South Africa's West - Selfdrive

The Chapmans Peak mountain pass,
The Chapmans Peak mountain pass,
Elephant in the Addo Nationalpark.
Elephant in the Addo Nationalpark.
Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Town.
Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Town.
Table Mountain in Cape Town.
Table Mountain in Cape Town.

Are you looking for the real South African adventure as opposed to an overindulging luxury holiday? Do you prefer meeting people and enjoying nature and animals to five star accommodation? Then we’ve got the perfect trip for you! We provide you with the accommodation bookings, personal trip logbook including: detailed itineraries, touristic highlights, optional tours and restaurant recommendations as well as a 24-hour-helpline – there is no easier way!

Your tour itinerary and type of car may be adapted to your personal wishes at request – please ask for an alternative quote for a customized route or a budget trip. Also on offer as a guided tour .

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Highlights

  • Stars of the Great Karoo
  • Prehistoric fossils at the heart of the semi-desert
  • The Bushmen culture and the infinite vastness of the Karoo
  • “Big 5” game drives
  • South Africa’s last virgin forest
  • Unforgettable Garden Route
  • Portuguese seafarers and Feather Barons
  • French Huguenots and famous Cape wines
  • From Cape of Good Hope to Table Mountain
  • From Apartheid to the Rainbow Nation
  • Cape Town, the “Mother City”

Tour Description

Day 1: Flight to South Africa
Your trip starts with your flight from home to South Africa.

Day 2: Welcome to South Africa
Arrival at Cape Town International Airport where you will take over your rental car and immediately be on your way for your unforgettable trip through South Africa. Your first destination is your beautiful guesthouse with a pool and seaview in Cape Town where you will stay for the night. The world famous beach of Camps Bay is just a walk away. 32 km / D

Day 3: The Whole Universe in the Great Karoo
This morning after breakfast you will leave in a north-eastern direction towards the semi-arid Karoo. “Karoo” is an old bushman word for “land of big thirst”. The road will take you over spectacular mountain passes to a “Big 5” game drive in a private game reserve. You will then continue to Sutherland, South Africa’s “stargazing capital”. Stargazing with an amateur astronomer at night – including a look through his telescope – will provide more exciting insights about the incredible dimensions of the universe! 326 km / B, L, D

Day 4: Prehistoric Fossils at the Heart of the Semi-Desert
In the morning, you will visit SALT (Southern African Large Telescope), the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. A fascinating tour will introduce you to the exploration of the stars on this side of the world. The road will then take you further inland to the heart of the Great Karoo: Beaufort West, birthplace of world famous heart surgeon Professor Christiaan Barnard. Driving along karoo-typical gravel roads, past towns completely lost in time, will give you a first impression of the quiet life in this semiarid region. A stunning variety of more than 9,000 identified succulents, bushes, shrubs and other plants as well as antilopes still roaming free will mark your way. In the afternoon, you will visit the Karoo National Park, a small section of the infinite vastness and unique landscape of the Great Karoo. In the evening a romantic sundowner tour on a donkey cart awaits you, including a bush braai (barbeque, weather permitting). 297 km / B, D

Day 5: Bushmen Culture and the Anglo-Boer War
After visiting the Christiaan Barnard Museum, you will continue through the semi-desert of the Great Karoo to Graaff-Reinet, the “Gem of the Karoo” and the only town in South Africa completely surrounded by a national park. Discover its wonderful Cape Dutch and Victorian houses (more than 200 national monuments), dreamy streets, gorgeous jacaranda trees and the unique charm of a typical Karoo town. A short walk through the famous “Valley of Desolation” at the Camdeboo National Park with its dramatic scenic views of bizarre rock formations and the vastness of the Karoo will be an additional highlight. At the guest farm accommodating you for tonight, you may then take a guided tour to several millenia old bushman paintings. 203 km / B, D

Day 6: The “Big 5” at Addo National Park
Your destination for today is South Africa’s second biggest national park, the Addo Elephant Park. The park has been extended to 180,000 ha over the years and instills a typical “Out of Africa” feeling. It provides the rare opportunity to do “Big 5” game drives in a malaria free environment. Since October 2003, all of the “Big 5” are back in this habitat. Besides more than 500 elephants you may spot spotted hyenas, leopards and the endemic flightless dungbeetle. Your accommodation for the two nights to come will be a beautiful lodge on the Sundays River close to the Addo National Park. 326 km / B, D

Day 7: Addo Elephant Park
You should rise very early and do your first game drive even before breakfast as many animals will be at the water holes at this time of the day. For lunch you may visit the Park Restaurant, before going on a further drive to discover the incredible variety of the African flora and fauna. Alternatively, you may use the day to relax and enjoy the surroundings of the lodge. Optional trips and activities may be booked with African Kombi Tours. B, D

Day 8: The Garden Route’s Last Virgin Forest
In the morning, you will follow the coast to join the world famous Garden Route. Your destination for today is the Tsitsikamma National Park at the mouth of the Storms River, South Africa’s oldest national park. Part of the park is a Maritime Protected Area reaching five kilometers into the open sea. It is said that its mystic atmosphere of the dense rain forest inspired South-African born author JRR Tolkien to write his master piece “The Lord of the Rings”. A short, easy hike will take you past wooded cliffs and 1,000 year old yellowwood trees to the unique suspension bridges over the Storms River rushing into the Indian Ocean. 206 km / B, D

Day 9: Portuguese Seafarers and the “Bahia Famosa”
On a trip to the coastal town of Plettenberg Bay in the morning, you will visit the Robberg Marine and Nature Reserve. A very rewarding hike taking approximately 4 hours will lead you around the peninsula along high cliffs and through a wide variety of indigenous fynbos vegetation. The view over the bay called “Bahia Famosa” by the early Portuguese seafarers will be just unforgettable. On top, you may spot endless numbers of seals and dolphins, in season even whales! Today’s final destination will be the stunningly located coastal town of Knysna with its famous lagoon. 104 km / B, D

Day 10: Feather Barons and Million Years Old Stalagmites
Today you will say farewell to the Indian Ocean as the road is taking you over the Outeniqua Pass (over 2,600 ft) and into the Little Karoo to the “Ostrich Capital of South Africa”, Oudtshoorn. In the town that was home to the “Feather Barons”, you’ll visit one of the typical local ostrich farms and learn more about the animals, their history and economic importance for the region. You will then continue to one of the Seven Wonders of South Africa, the world famous Cango Caves. 117 km / B, D

Day 11: Route 62 and Famous Cape Wines
You’ll drive on the famous Route 62 past the picturesque Klein Karoo towns of Calitzdorp and Ladismith, renowned for its cheese, and over the scenic Huisrivier Pass to the small artist town of Barrydale. Driving on, you will be slowly entering the Cape Winelands. After passing spectacular Du Toits Kloof from where you can spot Table Mountain on a clear day you’ll reach Paarl in the early evening. You will stay at a beautiful winefarm at the foot of Paarl Rock for the next two nights. 367 km / B, D

Day 12: The Huguenots and the First Winefarmers
Today’s tour through the unique Cape Winelands begins with a formal cellar tour introducing you to the local production and manufacturing processes. A fascinating historical tour relating the story of one of South Africa’s oldest vineyards awaits you on a further wine farm. You will then visit Franschhoek, a town founded by French Huguenot immigrants, and the famous university town of Stellenbosch. In the evening, you will have dinner at a mouthwatering restaurant. 124 km / B, D

Day 13: From Apartheid to the Rainbow Nation
Today you will be closing the circle and return to the “Mother City” of Cape Town. A township tour introducing you to the life of its inhabitants will be a cultural highlight. For reasons of authenticity, your guide will be a fully trained black tourguide from the area. Other interesting activities include a boat trip to Robben Island prison (optional). There, you will also visit the cell of Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African president Nelson Mandela. 132 km / B, D

Day 14: South Africa’s “Mother City”
On your city tour you will visit the Company’s Garden, an African arts & crafts market, Parliament, City Hall, Cape Castle and the Slave Lodge. At noon a short transfer will bring you out to Blouberg Strand where Table Mountain towering over the whole Table Bay guarantees for unique pictures! In the afternoon, Bo-Kaap, the colourful Cape Malay quarter, certainly provides another set of beautiful photo motives while introducing you to the life of the former slaves and today’s “Coloureds” in Cape Town. Before dinner, you will visit an African theatre. The one hour show rhythmically pictures the cultural development of the Rainbow Nation. B, D

Day 15: From the Cape of Good Hope to the African Penguins
You will explore the entire Cape peninsula with all its fascinating highlights. A drive over Chapman's Peak (weather dependant) which is probably the most spectacular mountain pass of the Western Cape, will take you past the rural coastal village of Noordhoek to the outmost southwestern point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Driving along the False Bay Coast in the afternoon you will reach Simon's Town, the old South African marine base, where you will visit a rookery of African penguins nesting on Boulders Beach. Shortly before returning to Cape Town, you will then visit the breathtaking Botanical Garden of Kirstenbosch displaying the variety of the local vegetation on more than 500 ha and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. 116 km / B, D

Day 16: Farewell on Table Mountain
Another unforgettable highlight awaits you in the morning: an optional trip to Table Mountain (3,650 ft) with its spectacular views on Cape Town (weather permitting, optional, to be paid on site). You will then drive to Cape Town International Airport where you will say farewell to South Africa. You are of course welcome to extend your stay in Cape Town –  we will gladly assist you with touristic tips as well as the booking of additional accommodation. B

Day 17: Return
Arrival at your home destination

Prices and Dates

tour date:  on request
tour price:  on request

* Price valid for a booking of min. 2 adults. Prices for single travellers on request.
* Price does not cover general increases in travel cost and currency fluctuations.
* The tour program may be subject to changes.


Price includes:

  • Rental car (A/C, small or middle class car) by a renowned company, comprehensive insurance (without excess in case of damages, excluding negligence), including mileage and taxes
  • 14 nights in selected guesthouses (three to four stars)
  • Meals as per tour description (B = breakfast, L = lunch, D = dinner)
  • All mentioned activities (excluding optional activities)
  • Comprehensive personal travel hand book including detailed itinerary, distances, road map, touristic tips and restaurant recommendations
  • Local African Kombi Tours emergency hotline number available 24/7

     

Price does not include:

  • Long distance flights to and from South Africa
  • Rental car deposit (to be paid by credit card on site), fuels costs, tolls, administration fees for additional services on site if applicable, accidents or offences, fee for additional driver
  • Meals and beverages, except breakfast and dinner as per tour description
  • All entrances for optional trips (to be booked directly with African Kombi Tours), Park fees, conservation fees, entrances for museums, service tips and personal expenses
  • Travel insurance