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DAY 01: BEGIN OUR EXPLORING TOUR Depart New York JFK International Airport via South African Airways jet service to Johannesburg, South Africa.
DAY 02: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Upon arrival in Johannesburg, you will be met and transferred to your hotel for overnight.
Most of the world's great cities were built alongside rivers, but Johannesburg had to make do with an underground stream … of Gold! That was enough to transform it in three years from meager grazing land to the biggest town in South Africa. A century later, it is a dynamic metropolis of a bit more than two million people. Like all South African cities, Johannesburg's historic population patterns have been dislocated by racial separation laws. Thus some 50,000 Asians were resettled in their own suburb Lenasia, and the blacks were assigned to vast townships on the outskirts; Soweto, by far the biggest and best known, is home to perhaps two million people.
DAY 03: SOWETO This morning you will visit the new "Museumafrica". In this sleek new gallery, black mineworkers, squatter-camp familites, speakeasy hostesses and domestic servants have a place of pride. The museum is housed in a cavernous, brightly renovated building that used to be the city's main fruit and vegetable market. It is in the lively downtown complex that also contains the Market Theater, the center of anti-apartheid dramatic ferment and still a source of inventive energy. An exhibit on housing includes two shacks purchased from squatter-camp residents and reconstructed to approximate the atmosphere in which some 8 million South Africans live, without electricity or indoor plumbing. Continue for a visit to Soweto, a familiar name around the world, which is actually an acronym for Southwest Township. It is home for more than 2 million "blacks and coloureds" to use the designation of apartheid. The laws of apartheid had prohibited blacks from living within the city proper save for a few live-in female houseworkers. During the daylight hours, downtown Johannesburg looked just like Newark or Detroit. At night, it was suddenly all White as if someone had waved a wand and made the Blacks disappear. Their exodus was to the sprawling township, southwest of Johannesburg, hense its name - Soweto. The name Soweto has been burned into our consciousness by the children's uprising against the hated Bantu education that had prepared Blacks for service jobs only and the Afrikkan language for its usefulness to their prospective masters and employers. From the children's revolt until the present, Soweto was the scene, ofttimes the center, of the resistance against apartheid and the racist regime. Time and again, Soweto has been the site of confrontation between the proponents for liberation and the armed might of the South African Defense Forces. Nelson Mandela's home is in Soweto as well as Desmond Tutu's. Soweto has been the chief battleground of the struggle against apartheid. The ground in Soweto is soaked with the blood of martyrs, men, women, and children alike. As you approach Soweto on the super-highways, one can see a blue-gray smoke that hangs like a pall over the entire area stretching for 17 miles. Soweto in its expanse and nearly 50 communities would make ten Harlems! There is Orlando East, Orlando West, Kliptown, Chiewelo, Eldorado Park, Niceville, Lineas, Racecourse, etc. Time is allowed to meet and talk with residents. Visit the Holy Cross Anglican Church of Orlando West which was Bishop Tutu's seat before he was elevated to Archbishop of South Africa.
DAY 04: JOHANNESBURG / KRUGER NATIONAL PARK Depart Johannesburg enroute to Kruger National Park, one of the most famous national parks in the world and the oldest in Africa. Kruger is 350 km from North to South and 60 km in width. You will stop for lunch enroute. Upon arrival in Kruger, check into your game lodge and freshen up. Afternoon game drive to view wildlife before returning to your game lodge for dinner.
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DAY 05: KRUGER NATIONAL PARK Full day game viewing in the park. Impala, blue wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, and baboon are frequently seen. There are over 1200 lions in the park and elephants are frequently seen in the north. Other rare animals are eland, roan antelope, tsessebe, and carnivores such as cheetah, wild dog, leopard, and small nocturnal cats. Enjoy lunch at a rest camp in the park. Return to your game lodge for dinner and overnight.
DAY 06: KRUGER PARK / PILGRIMS REST / JOHANNESBURG Enjoy a half day visit to the fascinating village of Pilgrim's Rest, scene of the 1873 Transvaal Gold Rush. The town is a national monument and has retained much of the atmosphere of a 19th century mining town. It is a glorious living museum of the early pioneering days. Proceed to Johannesburg for overnight.
DAY 07: JOHANNESBURG / CAPETOWN Transfer to the airport for your flight to Capetown. Upon your arrival you will be met and transferred to your hotel. Capetown is a beautiful city built a the base and lower slopes of a series of magnificent mountains. In 1910, Capetown was made the legislative capital of South Africa.
DAY 08: CAPETOWN This morning the tour begins with a drive to Signal Hill and a ride to the top of Table Mountain by cable car to enjoy the magnificent panoramic view this affords. Drive through the centuries old Malay Quarter: the Cape Malays are mostly the descendants of slaves brought in from Asia in the second half of the 17th century. They are Muslims and live in a separate neighborhood close to the business district. The Malay Quarter is worth a visit for the sight of the pastel colored little houses, the minarets, and the kindly people themselves. Visit the South African Museum. This museum is famous for its "Africa Room" which depicts scenes of African tribal life. It is the oldest such institution in the country. Visit the Cathedral of the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, the first black to hold the post of Archbishop of Capetown and a Nobel Peace Laureate. This afternoon, you will cruise to Robben Island Prison (based on availability of cruise), where current President Nelson Mandela spent most of his 27 year incarceration. It was likely that on many a day that Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela could see the Statehouse in Capetown. He now sits in that same Statehouse and sees Robben Island Prison that once held him. It is the most spectacular miracle of our time.
DAY 09: CAPE PENINSULA Depart this morning on a full day tour to Cape Peninsula. This tour offers unsurpassed scenery and a drive spanning the whole peninsula, one of the most beautiful promontories in the world. This tiny outcrop of land is washed on the west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the Indian Ocean. Travel via cosmopolitan Sea Point, Clifton, Llandudno, Hout Bay and over Chapman's Peak Drive, to enter the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. The reserve comprises over 17,300 acres of indigenous fauna and flora and you are able to take the Flying Dutchman bus up to the top for an impressive view of the two oceans mingling. Continue via the coastline through Simonstown, Fishhoek, and Muizenberg with a visit to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where all species of South African flora are represented. Return to Capetown.
DAY 10: CAPETOWN / NEW YORK Morning at leisure. Transfer to the airport for your return flight to New York.
DAY 11: NEW YORK Arrival back in New York in the morning local time.
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