10-Day Cape Town, Kruger & Vic Falls Tour

On arrival in Cape Town, an African Sky representative holding a sign with your name on it will meet you in the arrivals lounge. They will assist with currency exchange before a transfer of about 25 minutes to the V&A Waterfront. The Waterfront is a still-working harbor turned hotel, restaurant and gallery district. Here the Commodore Hotel serves as the first of three bases for the trip. There's time to settle in, unpack for four nights, and get a first look at the harbor before the day's one planned activity begins.

If your arrival time and weather conditions allow, you will enjoy a Table Bay sunset champagne cruise during the late afternoon. Otherwise, you can move the cruise to another suitable day during your Cape Town stay. The excursion lasts about 1 hour 30 minutes, with views back toward the City Bowl and Table Mountain while you enjoy a glass of South African sparkling wine. You may see Cape fur seals and dolphins from the boat, and Robben Island lies roughly 11 km offshore from the Waterfront. The evening is free after returning to the harbor.

The first stop today is Table Mountain, where the aerial cableway reaches the upper station in about five minutes. António de Saldanha named the mountain in 1503, calling it 'Taboa do Cabo' or 'Table of the Cape'. At the top, take a walk with your guide along one of the established paths, with views across the city, Table Bay and the Cape Peninsula. After descending the mountain, there is time for lunch before continuing to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

The gardens are set below Skeleton Gorge on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Established in 1913, the gardens showcase the remarkable variety of indigenous plants found across southern Africa. Kirstenbosch forms part of the UNESCO-listed Cape Floral Region. Stroll through the gardens with your guide, passing beds of fynbos and cycads as well as the Botanical Society Conservatory, where a large baobab forms the centerpiece of the Bushveld display. A walk along the 130-meter-long Boomslang canopy walkway rises through the arboretum to viewpoints up to 12 meters above the forest floor. The tour returns to the hotel during the late afternoon.

After breakfast, a drive of about fifty minutes takes you into the Cape Winelands. Stellenbosch is the first stop, the oldest town in South Africa after Cape Town. Oak-lined streets, old water furrows and buildings in Cape Dutch, Victorian and Georgian styles give the center much of its character. Your guide will show you some of the town before continuing into the surrounding wine country.

Lunch (not included) is followed by a continuation along the Stellenbosch Wine Route, established in 1971. Your guide will ask about your wine preferences and suggest two estates that suit them. Depending on the estates visited, tastings may include Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinot Noir or Merlot. You return to Cape Town in the late afternoon.

A full day is devoted to exploring the Cape Peninsula, beginning with the drive over Chapman's Peak. Cut into the mountainside above the Atlantic, the road offers a succession of views across Hout Bay, the ocean and the slopes of the peninsula. From Noordhoek, the route enters Table Mountain National Park, proclaimed in 1998 to protect the Peninsula Mountain Chain and its exceptionally rich Cape flora. The road continues south toward the Cape of Good Hope section of the park, where fynbos-covered slopes fall toward open beaches and the Atlantic.

At Cape Point, the Flying Dutchman funicular carries you from the lower station near the parking area to the upper station, a short walk below the old lighthouse, which came into service in 1860. Its exposed position high above the ocean meant that cloud and mist often obscured the light, and a new lighthouse was later built much lower on Dias Point. From the surrounding viewpoints, you can also look west toward the Cape of Good Hope, Africa's most southwesterly point. Cape Agulhas, about 150 km to the east-southeast, marks the conventional geographic dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

The return route follows False Bay toward Simon's Town, home to South Africa's principal naval base. Nearby Boulders Beach protects one of the country's best-known African penguin colonies. Elevated boardwalks allow close views of the birds while keeping visitors out of the main nesting areas. After the visit, you continue along the False Bay coast and return to your Cape Town hotel.

Your African Sky guide assists with the Cape Town departure and travel arrangements before you fly to Mbombela. On arrival, you are met and transferred to the lodge where the safari portion of the journey begins under the care of Lukimbi's resident ranger team. Their detailed knowledge of the private concession pays off over the next three nights, when game drives can follow fresh tracks, recent sightings and changing conditions instead of a fixed route.

Lukimbi Safari Lodge stands beside the Lwakahle River within a 15,000-hectare private concession in southern Kruger National Park. Riverine vegetation and water access support a wide range of wildlife, including elephant, buffalo, giraffe, impala, zebra, waterbuck and warthog, while lion, leopard and rhino also occur in the area. After settling into your suite, you head out on your first open 4x4 safari with a Lukimbi ranger and tracker.

Two open-vehicle game drives each day are the main safari activities during your stay in Kruger National Park. The morning drive leaves shortly after first light, when temperatures are cooler and overnight tracks can help the ranger and tracker decide where to search. The afternoon safari departs mid to late afternoon and continues into the first hour of darkness. When conditions permit, you can also include a guided bush walk on both days. The concession supports all of Africa's Big Five, although every drive unfolds differently and sightings can never be guaranteed.

The route develops according to what the ranger and tracker find. Fresh spoor across a sandy road, an impala alarm call or vultures dropping toward the trees can all prompt a change of direction. Stops are also made for smaller details that are easy to miss from a vehicle, including tracks, dung, birds and signs of animals that passed through during the night.

The middle of the day is deliberately quiet. After brunch or lunch, there is time to rest at the lodge, read on the deck or watch what moves through the surrounding bush before the afternoon activity begins.

If time allows, enjoy a final morning safari activity before breakfast. Then transfer to Kruger Mpumalanga Airport near Mbombela. When direct service operates, the flight is about two hours; on other dates, the route is via Johannesburg. The British South Africa Company founded the town and named it for the explorer Dr David Livingstone. A short transfer from the airport reaches The Royal Livingstone Hotel by Anantara, set on the banks of the Zambezi and only a few minutes' walk from Victoria Falls. There is time for lunch and relaxation before the afternoon's main activity.

A local expert accompanies an excursion to Victoria Falls, inside Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. The exploration includes a walk along the gorge-side viewpoints and a crossing of the Knife-Edge Bridge through drifting spray, then a stop at the curio market near the park entrance before returning to the hotel for the evening.

You are met this morning to visit viewpoints of the falls from the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi River. A short drive leads to the border crossing, where you complete formalities before crossing Victoria Falls Bridge. Completed in 1905, it is still one of the region's most recognizable engineering landmarks, linking Zambia to Zimbabwe across the Second Gorge, just below the falls. Once on the Zimbabwean side of the river, the tour enters Victoria Falls National Park for optimal views of the falls from the southern edge of the Zambezi River.

The excursion into Zimbabwe lasts between three and four hours, after which you have time to relax at the hotel. In the afternoon, a transfer brings guests to a local jetty for a tranquil sunset cruise on Africa's fourth-longest river, the mighty Zambezi. Included drinks and snacks are served on the riverboat, and on a good day you might see a pod of hippos or an elephant or two. After a spectacular African sunset, you'll be returned to your overnight accommodations.

Crossing into Zimbabwe requires a visa. Where it is available, the KAZA UniVisa covers both Zambia and Zimbabwe for eligible nationalities; otherwise a Zimbabwean visa is bought at the border. Visa and border fees are not included in the tour price.

Enjoy an unhurried breakfast this last morning, with time for one final look at the Zambezi River from the hotel grounds before the transfer to Livingstone Airport. Depending on the flight schedule, you may have time for a final pass through the curio stalls near the hotel or a short walk along the river before the drive to the airport begins.

A flight from Livingstone Airport brings you to Johannesburg, closing out a ten-day trip that moved from a working harbor to open bushveld to the edge of one of the world's great waterfalls without ever settling into just one landscape for long.