Depart from Europe in the afternoon on your overnight flight to South Africa

Your flight will land in Johannesburg early in the morning. After a wait of a few hours you will fly to a regional airport, either Phalaborwa or Hoedspruit, close to Kruger National Park.

Here you will be greeted by one of Balule’s guides who will drive you to the camp. You will be welcomed in camp by a delicious lunch. There will be an information meeting then you can relax in your new surroundings.

Saturday will include two gamedrives in an open safari vehicle in Balule Nature Reserve: a morning gamedrive at 06.00 and an afternoon gamedrive at 15.30.

Hopefully we will be able to spot zebras, gnu, elephants, giraffes, lions, warthogs, impalas, apes, rhinos etc., but as always the case with wild animals, there is no way of predicting what you will actually see. But one thing is absolutely certain: a safari like this is a unique experience, constantly following the animals, their tracks and their smells.

During the afternoon gamedrive we will make a stop in the bush to watch the sunset. Here you will be served a classic “sundowner”, while we enjoy the fantastic sights, sounds and smells of the bush and its fauna and flora, before we return to camp where dinner will be waiting for us.

Click here to see a video of a gamedrive in Balule Nature Reserve.

Before sunrise, a light breakfast will be served in camp, then after an hour’s drive we will reach the state-owned part of Kruger National Park - just as the sun rises.

The park is the largest and most impressive game reserve in South Africa, covering an area of around 20,000 square kilometers.

In Kruger there is the possibility of seeing Africa’s wildlife up close, including the “The Big Five” - a traditional term used  to describe the most sought after hunting big game trophies: leopard, lion, rhino, buffalo and elephant. We will drive in an open safari vehicle, while searching for these animals, our ranger will lead the way, he knows exactly what we will be able to see. He knows the watering holes, where the animals often come to drink, and the plains where many different animal species can usually be found.

During our tour we will make a stop in one of the park’s rest camps, where we will be served brunch, prepared by our rangers. Along the way we will also stop at a number of places to stretch our legs and eat lunch.

We will leave the park just before sunset and arrive back at Balule River Camp, where a delightful evening meal will be awaiting us.

Click here to see a video of a gamedrive in Kruger National Park

Enjoy a relaxing day in Balule River Camp, where you can lie and relax by the side of the pool or sit on your terrace and watch the animals that live close to the camp.

You can also choose to book one of the many extra tours you can buy here, for example a ballon safari, a Olifants River Cruise or a visit to the Shangaan Tribal Village.

On Tuesday we will again start with an early morning game drive in the camp’s open safari vehicles. We will look for animals in Balule Nature Reserve while the bush wakes up and the sun slowly rises higher and higher into the heavens. In the afternoon there will also be a gamedrive in Balule Nature Reserve, where we will have a really good chance of seeing antelopes, giraffes, rhinos, apes and many other different animals.

Along the way we will stop to enjoy the sunset and the classic “sundowner” while we enjoy the fantastic sights, sounds and smells of the bush and its fauna and flora, before we return to camp where dinner will be waiting for us.

Today it will again be possible to book one of the extra activities, for example, an extra safari, a river cruise or a flight in a hot air ballon.

In the afternoon there will be a gamedrive in Balule Nature Reserve.

If the weather is good, the afternoon drive will end with a traditional South African barbecue, a “bush braii” at the viewpoint known as Lion View. Here we will enjoy a delicious dinner under the starry African sky.

A wonderful atmosphere arises when the delicious smells of meat cooking on the grill begins to spread, the red wine is poured into your glass, and the waiters lay the table with candles and a white tablecloth. All to the sound of singing cicadas and lions roaring in the distance.

We start early in the day with a bushwalk. This type of safari is a wonderful experience, where you can really feel the intense presence of South Africa’s wildlife and get really close to the animals in their natural surroundings. On this tour, which will take place in Balule Nature Reservek, you can meet a selection of the animals that live in the South African bush, for example, giraffe, warthog, impala, waterbuck, baboon, zebra, and - if you are lucky- elephant and hippo. You will naturally be led by an experienced guide, who knows the area and its animals. The guide will tell you about the animals, from the mammals to the insects, the vegetation, climate and much more.

The afternoon is at your own disposal. It is possible to book one of the extra activities or simply relax by the pool or in the lodge.

Leave Balule River Camp and transfer to the local airport from where you will fly to Cape Town.

Arrive in Cape Town and transfer from the airport to Winchester mansions Hotel.

Afternoon free in Cape Town. We recommend that you dine in one of the many charming restaurants in the Waterfront district.

Your first full day tour in Cape Town starts at 09.00, when your private guide will meet you at the Winchester Mansions Hotel. You will start which a scenic cable car ride to the top of Table Mountain, where you will enjoy a unique panoramic view unsurpassed by anywhere else in the world. This will be followed by a guided tour of Cape Town itself, during which you will be given an introduction to the city and its history, which goes back to the 1650’s.

We will visit places such as the District Six Apartheid Museum, which gives a lively introduction to this important part of the country’s history, and Cape Castle which is the oldest building in Cape Town. In the afternoon you can choose between four different tours in Cape Town:

1)      Visit Kirstenbosch National Gardens, which is a splendid botanical garden, beautifully situated on the slopes of Table Mountain. This tour offer an in-depth introduction to the flora of the Cape Region, which is perhaps the most varied in the world.

2)      Visit a vineyard in the Constantia- district, where we can taste some of the area’s fantastic wines, go for a walk in the vineyards and enjoy a lovely lunch with views of the mountains and vineyards.

3)      The Cape Town area has some fantastic beaches and during the summer it is possible to enjoy the sea, beach and the African sun.

The Waterfront district in Cape Town has not only a wealth of exciting shops and restaurants but also the Two Oceans Aquarium, where you can see more than 3,000 different animal species from the Indian and Atlantic Oceans - including sharks, seals, turtles and penguins. This tour is suitable for both children and adults. Lunch is not included in the price. 

Today you have the whole day free in Cape Town to explore this beautiful city.

Go shopping or enjoy a good lunch in the beautiful Waterfront district. If the weather is good it is also possible to visit Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were jailed.

The second full day in Cape Town again starts at 09.00 when you will be met at the hotel by your private guide, who will take you on an exciting full day tour to Hout Bay, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point Nature Reserve.

We leave Cape Town and drive first to Hout Bay, from where we sail out to Duiker Island, which is home to a lively colony of fur seals, who lie on the rocks and jump and frolic around the boat.

Cape Point Nature Reserve is another great attraction, We drive through the nature reserve and see the most varied, well preserved and rare flora in the world. Here are ostriches walking about, baboons climbing and antelopes grazing and quenching their thirst by the coast.

Finally we reach Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. Here we will walk or take a small train up to the old lighthouse on Cape Point Peak, which lies 250 meters above sea level.

Afterwards we drive to the Cape of Good Hope, which is famous because rounding this Cape was an important milestone on the way to establishing a maritime trade route to the East.

We continue to Simon’s Town and Boulders Beach which is home to a breeding colony of thousands of penguins, which swim 15km out to sea every day to hunt small fish. The penguins are permanent residents here and have lived on this part of the coast for centuries.

Lunch is not included.

In the late afternoon you will transfer from your hotel to Cape Town Airport, from where your flight will leave in the early evening.

You arrive back in Europe in the morning. If necessary you will take your connecting flight home later that morning/early afternoon.