SOUTH AFRICA: BATTLEFIELDS & BODEGAS 18 MARCH – 1 APRIL 2020

FROM £7,995 PER PERSON

Tour Leader: Andrew Cumming DRAMATIC SCENERY AND EXHILARATING ADVENTURE

South Africa is often described as ‘a world in one country’, and this tour combines four of her most enduring attractions: wildlife, battlefields, wine and culture. From the cosmopolitan city of Cape Town, to the rolling vineyards of the winelands, the spectacular coastal scenery and battlefields rich in history, South Africa needs little introduction.

In the course of the tour we explore not only Cape Town itself, but also the beautiful Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens and the dramatic scenery of the Cape Point Nature Reserve. We then venture to the Cape Winelands to see some of its most historic wine estates and cellars.

We will get in touch with nature at Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve, a South African Natural Heritage Site. Bushmans Kloof is a sanctuary to more than 130 ancient Bushman rock art sites and home to many of flora and fauna. Exhilarating activities include nature drives and walks, canoeing and swimming in rock pools.

Our next stop is the seaside town of Plettenberg Bay, a special treat for nature lovers, surrounded by ocean, lagoons, untamed forest, and lush countryside, with monumental mountains rising gracefully in the background. We will take a boat trip to see dolphins and visit pristine beaches, walk in the beautiful Featherbed Nature Reserve and visit bird and elephant sanctuaries.

We end in Kwazulu-Natal, steeped in history and literally littered with battlefields; vestiges of the struggles of the Zulu Civil Wars and the clashes between the Boers and the British. Visit the most well-known sites where the legendary Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift took place on the same day, lodging the Zulus firmly at the top of great warrior nations. Isandlwana Battlefield

Knysna Lagoon Boulders Bay

15-DAY ITINERARY, DEPARTING 18 MARCH 2020

18 March London / Cape Town wonderfully well-preserved areas 22 March Cape Town & Stellensbosch interspersed with quaint towns and Suggested flight (not included in the harbours. Highlights of the trip to Full day excursion to Stellenbosch, cost of the tour) British Airways flight Cape Point include one of the world’s a picturesque university town BA 43 to Cape town departing London most spectacular drives, Hout Bay, surrounded by mountains and Heathrow at 18.15 hrs. Chapman’s Peak, Noordhoek Beach, vineyards. The town has a blend of the Cape Point Nature Reserve and historical, beautifully preserved Cape 19 March Cape Town two lighthouses on the tip of Africa. Dutch and Victorian architecture and Arrive in Cape Town at 07.45 hrs. See Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town, oak-lined avenues as well as the many Transfer to the Queen Victoria Hotel, famous for its colony of urban African enticing art galleries and shops. Visit overlooking Cape Town Harbour, penguins, plus Kalk Bay – essentially South Africa’s most famous wine where four nights are spent. The a fishing village, still a lively working farms, Babylonstoren, one of the hotel is a haven of calm, luxury and harbour and one of the best places to oldest Cape Dutch farms, L’Ormarins, understated opulence amongst the buy fresh fish straight off the boat. and La Motte, located in the beautiful hustle and bustle of Cape Town’s wine valley of Franschhoek. popular V&A Waterfront. Lunch at Harbour House Restaurant. Dinner at Gold Restaurant, an Lunch at La Motte, home to the finest Lunch under own arrangements. African 14-course menu in a wines and recognised internationally Afternoon tour of Cape Town, resting safari lodge setting. for exceptional quality. It is famous at the confluence of the Indian for its picturesque setting, traditional cuisine and historical charm. Return and Atlantic oceans, sandwiched 21 March Cape Town between the slopes of the iconic to the hotel for dinner under own Morning tour of Robben Island, arrangements. Table Mountain and the glistening which needs no introduction with sapphire waters of Table Bay. Take regards to the significance of its the cableway up Table Mountain place in South Africa’s and indeed 23 March Cape Town / Cederberg and enjoy a guided orientation walk, the world’s history. As ‘home’ to one Mountains taking in the magnificent views. After of the world’s most famous prisoners, Check out of the hotel and transfer descending the mountain take a tour statesmen and leaders in Nelson to Clanwilliam and Bushmans Kloof of the ‘Mother City’ from Signal Hill Mandela, Robben Island is quite Wilderness Retreat where two nights – where the Noon Day Gun is fired possibly the most well-known are spent. A haven of staggering at midday every day except Sunday island-prison on the planet. beauty and timeless tranquillity – through the colourful Bo-Kaap or where abundant wildlife roams free, Cape Malay Quarter, past the Grand Lunch at Mayo Restaurant. Continue Bushmans Kloof is set in the heart Parade and City Hall to the Castle of to the world-famous Kirstenbosch of the Cederberg Mountains, only Good Hope and the South African National Botanical Gardens, 270km from Cape Town. Here wide- Cultural History Museum. Dinner spectacularly sited on the lower open plains, majestic rock formations under own arrangements. slopes of Table Mountain. The gardens and crystal-clear waterfalls provide contain 9,000 of the country’s 18,000 the setting for a unique wilderness 20 March Cape Town species and has formal gardens and experience. The five-star Relais Full day exploring the Cape Peninsula lawns as well as a wild section of & Châteaux lodge has won many which offers a spectacular combination mountain forest. Return to the hotel international awards, including being of beaches and mountains, with for dinner under own arrangements. voted as Best Hotel in the World.

020 3411 4595 | [email protected] | THEULTIMATETRAVELCOMPANY.CO.UK Fugitives’s Drift Protea, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Lunch at the lodge. Afternoon to enjoy 25 March Cederberg Mountains / just a short half-hour drive from the the various activities on offer at the Plettenberg Bay hotel and one of South Africa’s most lodge. Dinner at the lodge. picturesque and naturally beautiful Check out of the hotel and transfer seaside towns. Perched on the edge with a packed lunch to Cape Town for of a lagoon, the vibrant and bohemian 24 March Cederberg Mountains a domestic flight to George. town was established in the gold Day to enjoy the activities at the rush of 1804 and is a hub of local lodge. The reserve offers walking, On arrival transfer to Plettenberg arts and crafts. Dinner under river walks, canoeing and swimming Bay and check in at the Old Rectory own arrangements. in crystal clear natural rock pools, Hotel where three nights are spent. bird watching, rock art excursions, This heritage building, located just game viewing and sunset game drives metres from the beach, dates from 27 March Plettenberg Bay in open 4x4 game vehicles. It is the 1777 and was later used as a rectory Excursion to the stunning perfect environment for painting, by the Anglican church until the Featherbed Nature Reserve in photography and quality downtime. present rectory was built in 1939. Knysna. Take the ferry across the Bushmans Kloof is a malaria- and The beautiful building is now being Knysna Lagoon to the Western Head. predator-free area, ensuring guests returned to its former glory and is From here you will be taken up a are safe to experience wildlife and the focal point of this boutique hotel. beautiful 4x4 trail into the Reserve, herds. Only the rare and secretive Lunch and dinner at the hotel. inhabited by the Knysna , Cape leopard roams the most remote endangered dwarf chameleon, Brenton blue butterfly and illusive of the mountains. Bushmans Kloof 26 March Plettenberg Bay forest elephant. The smallest today protects one of the largest Morning boat ride by cat-style boat antelope, the blue duiker, and South private herds of Cape mountain to some of the best spots along the Africa’s national bird, the blue crane zebra in the world, an animal saved coastline to see dolphins. Other can also be viewed here. You can from the brink of extinction. The sightings may include seals, pelagic also choose to take a short, guided Cape mountain zebra is identified birds as well as sharks, big fish, tour through the coastal forest into by its bold black and white stripes, penguins and octopus in their nearby sea caves. as opposed to its savannah-dwelling natural habitat. cousin, the Burchell’s zebra, which Buffet lunch at the Reserve’s famous has brown ‘shadow’ stripes, and Lunch at Bramon Wine Estate. This outdoor restaurant under a canopy a creamy undercoat. The wildlife afternoon visit the Birds of Eden of Milkwood trees. Visit an elephant reintroduction programme has also sanctuary which is home to about sanctuary where guides will provide seen the return of the magnificent 220 different types of birds with in-depth information and insight bontebok, red hartebeest, grey rhebok more than 3,500 birds living in the into African elephants. You will be and the ostrich. Smaller creatures sanctuary. The award-winning bird introduced to the elephants in the such as the bat-eared fox, African sanctuary provides a home where sanctuary’s forest area, and here you wildcat, Cape fox, caracal (African caged birds can live a life of free-flight will be able to touch and interact with lynx), Cape clawless otter, baboon, in a habitat as large and natural as is the elephants. Dinner at the hotel. rock hyrax (dassie), klipspringer, possible. The feathered inhabitants aardwolf and aardvark also roam of the are comprised of a the plains and rocky outcrops of mixture of exotic as well as African 28 March Plettenberg Bay / the reserve. All meals included plus birds. Remainder of the afternoon at Rorke’s Drift afternoon high tea. leisure with the option to visit Knysna, Transfer with packed lunch to Port

020 3411 4595 | [email protected] | THEULTIMATETRAVELCOMPANY.CO.UK TOUR PRICES PER PERSON

Tour Price £7,995 Single Supplement £2,340

PRICE INCLUDES

• Accommodation throughout as shown in the itinerary • Breakfast daily; 12 lunches; 8 dinners • Domestic flights • All entrance fees, visits, excursions and transportation as per the itinerary • Gratuities in restaurants for included meals • Porterage • Gratuities to driver/s Cederberg Mountains • Gratuities to guide/s • Local English-speaking guide/s • The services of your tour leader throughout

Elizabeth for a domestic flight 30 March Rorke’s Drift PRICE EXCLUDES to Durban. Continue exploring the battlefields • International flights On arrival transfer to Fugitive’s of Hlobane and Khambula. In the • Travel insurance Drift Lodge where three nights early hours of 28 March, 1879 two are spent. The Zulu War of 1879 is British columns mounted an • Items of personal expenditure (e.g. famous throughout the English- attack on the abaQulusi telephone calls / laundry etc.) stronghold on Hlobane Mountain. speaking world for the great battles • Government levies or taxes Their advance was observed by of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. The introduced after costing and the abaQulusi and their allies who spectacular Fugitives’ Drift property, a publication of this programme attacked the one section of the Natural Heritage Site, overlooks both • on 20/06/19 Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, and British force on the summit, includes the site where Lieutenants forcing the British to retreat down Melvill and Coghill lost their lives a mass of enormous boulders now attempting to save the Queen’s known as ‘Devil’s Pass’. While the Colour of the 1/24th. battle was in progress, the main Zulu army appeared while en Afternoon at leisure with optional route to attack the British camp Please note we have not included the included activities. Dinner at at Khambula and a section was cost of the international flights in the the hotel. detached to join the battle. They tour price. Please contact us for prices advanced up Ntshenteka Nek should you wish to book them and attacked another section of through us. 29 March Rorke’s Drift the British force, which suffered Accompanied by knowledgeable heavy casualties. experts, explore the battlefields of the Anglo-Zulu War and the Reserve. Lunch at the lodge. Continue to Visit Isandlwana, site of Britain’s most Nqutu where the Imperial Prince of famous colonial defeat at the hands France was killed by Zulus. Farewell of the Zulus wiping out a substantial dinner at the lodge. British force including the 1st Battalion, 24th Foot. 31 March Rorke’s Drift / Johannesburg / London Lunch at the lodge. Visit Rorke’s Drift, site of one of the greatest victories Morning at leisure. against overwhelming odds. Just over 150 British and colonial troops Depart for Johannesburg successfully defended the garrison International Airport with picnic against an intense assault by 3,000 lunch. Suggested flight (not included) to 4,000 Zulu warriors. The massive British Airways flight BA 56 departing Zulu attacks on Rorke’s Drift came Johannesburg at 19.20 hrs. very close to defeating the tiny garrison but were ultimately repelled. 1 April Johannesburg / London Dinner at the lodge. Arrive London Heathrow at 05.25 hrs. YOUR TOUR LEADER

ANDREW CUMMING

Born in China, Andrew Cumming was brought up in Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia. After long service in the British Army and having served in the Balkans in 1992 as the commander of the first British contingent of troops, Andrew has a particular interest in military history and the battlefields of South Africa. He and his wife Gilly now live in iltshire.W Andrew has led previous tours for the Ultimate Travel Company to Bosnia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

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