Adventure tours, safaris and overland trips
These are the 2 most popular tours, but we have many more we can recommend
Cape Town To Victoria Falls, via Namibia and Botswana
If you are keen on a great Southern African experience, then the trip from Cape Town to Victoria Falls is a winner.
There are several companies doing this trip with a slight difference in their itineraries, but their route is essentially the same with Which Way Adventures flying into the Okavango Delta, which adds to the price, but also gives a tremendous experience.
You travel up through the Cedarberg Mountains past the citrus growing area of the Western Cape to The Orange River. This is the border between South Africa and Namibia. You can have a relaxing canoeing trip down the river.
Next stop is the Fish River Canyon, the 2nd largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. It travels through desert landscape to a small oasis with a hot spring at Ai-Ais.
From here you travel to the huge Sand dunes at Sossusvlei, the largest in the world. Torment your legs with a climb to the top of a big dune and look further afield into the sea of sand.
Then it is down to Swakopmund at the coast for some sandboarding and the cold Atlantic Ocean fed by the Benguela Current easing up from the Antarctic! Swimming only for the hardy or just foolhardy.
The first signs of African game come at the Etosha National Park, pans that supply wildlife with their water. The floodlit waterholes at the overnight camps enable you to see all the nocturnal animals coming in to drink, but don't fall asleep as you may miss a dangerous animal looking for easy prey...
Watch the gemsbok, springbok, kudu and wildebeest avoiding lions, hyenas and other carnivores. An excellent game reserve.
On towards Botswana now, sometimes camping on the banks of the Cunene River, border bewteen Namibia and Angola. Keep an eye out for crocodiles, but the water is refreshing and cleans off some of the Etosha dust. The Popa Falls are under threat of damming, so enjoy them whilst they last.
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is a paradise of birds, water, game and tranquility. Take a trip in a dugout canoe - mokoro - poled by a skilled waterman through the narrow channels of the Delta. You may see hippos, crocodiles as well as lechwe, sitatunga ( buck only found in the Delta ) and waterbuck in abundance. There are also loads of elephant and other animals to keep the adrenalin levels high. The Delta is fed from the north from the Southern highlands of Angola. Namibia is threatening to drain water from the Kavango River to supply Windhoek with more water. For more information on the potential ecological disaster, see
After your trip into the Delta, it is on to Zimbabwe and the famous Victoria Falls. Whilst the town has recently become a tourist trap, there are excellent but expensive activities to enjoy.
The White Water Rafting below Victoria Falls is arguably the best one day trip in the world! There are several companies running them, Shearwater, Sobek, Safari Par Excellence all run trips daily for the same price. They are all highly recommended.
In addition you can canoe above the Falls, Bungi Jump off the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia, take a micro-light flight over the Falls, parachute out of an aeroplane, play golf at the smart Elephant Hills hotel course or just have a relaxing cruise up the Zambezi River, draining the boats supply of refreshments!
From here your tour leaves you on your own and your driver and tour guide head back to Cape Town to start again...
We can recommend the best value companies that run this route
The main difference between them is frequency of trips, type of vehicle used, cost, training of guides and food.
If you are planning well in advance, you can choose to plan your flights around your overland trip, but most people decide to plan their overland trip around the dates that suit the rest of their holidays!
For more advice, departure dates and prices, email us here and we will advise you on your best plan.
Kruger National Park
The Kruger National Park is South Africa's largest game reserve, about the size of Wales! On the western side are numerous private game reserves and to the East is Mozambique where there are already plans to create a huge park with no boundaries, so that the animals have unrestricted freedom of movement.
The wildlife is still excellent, and the park is very well managed.
There are some excellent Backpacker trips to The Kruger National Park. They will collect you from your hostel in Johannesburg or Pretoria, take you to the park and return you to your hostel 4 days later.
All you need to remember is your camera and sleeping kit! The wildlife will provide the rest.
