South Africa Tour (Winter Break Departure)

We meet at Istanbul Airport and depart at 02:05 on flight TK042 to Johannesburg, landing at O.R. Tambo International Airport at 10:50 local time. After passport and customs procedures we meet our local guide and take a private vehicle roughly 225 km to Bakubung Bush Lodge in the Pilanesberg region. After a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive we check into our lodge, have dinner, and retire to our rooms for the night.

Before breakfast we set out early for a sunrise safari in Pilanesberg National Park, home to around 7,000 animals, where we can spot the Big Five, lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino, along with wild dogs, zebras, giraffes, hippos, and numerous bird species. After the safari we return to the lodge for breakfast and spend the rest of the morning resting and enjoying its facilities. In the afternoon we head out again for a sunset safari, experiencing the savanna's changing atmosphere and wildlife activity at a different time of day. We have dinner at the lodge and retire for the night.

After breakfast our first stop is Lion Park, where we get a close look at rare white lions, South African cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas, and jackals. We then visit Lesedi Cultural Village to learn about the traditional lifestyles of the Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho, Ndebele, and Pedi peoples, watching presentations and traditional dance performances and having an African lunch there. We continue to Johannesburg, founded as a gold-mining town in the 1800s, for a city tour covering Houghton, Rosebank, and the modern Sandton district. We end the day at Nelson Mandela Square, where we have dinner at a restaurant before checking into the Radisson Gautrain Hotel.

After breakfast we visit Soweto, which reflects the struggles South Africans have faced over the years, touring the Nelson Mandela House Museum and seeing Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world where two Nobel laureates, Mandela and Desmond Tutu, both once lived. We then transfer to the airport and fly to Cape Town at 13:25 on FlySafair flight FA121, arriving about two hours and twenty minutes later at 15:45. Our city tour begins at the iconic Table Mountain, 1,087 meters high, where weather permitting we take the cable car up for a bird's-eye view of the city. We continue on to see the Parliament Building, Company's Garden, Long Street, the Castle of Good Hope, and the colorful Bo-Kaap district. After the city tour we have dinner at a local restaurant before heading to our hotel.

After an early breakfast we begin our Cape of Good Hope tour, passing through Bantry Bay, Camps Bay, and Llandudno to reach the fishing village of Hout Bay. From there we take a boat trip to Duiker Island to observe Cape fur seals in their natural habitat. Following the Chapman's Peak Drive or Constantia Nek route, we continue to Boulders Beach, famous for its African penguins, and have lunch at a beachside restaurant. We then travel on to the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, discovered in 1488 by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias and later renamed the Cape of Good Hope. At Cape Point we take a funicular up to one of the world's highest-positioned lighthouses, then drive back to Cape Town through coastal towns, have dinner at a local restaurant, and return to our hotel.

After breakfast we visit the renowned Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden at the foot of Table Mountain, home to South Africa's endemic fynbos, protea, and cycad plant species, and walk the Treetop Canopy Walkway for views from among the treetops. We then join a township tour to experience the colorful street art, music, and dance of Cape Town's Langa area up close. Afterward we have free time at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, known for its roughly 450 shops. We have dinner at a local restaurant before returning to our hotel.

After breakfast we visit the Ostrich Farm, one of the region's most interesting stops, to learn about these unusual birds. We then head to the Alpaca Farm to meet its friendly alpacas and take photos. We continue to the historic town of Stellenbosch, where we have free time to wander its charming streets, relax in cafés, or shop. After meeting our guide again we transfer to the airport, complete check-in and passport procedures, and depart for Istanbul at 17:15 on Turkish Airlines flight TK045.

We land in Istanbul at 05:35 local time, bringing our South Africa tour to a close.