Garden Court Sandton City

Unexplored South Africa

Wildlife & Nature Luxury + 2 more + 3 more

Leave the tourist trail behind and experience a different South Africa.

14 days

from £9,350 pp

South Africa Family Holiday

Family Safari + 1 more + 2 more

The ultimate family adventure through South Africa's highlights.

15 days

from £3,495 pp

Kruger, Canyons & Cape

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The perfect South African summer holiday.

14 days

from £3,995 pp

Go Local in South Africa

Safari Wildlife & Nature + 3 more + 3 more

Real people. Real stories. Real South Africa.

19 days

from £6,690 pp

Safari Wildlife & Nature + 1 more + 2 more

Waterfalls to Waterfront

South Africa, Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls, Kruger & Cape Town.

11 days

from £4,950 pp

South Africa Express

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A whistle-stop adventure packed with penguins, wine and wildlife.

10 days

from £3,050 pp

Quirky excursions

View all excursions in South Africa

Soweto tour

For many people a township tour of some sort is an essential part of any trip to South Africa, to try and understand the country’s turbulent recent history. As far as townships go, none is more famous than Johannesburg’s South-West Township, or Soweto as it became known. A tour here will take in several key elements, including the Hector Pieterson Memorial. In 1976 there was a student uprising in Soweto and 12 year old Hector was killed when the police opened fire, one of 23 who died that day. His was the most famous death because the photo of him being carried away after being shot became an iconic image of the anti-apartheid movement. Another famous landmark is the only street in the world to have housed two Nobel Prize winners – Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu; Mandela’s old house is now a museum. There are more light-hearted and uplifting elements to a Soweto tour: a visit to a shebeen (tavern) for a beer with the locals is always entertaining, and then there is the modern symbol of just how far Soweto and South Africa have come – Soccer City, the purpose-built stadium that played host to the opening ceremony and the final of the FIFA World Cup 2010.

Soweto Cycling Tour

Any tour of Soweto is not a township tour in the traditional sense, as Soweto is much more a (relatively affluent) suburb these days than an informal settlement. The houses are permanent, well-constructed and well-tended and there is a thriving community and growing economy here. So your tour of Soweto is much more about the culture and history of the place, and there is plenty of that to see. One of the defining places in the struggle against apartheid, Soweto boasts the only street in the world home to two Nobel Laureates: Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a key part of the cycle tour. You'll also visit the Hector Pieterson Memorial, where you learn about the 1976 Soweto Uprising. But the tour is also forward looking, with stops outside the highly decorative residence of famous opera singer Abigail Khubeka, and looking out over the Orlando Pirates football stadium, site of the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. By cycling rather than taking a car, you interact much more with Soweto and her people, who are always ready to exchange greetings and have a chat. There's also the chance to sample traditional street food, which is much tasty than you might at first imagine! The tour concludes where you began, at Lebo's Backpackers, a Soweto institution where Lebo has been welcoming international visitors since 1999; you bid farewell to your guide and fellow cyclists with a calabash of traditional beer.

Rovos Rail from Pretoria to Cape Town

Your Rovos Rail experience begins amidst the delightful surrounds of the restored Art Deco station Capital Park, in Pretoria. You’ll be drawn by steam train for the first few kilometres before being hooked up to the diesel that will haul you the rest of the way to Cape Town. Leaving Capital Park at 3 pm you can relax and get to know your fellow passengers before dinner. The following day you arrive in Kimberley for your tour. Kimberley is one of the more remote towns right in the heart of South Africa but has played an absolutely crucial role in the nation’s history, for it was here that diamonds were discovered and men like Cecil Rhodes made their fortunes; doubtless the presence of such massive mineral wealth also helped shaped Rhodes’ belief that the area should be governed by the British Empire. The Big Hole is Kimberley’s most striking feature, a vast hole 463 metres wide and originally excavated down to 240 metres by hand, yielding 2,700 kilograms of diamonds in its life as a mine. A visitor centre has grown around the mine and offers a great introduction into this remarkable period of South African history. You have dinner back on board before retiring for the night. As you wake the next morning you are in Matjiesfontein. Matjiesfontein is situated on the edge of the Klein Karoo, just north of the Winelands of the Western Cape. Founded in 1884 and originally a staging post on the Imperial British railway, it soon became known as a health spa – the dry air was reckoned to be the perfect cure for chest complaints. The remoteness of Matjiesfontein is part of its appeal and perhaps also why the 21st and indeed the 20th century appear to have passed her by. A National Monument, it has been preserved exactly as it was in Victorian times. Your tour will take in a ride around the small town in a historic bus, a visit to the museum and a drink at the Lord Milner Hotel. You continue on from Matjiesfontein through the stunning Winelands before arriving in Cape Town at 6 pm.

The Cradle of Humankind

Northwest of Johannesburg lies an area of limestone hills, The Cradle of Humankind, riddled with caves with concealed entrances that over time trapped many animals and early hominid species; the caves proved perfect at not only trapping them, but also preserving their bones as fossils and it’s through these fossils that we’ve been able to trace the development from our common ancestor with the apes through to Homo Sapiens. A huge proportion of all early hominid fossils excavated are in this area, hence its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. The main visitor centre at Maropeng isn’t amazing, but does give a bit of an overview of the development of hominid species, and why this region is so important to that understanding. Of much more interest is Sterkfontein Cave. “Mrs Ples” and “Little Foot”, two of the most famous fossils (along with over a third of all early hominid fossil discoveries to-date), were found here and it’s the site of the longest continuously running fossil excavations in the world. Exploring the caves with a guide is interesting both from an anthropological point of view, and simply because the caverns, pools, stalactites and stalagmites are beautiful to see. The tour takes around an hour, there are quite a few steps to climb and one or two narrow, low pinch-points to squeeze through.

The Apartheid Museum

The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg is recognised as being one of the very best explanations and illustrations of what apartheid was, and what it meant to be classed as anything other than “white” under this system. This official policy, which segregated the population by race and upheld minority white rule, whilst oppressing the non-whites and denying them their basic human rights (including the right to vote), lasted until 1994, and the museum examines the reasons behind the creation of apartheid, how it was imposed and enforced, and the events that ultimately led to the arrival of full democracy and the election of the apartheid regime’s most famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela, as President. It’s a very well thought out museum and tackles a harrowing subject in a sensitive and informative manner.