Depart New York JFK International airport via your South African Airways flight to South Africa.
DAY 02:
JOHANNESBURG
Upon your arrival in Johannesburg you will be met and transferred to your hotel. Overnight in JNB
DAY 03:
JOHANNESBURG/KRUGER PARK
Museumafrica
Enjoy a panoramic tour of Johannesburg to see the Shell House which is the headquarters of the African National Congress. Visit the new "Museumafrica". In this sleek new gallery, black mineworkers, squatter-camp families, speak easy 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. 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 had been dislocated by the 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 for perhaps two million people. 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. Upon arrival in Kruger, check into your game lodge and freshen up. Afternoon game drive to view wildlife before returning to your camp for dinner.Overnight in KrugerPark
DAY 04:
KRUGERNATIONAL PARK
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 camp for dinner and overnight. Overnight in KrugerPark
DAY 05:
PILGRIM'S 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 dinner and overnight. Overnight in JNB
DAY 06:
JOHANNESBURG/SOWETO
Slums in Soweto
WORSHIP SERVICE IN SOWETO. After church visit 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, hence its name - Soweto. The name Soweto has been burned into our consciousness by the children's uprising against the hated Bantu education that prepared the 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, oft times 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. 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. Overnight in JNB
DAY 07:
JOHANNESBURG /CAPETOWN
Transfer to the airport for your flight from Johannesburg to Capetown. Upon your arrival in Capetown, you will be met and transferred to your hotel. 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. Capetown is a beautiful city built at the base and lower slopes of a series of magnificent mountains. In 1910, Capetown was made the legislative capital of South Africa.Overnight in CPT
DAY 08:
CAPETOWN
Robben Island Prison
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. 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, where former 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. While in office he sat in that same Statehouse and saw Robben Island Prison that once held him. It is the most spectacular miracle of our time. IF THE CRUISE IS OPERATING. In case of cancellation of cruise due to weather conditions, tour will be to Mitchells Plain & Khayelitsha Townships. Overnight in CPT
DAY 09:
CAPEPENINSULA
Tip of the Cape
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 and on the east by the Indian Ocean. Travel along magnificent Marine Drive beyond Lion’s Head, past Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles to Hout Bay, a quaint fishing village on the Atlantic seaboard. Over Constantia Nek, past Pollsmor Prison, over Silvermine Pass, via Kommetjie to Cape Point, where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean’s merge. Cape Point Nature Reserve covers 7750 unspoiled hectares of the southernmost part of the Cape Peninsula. The peninsula divides at the tip into three points. The Cape of Good Hope is the most southerly point; east of this is Cape Maclear, named after Sir Thomas Maclear, the 19th century astronomer; and still further east is Cape Point. Among the 150 species of birds that can be seen in the reserve, are the ostrich, white-fronted plover, black backed gull, cormorant and sugarbird. Travel through the attractive False Bay resorts of Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek, along Boyes Drive, which offers glorious views of the False Bay coastline, and the Hottentots Holland Mountains, then over De Waal Drive with excellent views of Table Bay to Capetown. Overnight in CPT
DAY 10:
CAPETOWN / NEW YORK
Morning at leisure. Transfer to the airport for your flight to New York.
