Summary
Short description
Pair epic waterfalls and Big-Five safaris on a luxury African rail adventure
Highlights
- Witness the power nature at Victoria Falls
- Enjoy spectacular safaris in Zambia and Botswana
- Travel in style aboard Rovos Rail
- Soak in magnificent views paired with fine dining and five-star service
- End amid the sights of Cape Town
In Brief
- 3 Nights Victoria Falls
- 3 Nights Rovos Rail
- 1 Night Pretoria
- 4 Nights Cape Town
In pictures
About
Recommended for:
Natural world | Rail journey | Wildlife
Beginning with the wonders of Victoria Falls, this spectacular journey showcases the rich natural diversity of Southern Africa, from elephant-roamed wetlands to vast nature reserves host to the Big Five. You’ll knit it all together with a trip aboard Rovos Rail, travelling in Golden-Age luxury through green mountain valleys and endless savannah grasslands as you enjoy gourmet dining and a programme of off-train excursions, including a Zimbabwean safari. You’ll also call into Botswana to cruise and drive through the magnificent Chobe National Park and pause to explore Pretoria’s pretty parks and gardens before wrapping thing up with a stay in heart of Cape Town.
Day by day itinerary
Day
1
Depart UK
Start your trip with premium UK airport lounge access before your overnight flight.
Day
2
Victoria Falls
A private transfer will bring you to Victoria Falls, where thousands of cubic metres of water crash over its dizzying precipice each and every second, forming one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. You’ll stay just 10 minutes’ walk away in Zimbabwe’s oldest and grandest hotel, whose Edwardian-era charm is ringed by tropical-garden verdure.
Other than stunning waterfall overlooks, enjoy an included a sunset cruise on the falls’ Zambezi River; sip fine wines and tuck into gourmet canapés as your expert guide points out the elephant, hippo and crocodile that call its palm-tree-lined banks home.
Stay: Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe (Deluxe)
Days
3-4
Chobe National Park
On day three, dip into Botswana for a tour of Chobe National Park; host to some 85,000 elephants, it features the largest elephant herds in the world. Along with the hippo and crocodile, they congregate at the park’s eponymous river, which you’ll sail in the morning. After, enjoy an included lunch and afternoon game drive through its wild bushland of savannah grasses and dense tree groves.
Here, you’ll find everything from lions and leopard to buffalo and whole herds of antelope. You’ll then return to Victoria Falls for a further day of exploration, with raking walks and optional canoeing and rafting bringing you to superb vantage points.
Stay: Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe (Deluxe)
Meals: B L
Days
5-7
Rovos Rail
Board one of Africa’s most luxurious trains – realised in true Edwardian style – to relive the golden age of rail travel as you sweep through the rural beauty of Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. Watch as giant baobab trees mark great desert swathes only to turn into national-park greenery populated by diverse wildlife.
Along the way you’ll relax in the wingback chairs of the lounge car and enjoy gong-heralded fine dining in the restaurant carriage before retiring each night to the timber-panelled luxury and dark-wood furniture of your Deluxe Suite. You’ll disembark for a selection of curated excursions, including game drives through Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park where the Big Five roam free.
Stay: Rovos Rail (Deluxe)
Meals: B L D
Day
8
Pretoria
Arriving into Pretoria’s colonial Capital Park Station, a private transfer will bring you to your luxury accommodation – an opulent Tuscan-style residence turned boutique hotel set amid sprawling African gardens. Located on the doorstep of Jacaranda City, it sits beneath the canopied purple blossoms in the sub-tropical suburb of Waterkloof.
As well as Pretoria's urban attractions, you're also just a short hop from the Groenkloof Nature Reserve where horse, mountain bike and hiking trails bringing you through ridged thickets that host everything from kudu and ostrich to giraffe and zebra.
Stay: Castello Di Monte
Meals: B
Days
9-12
Cape Town
Fly to the continent’s end and the ‘Mother City’ where you’ll stay just yards from its well-heeled V&A waterfront. Discover its harmonious multiculturalism in innovative restaurants and Afro-chic bars or uncover its rich past in superb museums and Robben Island, the site of Nelson Mandela’s incarceration. But it’s Cape Town’s natural world that surprises the most; perhaps take some time to relax on the golden sands of its surfing beaches, cruise out to island crags dotted with seals, or visit the penguin colonies that dot the Cape of Good Hope.
On an included private half-day tour you'll also take a cable car up Table Mountain for city-wide views before a walk through Company Gardens and a visit to the 17th-century Castle of Good Hope reveals Cape Town's chequered colonial past. End with a drive to the neoclassical Houses of Parliament and the Grand Parade where a newly released Nelson Mandela first addressed the country from the Edwardian City Hall.
Stay: Queen Victoria Hotel, Cape Town (Superior)
Meals: B
Days
13-14
Return to the UK
After a final private transfer and overnight flight, you'll arrive back in the UK.
Meals: B
Map
Pricing
Any element of this itinerary can be adjusted to suit your needs. Just contact us to find out more.
Accommodation rating:
14-day tailor-made holiday
from £8,020 pp incl. flights
Deluxe
Low Season
from £8,020 pp. incl. flights
High Season
from £8,995 pp. incl. flights
Prices include:
- Complimentary UK airport lounge access
- Return flights from the UK to Victoria Falls and from Cape Town to the UK
- Domestic flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town
- Private airport transfers
- 8 nights accommodation in a mixture of 4+* (Superior) and 5* (Deluxe) hotels on a B&B basis
- 3 nights accommodation aboard Rovos Rail including shared excursions
- Shared Sundowner Cruise on the Zambezi
- Private half day Cape Town city tour including Table Mountain
Terms & Conditions
Prices are per person based on two people sharing a twin/double room; prices are subject to availability and possible change; normal booking conditions apply.
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