Garden Route Family Self-Drive

Discover the Garden Route self drive family tour and experience a magnificent stretch of beauty and wonder. This self-drive family tour will take you from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth as you discover the beautiful Garden Route, self drive route, as you ride along South Africa's exquisite eastern coastline with your children. Enjoy many famous sights while staying in comfortable guest houses and taking in some magnificent sights along the way. The Garden Route tour is your ideal family safari which starts in Cape Town and finishes in Port Elizabeth.

Highlights include:
• Table Mountain
• Two Oceans Aquarium
• Cape Point
• Kirstenbosch Gardens
• Route 62
• Garden Route
• Oudtshoorn
• Plettenberg Bay
• Knysna
• Port Elizabeth

The group size for the garden route self drive tour is a maximum of ten people. This safari is categorised as a non-participation guest house and hotel tour. Your accommodation will be in lodges and guest houses of a basic standards.

Car rental options include:
• Group B: Toyota Corolla or similar: ZAR 305, 00 per day
• Group I: Toyota Avanza or similar: ZAR 585, 00 per day
• Group V: Corolla Verso or similar: ZAR 635, 00 per day

These rates are for rental only with full insurance. Europcar Terms and Conditions apply
Includes:
• Meals as per itinerary
• accommodation
Excludes:
• Meals not mentioned in the itinerary
• All personal expenses
• Insurance for luggage
• Tips
• Drinks
• Laundry

This tour is also offered as a guided tour.
Cape Town add-on:
Before or after the tour, we can offer you a three day package. On day one, you'll be picked up at the airport and transferred to your accommodation. On the following day, you'll participate in a Cape Point Tour. On Day three, you'll be picked up for your Garden Route Experience. This includes two nights’ accommodation, bed and breakfast, airport transfer and a Cape Point Tour.
Departure Dates and availability:
Please click here regularly as availability is updated every two weeks.

Itenerary

Meal Key: [B]reakfast, [L]unch, [D]inner.

DAY ONE:
Your Garden route self drive tour begins in the mother city, Cape Town. Arrive in style and book into the Lady Hamilton Hotel. Situated on the fringe of Cape Town's CBD, it has easy access to the city and is a hive of activity. The Lodge is ideally positioned, making tourist attractions such as the V&A Waterfront, Canal Walk, Table Mountain, Robben Island, the Winelands, Kirstenbosch Gardens and Cape Point, easily accessible.

DAY TWO:
Explore Table Mountain and the Two Oceans Aquarium. Today, may we suggest a ride up Table Mountain? No garden route tour is complete without experiencing the cable car. Take in a full, 360° scenic view as you climb the mountain, which stands at 1086 metres above sea level. Most people take the revolving cable car which whisks you to the top in just a few minutes. The views from the top are magnificent and afterwards, we suggest that you visit The Two Oceans’ Aquarium, the window to the oceans of South Africa. Ideally positioned to showcase the incredible diversity of marine life found in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Aquarium is one of the top tourist attractions in Cape Town. The children are sure to love it. This is one of the aquatic highlights of your garden route tour. [B]

DAY THREE:
Today, you can choose from the sweeping Cape Point or the magnificent Kirstenbosch Gardens. After breakfast, we head off to Cape Point which is the most south-westerly point of Africa. Breathe in the freshest air in the world, straight from the Atlantic itself. This is where the cold Buguela current on the West coast and the warm Agulhus current on the East coast merge. It is a sight to behold, being one of the highest sea cliffs in the world [250 meters above sea level]. Afterwards, you can visit the African penguins at Boulder’s Beach and marvel at their strange mannerisms. Your garden route, self drive tour does not end here. Your afternoon can be spent at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. Renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape Flora it displays and the magnificence of its settings against the Eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Kirstenbosch grows only indigenous South African plants and is a haven for nature lovers, so pack a big picnic lunch, lay under a massive oak tree and marvel at Cape Town’s natural beauty. [B]

DAY FOUR:
Welcome to Oudtshoorn. Travel along the famed Route 62 for roughly four hours in the wee hours of the early morning and experience a magnificent drive. This is the best route in the Western Cape for meandering peacefully between Cape Town, Oudtshoorn and onwards to Port Elizabeth. It also offers a shorter, more scenic alternative to the N2 highway. Towering cliffs and outstanding landscapes come together and meet crystal clear streams which run alongside an abundance of trees and indigenous flora. Paarl, Wellington, the Breede River Valley, the Klein Karoo and Langkloof are all yours for the taking as your travel through some of South Africa's most diverse regions.

When it is time to relax, check into La Plume Guesthouse. This is a Victorian homestead on a working ostrich, alfalfa and vine farm. Set in the tranquil Olifantsrivier Valley, it demands your attention as its spectacular views of the Swartberg Mountains are almost too much for the mind to take in. Afterwards, lay on the rolling lawns and the dive into the sparkling pool, ready for you and your family’s enjoyment. By prior arrangement, [plus a nod from the local farmer] one can see firsthand the activities on a commercial farm. Your garden route tour stays in Oudstoorn for a further day. [B]

DAY FIVE:
We are still in Oudtshoorn. Today is wildlife day and you will visit the Cango Wildlife Ranch and Ostrich farm. The Wildlife Ranch is an extraordinary endangered species breeding facility. It is also the oldest and biggest cheetah contact centre and offers visitors the rare opportunity of interacting with hand-reared cheetahs. The whole family will enjoy exploring the facts and fiction surrounding crocodiles, as they view elegant cheetahs and Bengal tiger cubs. For the adventurous, there will be an opportunity to for an up and close encounter with a cheetah, enjoy the closeness of a tiger cub, wrap oneself in a python and even dive with Niles crocodiles in the Natural Encounters programme. Your garden route, self drive tour then slows down for the night. [B]


DAY SIX:
The coast calls you, Plettenberg Bay is near. Your scenic Garden Route tour makes its way to ‘Plett’ as the locals enjoy calling it. Plett stretches along the southern Cape coast from Slang River near Heidleberg, eastwards to the Tsitskamma Forest and Storms River. It is an area of outstanding scenic beauty with indigenous forests, lakes and meandering rivers. Along the coast are towns and villages, each with a distinct character of their own and plenty of bars and restaurants to visit. Just beyond the mountains, lies Little Karoo [or Die Klein Karoo] and again, Oudtshoorn, the principal town of the Klein Karoo. Here you can also visit the famous Cango Caves with their spectacular limestone stalagmites and stalactites. Don’t get lost! [B]

DAY SEVEN:
Your trip sticks to Plettenburg Bay. After breakfast, may we suggest a visit to the Knysna Elephant Park? Daily tours leave after every half-hour from 8.30 to 16.30. As an esteemed traveller on the garden route tour, you will be transported to the elephants on a tractor and trailer where you will have the opportunity to touch, feed and photograph these gentle giants. Elephants love eating so, don’t forget your bucket of elephant feed that consists mostly grass and root vegetables. There are no barriers or fences to spoil your close encounter. At the end of the trip, you will be transported back to unique elephant curios shop and Askaris restaurant.
This afternoon we suggest a visit to Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary. Here, visitors safaris are conducted by experienced rangers and you can expect to see many species of monkeys as well as a large variety of forest dwelling birds. After soaking up the splendour of a living forest, you can relax on the sunny deck of the restaurant and enjoy a cocktail. [B]

DAY EIGHT:
The Addo National Park, home of the elephants awaits you. You will make your way there via Port Elizabeth. Later during the day, you will check into the Addo Rest Camp. Deep within the shadows of the dense valley bushveld of the Sundays River region of the Eastern Cape, lays the Addo Elephant National Park. Here, the evenings are punctuated by the strident howl of the black-backed jackal, and the call of the francolins heralds each new dawn. This finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 450 elephants, Cape buffalo, black rhino, a variety of antelope species, as well as the unique flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. Some of its unique features already include: unrivalled natural diversity, with five of South Africa's seven major vegetation zones (biomes) and the Big Seven. These include the elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, leopard, whales and great white sharks) in their natural habitat and rich heritage of archaeological and historical sites. [B]

DAY NINE:
Your garden route, self drive tour is sadly, almost at an end. A further day of leisure is spent at the Addo National Park. Choose to visit the nearby Kenton on Sea Beach, visit the Kariega Game reserve, go on a game drive, hiking, fishing, bird watching, canoeing, mountain biking or go on a famous river cruise on the Kariega Queen. [B]

DAY TEN:
Your tour ends here. After breakfast, you return to Port Elizabeth, where your family vacation comes to an end. Your garden route tour may be over, but the memories will live on forever. [B]

Price Guide

Price per person for 2009:
Adult: USD $625, 00 or EUR €480, 00
Children [two to twelve years]: USD $225, 00 or EUR €195, 00
Children under the age of two years travel free of charge