Cape Town & the Garden Route

Travel along one of the most dramatic coastlines in the world

This journey brings us from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town following the famous Garden Route. Along the way, we see fantastic wildlife, beautiful beaches, rainforests, deep canyons, rolling hills, endless vineyards, quaint towns, vibrant cities and one of the most spectacular coastlines on the planet. In season (August to November), this is also the best place on Earth to watch whales from the shoreline.

Sustainable Travel

We work hard to create trips that improve life for the people and places we visit and look after the planet we explore. To read more about our sustainable travel ethos and practice, click here, and to find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation click here.

People

How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The use of a local guide means our customers will be well informed about local traditions, and cultural-social sensitivities.
• This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally owned hotels, vineyards and restaurants, the emphasis on eating locally produced food and support of other local enterprise.
• In Cape Town, there is the option to visit a local shebeen, which originally meant an illegal drinking den, and now refers to a legal tavern as part of a township tour. Our visit here really gives an insight into the life of many South Africans that a lot of tourists don’t get to experience. Small local businesses really benefit from this type of tour as we pay for a homecooked, typically South African meal. Travellers can also buy souvenirs here, which further supports this establishment.

Places

How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• Read about our commitment to nature protection and restoration here, including our rewilding commitment for every customer who travels.
• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
• We do several wildlife-oriented activities, such as game drives in Addo Elephant National Park and exploring the waterfalls and forests of Tsitsikamma National Park.
• Our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices regarding working animals and wildlife viewing. Our animal welfare policy can be found here.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for reusable bottles.
• Our local partners support the Save Our Sausage Trees initiative in Botswana, which aims to address the issue of depleting forests in the area. The mokoro is a canoe used by the people of the Okavango Delta and it is crafted traditionally out of a single, mature kigelia Africana tree (or sausage tree). Although increased tourism has had some obvious benefits to the area, this has also brought a higher demand for mokoro boats and therefore more trees are being cut down. As a wooden mokoro only lasts about five years, there are hundreds of these trees being felled per year and not enough to sustain this. We have consulted with the Okovango community, and we have agreed to pay half the price of a fibreglass mokoro if a poler wants to purchase the other half, in order to save the trees.

Planet

How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

• Read about our climate action here, including our carbon reduction and compensation commitments.
• By favouring smaller, locally run hotels and guesthouses we have a much smaller impact on the surrounding environments.
• We encourage guests to try local specialities such as ostrich sausages, traditional pap (maize and water) and snoek fishcakes. As these foods are all sourced locally, it means there will be a reduction in food miles.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

Extra steps you could take to minimise your impact when travelling.

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you.
• Plastic waste reduction: Please bring your own reusable water bottle on this trip; filtered water will be provided where tap water is not drinkable.

Visa

South Africa

Travellers from the UK, US and most (though not all) EU states normally do not need a visa to enter South Africa. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/africa/south-africa
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/south-africa
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/south-africa/entry-requirements
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/SouthAfrica.html

Please note, all travellers to South Africa who require a visa need at least two consecutive blank pages in their passport (ie a left- and right-hand page) to enable an entry visa to be issued.

Additionally, any child under 18 travelling to South Africa needs to be in possession of an unabridged birth certificate with the names of both parents. If a child under 18 is only travelling with one parent, they will also have to have an affidavit, no less than three months old, from the absent parent confirming the child can travel with the other parent; a court order granting full legal guardianship of the child; or a death certificate of the deceased parent.

Vaccination

South Africa

There are no required vaccinations. However, recommended vaccinations include hepatitis A, tetanus, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis B, rabies and tuberculosis. You will also need a yellow fever vaccination certificate if you're arriving from a country with risk of yellow fever transmission or transiting for more than 12 hours through a country with risk of yellow fever transmission. Please confirm with your doctor or travel clinic.

Malaria prophylaxis is essential if travelling in the greater Kruger area; seek advice from your doctor or travel clinic about which tablets to take. The rest of South Africa, including the Garden Route, has a low risk of malaria.

Dengue fever, a tropical viral disease spread by daytime biting mosquitoes, is also a known risk in places visited. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available, so we recommend taking the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.

Eating and Drinking

All breakfasts included.

The food you’ll encounter on this trip is very similar to the kind of food you’ll be used to at home. There may be the opportunity to try meats such as ostrich, kudu or eland. Vegetarians and vegans can be well catered for on this trip – please inform us before departure of any special dietary requests so our local team can be well prepared.

The provided water is safe, clean drinking water, normally from boreholes. It is not bottled water, however. If you would rather have bottled water then this will be at your expense, though we would encourage you to make use of the safe drinking water provided as this helps diminish plastic consumption.

Weather

Summer is from October to April and the average daytime temperature is 25C-30C (77F-86F). The average nighttime temperature is 10C-20C (50F-68F). The winter months are from May to September and average temperatures are colder. In general, however, the Cape Town climate is quite mild. Summer is typically dry and warm, but the southeasterly wind can blow up to 43mph (70kph) at least a few times a month. This helps to cool things, but can be a little unpleasant if one is walking in exposed areas. Most of the rainfall is in the winter but it is frontal rain off the Atlantic. Therefore, it can rain solidly for two days, and in between there will be warm, sunny days. It is fairly common to experience tabletop clouds on the higher mountains. Our programme is flexible enough to accommodate any major changes in weather, and still make it enjoyable.

Is this trip for you?

We have graded this trip as Activity Level 1 (Leisurely) as we base ourselves in comfortable accommodation and there are no strenuous activities. This is primarily a vehicle-based adventure, although we can take optional walks in Tsitsikamma National Park and Cape Point Nature Reserve.

At the latter, we walk along good paths to the lighthouse and along the boardwalk. Both walks will take about two hours. The Tsitsikamma walk to the Storms River mouth is along a boardwalk and is about one-hour long. There are many optional walks in the park that are a little longer and more strenuous. Travelling from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town (rather than doing a round trip) allows us to visit more places at a more leisurely pace with less driving and no need to backtrack.

Legal Note: All group members joining this tour will be asked to sign an indemnity form at the start of the holiday. It’s a requirement of the South African Tourism Service Association, of which our local supplier is a member. As a client of Exodus Travels Ltd, your rights under the Package Travel Regulations (1992) are unaffected, and Exodus remains liable for the actions of our sub-contractors.

Following a review of all our trips we have categorised this trip as not suitable for full wheelchair users, but it may be suitable for other persons of reduced mobility. Please contact customer services to discuss the trip and your personal condition.