: Forever Blyde Canyon (or similar). Dinner at the restaurant.

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Day 2: You will leave after breakfast to take a boat trip on the Blyde Dam. An interpretation tour will take you to the Kadishi Tufa waterfall and the Three Rondawels. An abundance of wildlife will keep you distracted while learning more about the natural history of the Blyde Canyon. The Kadishi Tufa waterfall, at 200 meters (around 660 feet) in height, is the second tallest Tufa Waterfall on earth and also known as ‘the weeping face of nature’. From here you will head to the heart of the Kruger National Park through the Orpen gate, watching game as you head to the Satara Rest Camp. (Lunch en-route not included, restaurants available) The Satara Rest Camp is situated in an excellent game viewing area, with the bush relatively open and the animals plentiful and diverse. Satara is well wooded and the bird-life is prolific. The calls of owls and night-jars add to the symphony that is punctuated intermittently by the whoop of hyena, the screech of jackal and the roars of lion. Enjoy a *Sunset Game Drive which transitions into the night where you can see the nocturnal activities of Kruger's secretive creatures, and lasts at least 3 hours. Dinner at the restaurant follows. Overnight in a bungalow or cottage at the Satara Rest Camp, or similar. 

(You have the choice to do an optional activity like an early morning game drive/walk.)

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Day 3: Starting the game drive early after coffee in your touring vehicle, you explore every possible opportunity to view the spectacular wildlife scenery. Chances are excellent to spot a variety of some of the estimated number of animals: Lion, 1 620 – 1750, Leopard, 1 000, Cheetah, 120, Wild dog, 120, Spotted hyena, 5340, Elephant, 13 750, Burchell's zebra, 23 700 - 35 300, Hippopotamus, 3 100, Warthog, 3 100 - 5 700, Giraffe, 6 800 - 10 300, Buffalo, 37 130, Eland, 460, Roan antelope, 90, Sable antelope, 290, Greater kudu, 11 200, etc. (Brunch en-route, restaurants available) You overnight at a lodge on the banks of the crocodile river, just outside the park.

 

Day 4: Breakfast follows a tour to Eswatini, with a show of glass blowing at Ngwenya Glass factory which evolved as a community project that recycles used glass, King Sobuza Memorial Park, the Candle factory which also evolved as a community project where locals learnt and perfected the skill of molding wax to shapes and patterns that are unique, Go Rural – another community based project focused on the use of special type of grass to weave different household artifacts. Lastly, Mantenga cultural village and Mantenga falls. On the whole, the tour is also filled in by a continuous narrative by our professional guide touching on aspects of African culture and traditions which are still alive in the country through the country’s monarchical democratic system as they prefer to call it. Overnight at a lodge on the banks of the crocodile river, just outside the park.

 

Day 5: You have the option to drive along the new declared UNESCO world heritage site, the Barberton Makhonjwa Geotrail. (dependable on road conditions) The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains represents the best-preserved succession of volcanic and sedimentary rock dating back 3.6 to 3.25 billion years, when the first continents were starting to form on the primitive earth. We head back to Johannesburg and we leave you at the O.R. Tambo airport for your flight back home, or take another tour with Amatungulu Tours.

We recommended booking an excursion to Freedom Park Museum, the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria and other places of interest if your flight is due a day or more later.

 

Included:

 

• Accommodation as per itinerary

• Entrance fees

• National Park fees

• Breakfasts (excellent restaurants offering a big

• variety of food available)

• Driver/guide

• Professional guide at specialist venues

• Transport by private vehicle