Cape / Gardem Route / Addo National Park

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The tour can start in Port Elizabeth or Cape Town

 

Highlights​

• Museum town Matjiesfontein

• Cango Caves

• Seweweekspoort

• Swartberg Pass

• Meiringspoort

• Willowmore Limo

• Game drives in Addo National Park

• Orientation tour of Port Elizabeth

• Storms River Bungi Jump site

• Storms River Mouth

• The ‘Big Tree’

• The Knysna Heads

• The Diaz Museum Complex

• Cape Agulhas the most southern tip of Africa

• Hermanus

• Scenic coastal route

 

Day 1 - Cape Town                          

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Depart V&A at 06h30

      

Matjiesfontein (235km’s 3hrs)

After a scenic trip through the Hexriver we arrive in Matjiesfontein where we will overnight in the historic Lord Milner Hotels garden suites.

Matjiesfontein's name was derived from the plant called Cyperus textilis which grows in the area and are used to plait carpets. (Matjie in Afrikaans). We will also visit the old railway station and museum. Read more

 

Day 2 - Oudtshoorn

Cango Caves, Seweweekspoort

 

We travel via Laingsburg where we will have lunch and possibly visit the museum established to commemorate the floods of 25 Jan 1981. Read more  and Seweweekspoort (meaning seven week pass) winding through the Towerkop Nature Reserve.

Next stop is the Cango Caves

Oudtshoorn is our base for 2 nights

 

Day 3 - Oudtshoorn

Swartberg Pass Triangular Scenic Route tour

 

The ostrich capital of the world was founded in 1847 named after Baron Pieter van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, who was appointed Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony in 1772 but died at sea in January 1773. Read more

 

The Swartberg Pass, a National Monument between Prince Albert and Oudtshoorn, is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and best known mountain passes in South Africa. It is the masterpiece of the brilliant engineer and road builder, Thomas Charles Bain (1830 - 1893), and the last of the seventeen passes he built in the Cape Province.

The Swartberg pass was built between 1881 and 1888 by Thomas Bain, son of the famous Andrew Geddes Bain. The dry-stone retaining walls are still in place and 120+ years old. This route is subject to weather conditions.

The pass is especially famous due to the spectacular geology that is exposed at its Northern end. Read more

Then we travel onto Prince Albert for lunch and back via the 25km Meiringspoort. We visit the Meiringspoort Falls for a brisk walk up the mountain to see this refreshing mountain stream cascading into a natural "Jacuzzi". We stop en-route for refreshments or visit a wine cellar.

 

Day 4 - Addo National Park

via Willowmore and Steytlerville

 

Read more about Willowmore  

Enjoy a trip on the Willowmore Limo,  see the old Jail dating back to 1860 (now a guest house), "The Lister Blackstone's diesel generators" - an old Power Station, refreshments at Sophie’s Choice Coffee Shop.

Before Willowmore had Eskom, this power station supplied the town with electricity until 1984. There are six Lister Blackstone diesel generators that were shipped from England and then came up by rail to Willowmore. The town was named in 1864 after an 1820 British settler William Moore.

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Read more about Steytlerville

 

The town was formally established in 1875 and named after Dominee Steytler (minister of religion). The town is the home of many architectural gems from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Arriving late afternoon at Addo we enjoy a short game drive before dinner. You may book an optional Open Vehicle Safari.

 

Day 5 - Addo main camp

Enjoy a morning game drive, lunch back in the main camp and another late afternoon game drive. Overnight in the main camp.

Google Map Click here

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Day 6 - Port Elizabeth

Addo to Summerstrand PE

 

Check in at a beach front hotel. This is a day of relaxation, a walk on the beach or the Boardwalk Mall and Casino.

Dinner is back in the hotel.

 

Day 7 - Storms River Mouth / Knysna

Overnight in Knysna

 

Storm River Mouth. Take a short and comfortable walk to the Storms River Mouth hanging bridge. Enjoy lunch and refreshments in the restaurant. We suggest going on an optional boat trip upstream and a Forest Canopy Tour.

Knysna Heads. We take you to the best elevated vantage point possible. Enjoy more sightseeing in and around Knysna.

 

Day 8 - George / Mossel Bay

Overnight in a beach-front hotel.

 

En-route to Mossel Bay we visit George, Map of Africa in Wilderness, Herolds Bay Victoria Bay for some sightseeing.

 

Day 9 - Mossel Bay

Bartolomeu Dias and his crew arrived on 3 February 1488 being the first Europeans landed on South African soil.

Mossel Bay was formerly known by the Portuguese as  "Aguada de São Bras" (watering place of Saint Blaize). Diaz found a freshwater spring here. This was later renamed Mossel Bay in 1595 by Cornelius de Houtman a Dutchman.

We will visit the Dias Museum Complex. Read more

 

Day 10 - Hermanus

 

Enjoy this vibrant little town which is the breeding grounds of the Southern Right Whale, (so called as it was apparently the “Right Whale to Kill”. 

History. Information from follow link . . . . When English became compulsory in the Cape, Dutch (Afrikaans) farmers founded their own schools and brought out teachers from Holland. Hermanus Pieters was brought to a farm called Boontjieskraal in Caledon to teach the families children. He was paid with sheep and during his summer holidays trekked to a spring with excellent grazing where he could also fish from the rocks. The settlers children, whose duty it was to collect buckets of water from the source called it "Hermanus Pieters se Fontein" (the fountain belonging to Hermanus Pieters.)

Overnight in Hermanus

 

Day 11 - Drop off Cape Town

Last day of the tour.

We travel via one of the most beautiful coastal routes in the world to Gordons Bay and drop off in Cape Town late afternoon.