In the last 3 posts I’ve mentioned some of our favourite Safari Houses (exclusive use safari lodges typically sleeping 6 to 10 people). Examples given were Phinda Zuka Lodge in northern KwaZulu Natal, Tintswalo Manor House in the Greater Kruger Park, Uplands Manor in Kwandwe Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape and Little Tuningi in the Madikwe Game Reserve. However these lodges are certainly not the only options. Why don’t you check out our website for more information on the following Safari Houses in South Africa.

However these are by no means the only exclusive use safari lodges for family safaris and vacations in South Africa. Below I give a couple of other options…

Top of the Range
Royal Suite and Malewane Suite at Royal Malewane, Timbavati Game Reserve, Kruger
Little Madikwe, Madikwe Hills Game Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve
Nare Suite, Jaci’s Safari Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve

Or more Moderate options
The Homestead at Kariega Game Reserve, Eastern Cape
White Elephant Bush Lodge, Maputaland, Northern KwaZulu Natal

If you want to discuss any of these lodges in more detail, why not email me at kate@cedarberg.co.za or have a look on www.cedarberg-travel.com

Here are a couple of other options for your family safari in Africa - more in my series on exclusive use lodges or ‘Safari Houses. Phinda Zuka Lodge is in northern KwaZulu Natal, a low risk malaria area whilst Little Tuningi is in the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve. 

Phinda Zuka Lodge
Zuka Lodge at Phinda in northern KwaZulu Natal is probably my favourite lodge within the Phinda Private Game Reserve. It consists of four suites all set around a waterhole and is both stylish and eminently liveable at the same time with lost of exposed stonework and a lovely ambience. This is ideal for a family with older children or friends who like a little more privacy, as each cottage is set over 15 metres apart, (so I wouldn’t put small children in a separate chalet here!) Each bedroom is a blend of modern African décor and contemporary styling with a glorious bathroom featuring a free-standing bath and giant circular shower with exposed stonework

Little Tuningi
Little Tuningi is a satellite camp of Tuningi Safari Lodge, in the western side of the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve. Little Tuningi consists of a two bedroom family villa and a separate suite (so that it can sleep six to seven people in total with an extra bed in the two bedroom suite if necessary) and offers its own private boma area, dining room, lounge and private swimming pool. The décor is a mix of colonial and modern African influences and Little Tuningi has tried to bring the bush into the lodge as much as possible by using fully retractable doors and wide wraparound decks. One thing I like about Little Tuningi is that, because it is so close to the rest of Tuningi Safari Lodge, if you are a larger family group or perhaps two families traveling together, you can take Little Tuningi and a couple of extra rooms. This allows you to have the exclusive use of the swimming pool even though you’re a larger group.

If you want more information on these lodges or others in this series, please look at our website on www.cedarbergtravel.com or email me on kate@cedarberg.co.za

Continuing my blog about exclusive use Safari Houses which are perfect for family safaris or family vacations in South Africa. Today I’m going to talk about Tintswalo Manor..

Tintswalo Manor House
Tintswalo Manor House is a little gem of a place in the Manyeleti Private Game Reserve (with open borders into the Kruger National Park). The Manor House is a rather a grand name for a comfortable, rather than luxurious, private homestead in the bush overlooking an active waterhole. There are two reasons why I particularly like this lodge. Firstly it is not over-decorated and really does feel like home from home. It’s the sort of place that you and I might have if we owned a private lodge in the bush (!) – not at all pretentious with a relaxed feel about it. There are five bedrooms, one of which is accessed from the outside so that it’s ideal for a teenager or a nanny, wishing for more privacy. Another bedroom is only suitable as a children’s bedroom as its not en suite and is decorated in that way. The second reason is its reasonable pricing policy. It’s priced per person assuming a minimum of just four people, unlike most private safari houses which are priced per lodge. This means that it is still affordable even if only 5 or 6 people take the lodge, even though it can sleep up to 10.  

If you want more information about Tintswalo Manor or the luxurious Presidential Suite at Tintswalo Safari Lodge, have a look at www.cedarbergtravel.com or email us on kate@cedarberg.co.za

A few months ago I wrote about the Safari Houses of Zambia, where, for your African family safari, or for a party of friends, you take the whole safari lodge on an exclusive basis. However Zambia is certainly not alone in this respect. Over the next couple of posts, I’d like to highlight some of our favourite ‘Safari Houses’ in South Africa.

What I said in my previous blog still stands for South African Safari Houses: they are perfect for family vacations in Africa. These lodges usually come with their own ranger so that you have a private vehicle for your game drives and a private chef, sometimes even a house-keeper/butler as well. To myself “As you can imagine this leads to a much more relaxed and flexible South African family safari. No constant worrying about whether Johnny is making too much noise; no self-consciousness about an impromptu game of rugby on the lawn. You are free to choose your own game-viewing rhythm, heading out early one morning and taking it more relaxed another day. You can choose your own meal times and as importantly decide on what you all want to eat” This option is great for multi-generational family safaris where the grandparents may be joining children and grand children.

So moving on to some of our favourite family safari destinations in South Africa:

Four of our favorite South African Safari Houses are Uplands House, Tintswalo Manor House, Phinda Zuka Lodge and Little Tuningi. I will talk about Uplands House today.

Uplands House
Uplands House is part of Kwandwe Private Game Reserve in the malaria-free Eastern Cape. Uplands House was one of the original 19th century homesteads which was incorporated into Kwandwe reserve when it was returned to its natural bushveld. Uplands is an unashamedly Colonial experience with a gracious ambience which you’ll either love or find too retro for your personal tastes. There are three en suite bedrooms so it sleeps up to six adults or a mix of seven adults and children as one of the bedrooms can take an extra bed. It’s worth noting that one bedroom is definitely smarter than the others so it would work best for one family where the parents take the main bedroom.

Uplands House has proved so successful that Kwandwe Private Game Reserve has just opened a second private lodge or Safari House - Melton Mowbray Manor which, despite sounding to my mind like an English pork pie, is in reality a more contemporary take on the Safari House concept and is also slightly larger with four en suite bedrooms.

If you want to discuss this lodge in more detail, why not email me at kate@cedarberg.co.za or have a look on www.cedarberg-travel.com

Continuing my earlier blog on interesting excursions from Cape Town…

How about a mellow sybaritic private champagne tour enjoying the champagne and characters of the Cape Winelands. You travel to one of the original wine estates in the Franschhoek valley granted to the French Huguenots back in the 17th century for a memorable champagne cellar tour given by the eccentric globe-trotting owner and winemaker, Achim von Arnim. Achim’s passion for his region, his wine farm and his champagne is infectious. You’ll not escape without experiencing the whole fountain of house ‘bubblies’. Achim often calls for volunteers to assist him with ‘sabrage’ when the champagnes are elaborately opened with a sabre! After a tour of his cellars you have a leisurely gourmet lunch followed by a winelands meander… or a siesta, depending on how good the lunch was! We offer this tour every Saturday returning to Cape Town sometime in the afternoon depending on how many wines you wish to sample…

Another great culinary experience is our private cheese, wine and chocolate tour. Enjoy a day that celebrates the culinary delights of the Cape’s oldest wine region with a delicious and wicked mix of cheese, wine and chocolate tasting. Highlights of the day include a cheese tasting at two estates that produce delicious premium cheeses; chocolate tasting at a specialist chocolatier in the lovely town of Franschhoek or at one of the Cape’s top wine estates where the wine-maker has collaborated with a Belgian chocolatier to concoct the prefect chocolates to complement his wines. Afterwards we enjoy a relaxed gourmet lunch at a top Winelands restaurant as well as a scenic meander through the picturesque wine regions back to Cape Town.

It’s a little known fact that South African olive oil has once again walked off as winner of the most prestigious olive oil awards in Italy. We offer a great off-the-beaten-track olive and vine tour which is perfect if you have a little bit more time to get to know and savour the more rural vineyards, villages and farms of the Cape. One tour visits the Cape’s oldest wine region of Stellenbosch. We spend some time at the award-winning Morgenster wine estate for an olive oil, olive and wine tasting. Morgenster is rated as one of the top olive oil estates in the world and the tour is a little gem. This is followed by a visit to Vergelegen, one of the oldest Cape Dutch homesteads, for a walk in their beautiful gardens, a visit to the homestead and a taste of their award-winning wines. An optional extra is to pre-book for a fascinating tour of their spectacular gravity fed cellar. The wine and olive-tasting is complemented by a short historical tour of Stellenbosch – the second oldest town in South Africa and certainly one of the most beautiful and of course a gourmet lunch at a top Winelands restaurant. An alternative tour visits a stunning off-the-beaten track wine region, the Darling and Riebeeck Valley area where you enjoy the warm country hospitality of the local people. This small secluded valley is mad about olives and olive oil and you participate in two olive and olive oil tastings as well as wine and port tasting at the famous Allesverloren Wine estate. This is all washed down with a delicious and relaxed country lunch.

If you don’t mind travelling a little further afield, we recommend our private seafood and Rooibos tour. This is a (very) full day excursion north through the wheatfields of the Swartland to the magnificent Cedarberg mountains to visit a working Rooibos tea plantation where you learn about the farming methods of Rooibos and see the drying fields and packing plant. This tour also explores the indigenous Fynbos vegetation in the area. Afterwards you head to a rustic seafood beach restaurant for a relaxing afternoon of seafood before returning to Cape Town.

Finally … for something completely different we offer a private crayfish tour. This is a fascinating way to enjoy the truly unique Cape experience of catching your own crayfish with local fishermen whilst also helping to keep this vibrant community afloat, literally.  During Cape Town’s crayfish season (15 Nov to 31 Jan), two people can join a local fishing boat to experience the life of a Cape fisherman. You are collected from your hotel and transferred to Kommetjie on the Cape Peninsula for the start of the fishing outing catching the crayfish in nets (usually two hours). At the end you walk away with two crayfish and the fishermen have gained some vital extra income to support their families. Afterwards you head to a local Cape Town villa with your guide where you cook your own crayfish for lunch and enjoy a simple lunch of crayfish, salad, garlic bread and crisp white wine. There are four boats involved so up to 8 people can be accommodated. Remember that you must have good sea legs as the waters can be rough!

I recently had the good fortune to spend a weekend at the Royal Malewane Lodge in the private Thornybush game reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park. Royal Malewane Lodge is one of the most luxurious game lodges in the greater Kruger Park area and yet, as the weekend went on, I found that it wasn’t just the elegance of the lodge which was the drawcard. Rather it was the seamless mix of understated luxury, expert guiding, delicious cuisine, state of the art spa facilities and the friendly, personal service of the staff which makes Royal Malewane such a success.

Royal Malewane is clearly aimed at the discerning and well-travelled clientele. However what I particularly liked was that the service was delivered in a friendly and unassuming way so that everyone felt at home here very quickly. Our ranger was Juan Pinto, a level 3 SKS guide, with his tracker, Wilson who has attained the Master Tracker status. They made an excellent team: Juan was a fount of information and imparted this knowledge with quiet calm assurance coupled with a nice line in dry humour. As you’ll read later, our game-viewing experience at Royal Malewane (over four morning and afternoon game drives) was excellent, despite the slightly inhospitable weather.

Something I also really appreciated was Juan’s assistance with photography whilst on our drive. So many people have cameras which they really don’t know how to get the most out of, myself included, and Juan helpfully gave us a few tips on taking backlit shots of animals, how to deal with fading light conditions and sunset shots to name but a few examples.

Royal Malewane is exquisitely decorated, and unlike some recent game lodges, has not gone the ‘Manhattan meets the Bush’ route. This game lodge looks like a game lodge should look with a serene outlook and lots of quiet places to relax and read during the day. The suites offer unashamed luxury with four poster beds, (and a stool to climb into them), fireplaces, decadent bathrooms and wooden decks with a private sala. I can honestly say that I couldn’t think of anything more I would have wanted in my suite. Unique amongst the top lodges in South Africa, the Royal Malewane has two ultra-luxurious suites, the Royal and the Malewane Suites each with two en suite bedrooms and a large private sitting room and dining area. These suites have private entrance so that guests craving complete privacy can come and go as they please. If you take one of these suites, you have your own private chef, butler and ranger so you can really choose your own safari rhythm to suit you.

The food was delicious at Royal Malewane with lots of delicate flavours with options to eat before you left for your morning drive, a full breakfast on your return, lunch (if you could manage it), a plentiful afternoon tea and dinner. One particular feature of the lodge is that dinner is offered in a number of venues. For example, a romantic Bedouin dinner in the bush, with a selection of Cape Malay dishes, or a crystal dinner on the top deck. The Royal Malewane has recently won the Bush Banquet award for their alfresco culinary skills.

Of course I couldn’t resist trying out the Spa at Royal Malewane. This Spa is quite a unique selling point for Royal Malewane, with an extra length pool for swimming off the delicious food, several treatment rooms, an alfresco Jacuzzi as well as double Turkish baths for an indulgent coupley experience. What I also loved were the shaded ‘casetas’ where you can lounge on beds overlooking the pool, either before or after a treatment. I opted for a facial – one and a half hours of sheer bliss.

I was so relaxed afterwards that I half thought I might gently nod off on the game drive. However there was no danger of that as we embarked on one of the most interesting game drives that I’ve experienced. We headed to the far north of the reserve in search of cheetah which had been spotted in that vicinity. En route we came across three white rhino, including one baby, quietly grazing. After some adept tracking by Wilson and Juan, working in tandem with another Royal Malewane game vehicle, the three cheetah were located - camouflaged and resting after a hectic day of seeing off a rival cheetah which had strayed into their territory. We returned south, already feeling satisfied with our drive and stopped for sundowner drinks. I always enjoy learning about the constellations which are usually easily seen in the African sky but Juan went further. Producing a powerful telescope, he proceeded to show us Saturn, Venus, Mercury and various constellations such as Scorpio. Juan was adept at simplifying his extensive knowledge of the planets into easily digestible morsels, which was much appreciated by this novice star-gazer, and such was the interest generated that I’ve vowed to read up on it.

On continuing our drive, we happened on a large termite mound which was being used by hyenas as their hide. After watching the curious hyena youngsters practically sniffing the vehicle, we were continuing towards the lodge when we learnt that a pride of lions (that we’d seen earlier in the morning) had killed a young leopard cub. A female leopard had been escorting her two cubs when the lions had attacked, seeing the leopard as competition for scarce resources. By the time we got to the area, the mother leopard was very very wary. She had escaped from the lions but was guarding her dead cub from the hyenas who were also threatening her. It was a truly pitiful sight to see the tiny lifeless cub. However there was also no sign of the other cub. Had the lions taken him as well?

We would not know until the morning when on our final morning drive, we spotted the mother again and saw the other cub, alive and well, stashed high in a tree by his protective mother whilst she lay mourning her other cub. It provided a ray of hope after the sadness of the previous evening and made for the perfect end to a sublime weekend.

If you are thinking of a Family safari in Africa , and like the idea of children doing their own thing for part of the day, (so that you can slope off to your book or to the spa or more laudibly, on a game walk), then it makes sense to choose a safari lodge which actively welcomes children.

Lukimbi Safari Lodge certainly fits this bill. Lukimbi seems to have thought through the issues surrounding children on safari in a fair amount of detail, as I witnessed when I visited it with my family (husband Anton, and children Emma aged 10, Mark aged 7 and Torben aged 4). Lukimbi is in one of the private concessions in the Kruger. Though the Kruger National Park is an intermediate malaria area, the risks of malaria are dramatically lower in the winter months from May to August (when it is also the prime game-viewing time in the Kruger) so families shouldn’t just opt for the non-malaria areas if travelling during the northern hemisphere school holidays. The Kruger, along with the adjacent private game reserves of the Sabi Sands, Manyeleti and Timbavati, should definitely be on your short list.

In our experience, the staff at Lukimbi see children as equally important guests and have a thought-out programme for entertaining the children. Perhaps as importantly, a family-friendly lodge such as Lukimbi attracts families which means that there are usually other children around to provide ready-made playmates. This in turn makes the business of children eating earlier so much easier to manage, as they don’t feel that they are missing out on anything – very important with my children!

Usually younger children under six will be able to accompany their parents on game drives, (though this is not guaranteed if the child is hyper-active and unable to appreciate the possible dangers of the bush). In practice Lukimbi tries to put two families together in a vehicle so that your children’s needs and attention span can be more easily catered for. If there are several children at the lodge, they also organize special kids only drives which are enjoyable for children (and parents) alike.

When our children returned from their game drive (at 7pm or 7.30pm), they immediately had supper all together, then they headed to the children’s den to listen to safari stories and relax before bedtime whilst we got ready for dinner. Younger children can return to their room with a baby sitter if you wish, whilst older children can curl up in the den in sleeping bags to watch a dvd and fall asleep at their leisure.  (This play room/den is also supervised from 7am to 1pm and from 4pm until you take your children to bed. Games, wildlife movies and toys are available there. )

Activities for children includes game drives with their parents and other activities such as identifying animal tracks and making casts, face painting, bush treasure hunt, braaing marshmallows in the boma and bush movie nights for example. Special folders are provided on arrival for your kids to jot down notes on their drives, and mark off animal sightings.

What I particularly liked about the children’s safari programme at Lukimbi was that it had a sense of progression. If children stay 3 nights or more, your children (ideally 7 to 12 years) can participate in the Basic Tracker programme. See our Lukimbi entry in our website for more details.

We recently had John and Pam in our offices and they’ve developed some unique Cape Town day tours for us ranging from cooking workshops through to wine and chocolate tours and even Table Mountain walking tours. What’s particularly good is that a number of these Cape Town tours are ‘scheduled tours’. I appreciate that this may summon up images of coach tours but in practice it’s rarely more than six people in a minibus. What ‘scheduled’ really means is that we are committing to run these tours, on specific days, with only two people. Given that the vast majority of our clients are couples and families, this is more cost effective than having a private guide and vehicle. Over the next few posts, I shall outline some of these exciting new excursions…

I am particularly positive about the development of some interesting township experiences where you can meet the local people. People don’t want to have a goldfish bowl experience being bussed into a township for a ‘tour’ and bussed out again. We have offered an authentic African Heritage tour for a number of years but more and more people are opting to extend this to a full day tour where they can chat to the locals, have lunch at an African restaurant, (serving a mix of African and Western dishes), and an afternoon drink at a local shebeen (or tavern).

Another option which used to only be possible for groups is to visit the Township for dinner and jazz. We now offer this as a scheduled tour on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This is a great evening experiencing a completely different side of Cape Town life. You usually enjoy a short orientation of the townships before heading to a local township restaurant where you meet local people and experience local township cuisine. What’s clear is that the local people are as interested in finding out about you, and where you come from, as you are about them. Later on there is story telling and local jazz bands playing and after some drinks, everyone becomes more relaxed and it’s not uncommon to find yourself dancing the evening out.

On Sunday mornings we show you a complete different slice of life as we visit several different church services in the townships surrounding Cape Town. You’ll witness the important role these churches play in the local community’s lives and hear the beautiful gospel choirs. Please note that dress code is semi-formal/smart in keeping with local custom.

During the summer months of November to February we offer a Xhosa Heritage tour on Saturday afternoon which enlightens our visitors about the Xhosa culture and specifically its initiation rites. Even under the tremendous influence of urbanization, the Xhosa people of the townships of Cape Town hold their customs dearly. You’re introduced to Xhosa folklore by an English speaking Xhosa guide. You witness the performance of ‘Igongqo’ (ancestor rituals) and ‘Umcimbi’ and you’ll meet a traditional healer. There’s also plenty of opportunity to interact with the local people and learn more about their culture in a relaxed and informal way.

Alternatively you can join us every Saturday morning for a walk on Table Mountain as part of a group (or book your own private guide to walk with you on the mountain). You meet up with a group of hiking enthusiasts early in the morning to walk up the world famous Table Mountain. You will be led by a guide who has intimate knowledge of the mountain: its paths, its fynbos vegetation and its fauna. You’ll enjoy spectacular views of the city of Cape Town and its surrounding suburbs. The specific route taken will vary depending on the fitness of the group but you should be of above average fitness, be a regular walker/runner and also be used to tackling mountain hiking. The paths are not difficult but it is a continuous upward climb for approx 3 to 4 hours depending on the route taken. You can walk down the mountain or take the cable car down instead. The cable car tickets, and transfers to the meeting point, are not included in the basic tour price.

The Okavango Delta, the jewel in the middle of the Kalahari Desert of    Botswana, is Africa’s largest and most beautiful oasis - an isolated, lush green paradise with some of the richest wildlife in the world. This exceedingly beautiful maze of waterways, lagoons, vast grassy plains and palm-fringed and wooded islands is home to crocodile, hippo, elephant, lion, leopard, hyena, giraffe, wild dog, rare antelope and around 400 bird species. We are often asked about the seasonal flooding of the Okavango Delta in Botswana – Why does it happen? When does it happen? Why do some lodges have water all year and others only during the flood? So I thought I’d try to address this issue in more depth…

Where does the source of the Okavango come from?
The source of the Okavango Delta lies in the extremely wet highlands of Angola to the north. From here the Cubango River flows south, through Namibia, away from the sea, gathering ever more water until it finally reaches Botswana, where the river becomes known as the Okavango. Here, the fate of the river is determined by a series of fault lines deep below the desert surface. Once the river passes over the first fault line, it splits into several channels forming a vast, fan-shaped, astonishingly luxuriant wilderness of flood plain and forest, stream and lagoon, the ideal breeding ground for an incredible diversity of wildlife. When the water meets the final two fault lines, the water is literally dammed and cannot go further. (Before the fault lines, the river flowed through the area which is now the Okavango Delta and the Makgadikgadi pans, and probably on to the Indian Ocean by flowing into the Limpopo river.)

When does it happen?
Something that often confuses people is that Botswana and the Okavango Delta has a summer rainfall and yet the flood occurs in the dry winter months. The rain falls during the summer and first seeps into the parched ground before the rivers start flowing. It takes months for the river flow to reach the Okavango Delta. (The flood travels very slowly at only a kilometre a day, partly because of the shallow gradient and because the swamp vegetation slows the water.) The flood starts coming into the northern reaches of the Okavango Delta in late April and makes its way steadily down reaching many camps sometime in June or possibly early July, depending on their precise location, and peaking in August. As it is the dry season, gradually the flood waters evaporate over the next few months, leaving their valuable salts and minerals in the ground, and the waters recede through October and November.

The evocative mokoro trips - a traditional dugout canoe made from an ebony or sausage tree - largely take place in these shallow waters and seasonal flood plains of the Okavango Delta. Gliding along in a mokoro, in total harmony with nature is an experience not to be missed.

Why do some lodges have water all year, others only during the flood and others not at all?
In the south-eastern part of the Delta lies a slightly higher area of land, known as Chiefs Island. This forms part of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve and the higher ground means that the waters never flood this area. The lodges here are predominantly land camps offering  game drives. If they’re on the edges of the Moremi, they may offer some water-based activities during July to September but this would be secondary to the main focus which is game drives. Prime examples would be Mombo Camp, Chief’s Camp and Khwai River Lodge.

To the north of the Moremi lie some deep river channels which are fed through the summer rains and then by the Okavango Delta. The camps in this area such as Kwara Camp, Vumburu Plains and Shinde are what is called ‘multi-activity’ camps (for want of a more elegant term) in that they offer a choice of water or land based game-viewing activities throughout the year because of the presence of these deep river channels.

Broadly speaking, to the south of the Moremi are the seasonal camps which focus on game drives in the green season and offer a mix of activities as the flood comes in. As the Okavango Delta flood varies from year to year, no-one can say precisely when the flood waters will arrive so if you are booking early on in the season, in June for example, there may be an element of luck (but the price usually reflects this). Depending on the camp’s exact location, land-based activities can be quite limited in the full flood so the camps literally become surrounded by water. The advantage is that the animals also get restricted to limited island areas making for excellent game-viewing on foot, by mokoro or by boat. Excellent examples would be Nxabega, Jao and Baines Camps.

Finally further towards the northern and western stretches of the Delta are the permanent water camps, which as their name suggests, offer boat-based game-viewing and game walks on the surrounding islands. The game-viewing is more limited here but the birding is excellent. It’s worth noting that mokoro trips are not usually on offer here as the water is too deep to pole. Examples would be Jacana and Eagle Island Camp. 

Point for the Safari Visitor
Change is the essence of the Okavango Delta. The delta changes from year to year depending on flood levels and rains and the flood constantly forges new channels which prevents the delta becoming silted up. This dynamic nature leads to great diversity of water depth, soils, vegetation and animal distribution. The exact location of each camp dictates what activities are available and when and this can vary within a short distance. Assuming you are booking well in advance, we’ll be able to match a particular camp to your needs.

It also follows that staying at two different camps in different habitats will give you the best feel for the dynamic mood of the Okavango Delta.

The South African winter and spring offers the best game-viewing and also the best whale-watching experiences so the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town has teemed up with the luxurious Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge to offer a superb Cape and Bush experience.

From July to October if we book 4 nights for you at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, you receive one complimentary night at Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge. Alternatively, we can book 3 nights at Madikwe Hills and you receive two complimentary nights at the Twelve Apostles Hotel…

Cape Town has many fascinating tourist attractions that are quiet and easily accessible in the winter and spring. Most days are mild, bright and sunny and land or boat-based whale watching, including the Southern Cross whale, is frequent. Whether cruising along the staggeringly beautiful Chapman’s Peak Drive to Cape Point or from the bedrooms, restaurant and bar at The Twelve Apostles Hotel, it is likely you will catch a glimpse of these awesome creatures in the bay. The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa is a five star boutique hotel right on the Atlantic Ocean, with the top-of-the-range Spa, the breath-taking garden magically perched above the ocean, two heated outdoor pools and the glorious Azure Restaurant. 

Similarly the game viewing in the Madikwe Game Reserve is unsurpassed during the winter months as the days are clear, warm and sunny, and the animals search out the remaining waterholes to drink. The crisp, cool evenings are ideal for exchanging sightings, bush stories and enjoying the bright and starry African night sky! Wildlife in Madikwe includes the Big Five and two packs of wild dog, for which Madikwe is justly famous. Madikwe Hills is one of the most luxurious and glamorous lodges in this malaria-free reserve. Each of the eight enormous stone and thatch rooms has an expansive deck with plunge pool overlooking the bush; fabulous outdoor shower, huge bathroom, bedroom and sitting room with minibar and open fire.

This holiday combines relaxation, pleasure, pampering, enrichment and value. It is valid from July to October inclusive and for a minimum of two adults travelling together. It is based on a Mountain room at the Twelve Apostles and a Suite at Madikwe Hills. Breakfast is included at The Twelve Apostles and Madikwe Hills is Fully Inclusive.

For more information on this special, or any other special we are offering, contact us at info@cedarberg.co.za or log onto our website at http://www.cedarberg-travel.com