Africa Antiqua Expeditions.

 

 

Day 1: Arrival  Sunday 1st February 2009

                                               

 

Participants arrive at Johannesburg International Airport and transfer to  Arbez Home Lodge.

 

Hotel: Arbez Home Lodge

 

 

Day 2:  Cradle of Mankind Monday 2nd February 2009

 

 

Day visit to the Cradle of Mankind near Krugersdorp north of Johannesburg. This area has produced something like two-fifths of the worlds hominid fossil discoveries, with more than 500 ancient man fossils found, and has perhaps become the world’s most important palaeontological site.

 

The morning will be spent at an ongoing excavation of an early man site where we will be guided by a palaeontologist.

 

Lunch will be on site. Refreshments also provided throughout the day.

 

The afternoon will be spent on a guided tour of the world-renowned Sterkfontein Cave.

 

Hotel: Arbez Home Lodge

 

 

Day 3:  Bakoni Molapa Museum; The Great North  Tuesday 3^rd February 2009

 

 

We leave Gauteng and travel north. Arriving at the bushveld city of Polokwane-Pietersburg we will visit the Bakoni Molapa Museum. This cultural village will provide us with the background, tribal history, and cultural transformations of the Bakone people.

 

Lunch is a picnic lunch.

 

After lunch we continue north to our lodge in Gazunkulu.

 

Hotel: Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge

 

Day 4: Mapungubwe; Limpopo Rock Art  Wednesday 4^th  February 2009

 

 

Drive north to Mapungubwe World Heritage Site near the Botswana and Zimbabwe borders with South Africa.

 

This initial city state and trading centre is set spectacularly on top of a hill with vistas of all three countries, within the surrounding nature reserve and World Heritage Centre comprises 28, 000 hectres.

 

Lunch is a picnic in the bushveld

 

Having explored Mapungubwe ruins to our satisfaction, time permitting we will visit rock art in the area.

 

During the entire day we will have numerous superb game-viewing opportunities.

 

Note: The drive from our lodge to Mapungubwe is a long, and a hot one. We ask that our guests prepare themselves for a long and tiring, but worthwhile day to see this important site. If you feel tired we suggest that you might consider spending this day relaxing at our lovely lodge.

 

Hotel: Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge

  

 

Day 5:  Tomba-la-Ndou; Andover Thursday 5th February 2009

 

 

Today we travel to the Soutpansberg Mountain Range north of Makhado-Louis Trichardt. This is a wild frontier south of the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders with South Africa.

 

We walk through the bushveld to a sacred boulder known in Venda as Tomba-la-Ndou. Here local groups leave offerings at the foot of the boulder to Bushman spirits who are believed to have painted the sacred elephant on the rock face.

 

Lunch will be a picnic in the mountains.

 

During the course of the afternoon we visit a spectacular Bantu-speakers rock art site.

 

We return to our lodge for a Sundowner Cruise on our doorstep lake.

 

Hotel: Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge

 

 

Day 6:  Sand River Khoi Rock Paintings  Friday 6^th  February 2009

 

 

Today we travel even closer to the Zimbabwe border to hike through the wildnerness to the Sand River Khoi Rock Art Site.

 

Note:  This is a long and hot walk. Bring a hat, water, long-sleeved clothing.  There are lots of shrubs and trees with thorns.

 

Lunch will be a picnic in the wilderness.

 

Hotel: Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge

 

 

Day 7:  Dzata; Venda Myths and Legends Route  Saturday 7^th February 2009

 

 

Today we set off for Vendaland. Among the fascinating places we will visit today are the ancient Iron Age, and mystical Dzata Ruins, of a stone-walled capital, and home to the Venda Kings. Also included are sacred Lake Fundudzi where the ancestors are believed to take the form of a white crocodile and where maidens were previously sacrificed to the crocodile;  the holy Venda Forests where spirits are said to lurk, and which functions as a tribal burial ground for the Venda chiefs; and the Phiphidi Falls in which water spirits are said to live.

 

Lunch will be a picnic in Vendaland

  

Hotel: Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge

 

 

Da7 8:  Punda Maria; Sunset Drive  Sunday 8^th February 2009  

 

 

Kruger Park.  We enter through the northern  Punda Maria Gate close to the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders with South Africa.

 

Punda Maria Camp is one of the oldest camps in the Kruger Park.

 

Lunch: Punda Maria Camp (Own Account)

 

The remainder of the day is ours to relax in preparation for the open-vehicle Sunset Game Drive.

 

Camp: Punda Maria D/B

 

 

 

Day 9:  Tula Mela; Shingwedzi  Monday 9^th February 2009

 

 

Breakfast Punda Maria Camp (Own Account)

 

This morning we embark upon a tour deep into the bushveld to the world-famous gold-bearing ruins of the Iron Age City State of Tula Mela. Here, leaving the safety of our vehicles, we will be escorted by two armed guards, through the wilderness to the top of the hill upon which Tula Mela  lies hidden. Below us, in the river we clearly hear the deep ground-shivering rumbles of the elephant herd bathing.  We return to Punda Maria Camp for lunch (Own Account) before leaving for our overnight destination, the very comfortable Shingwedi Camp.

 

En route we will stop briefly at Bambalala Picnic Spot for a quick refreshment break.

 

Camp: Shingwedzi Camp D/B

 

 

 

 

Day 10: Game Drive to Olifants Camp; Astronomy Evening  Tuesday 10^th February 2009

 

 

We leave Shingwedzi immediately after breakfast this morning (Own Account) for an extended game drive to the beautiful Olifants Camp set directly upon the meandering Olifants River (Elephants River).

 

We will stop at Mopani Camp for a refreshment break.

 

Lunch will be at Letaba Camp (Own Account)

 

Time permitting, along route we will stop at Red Rocks viewpoint site. Here there are wonderful views over the river running through a deep-cut valley. Look out for the resident leopard.

 

Tonight we will be treated to a special astronomy evening under the open skies of the deep African Bushveld, and close to the Olifants River where hippos and frogs will provide an evening chorus for our enjoyment.

 

Camp: Olifants Camp

 

     

Day 11: Olifants Camp to Berg-en-Dal Game Drive  Wednesday 11^th February 2009

 

 

Full Breakfast at Olifants Camp.

 

Game Drive southwards from Olifants Camp to Berg-en-Dal in the southern reaches of the Kruger Park.

 

Along route we stop at the spacious Satara Camp  for a refreshment break, having approached this camp along the Old Main dirt road.

 

Time permitting, we could stop at the Baobab Tree viewing spot.

 

Lunch is likely to be at the delightful Tshokwane Picnic Spot (Own Account) where we are sure to be entertained by cheeky glossy starlings.

 

Further along we come across an extensive outcrop of enormous boulders, and on one of these is a viewing area of the Kruger Tablets Memorials.

 

If we have not already eaten then we will stop at the bustling Skukuza Camp for lunch (Own Account).

 

Camp: Berg-en-Dal

 

 

Day 12:   Berg-en-Dal Bushman Rock Art ; Traditional Craft Outlet; Gauteng  Thursday 12^th February 2009

 

 

We breakfast early (Own Account) in order to take part in a game walk to a rock art site located in the vicinity of the Berg-en-Dal Camp. We will be accompanied by two armed guards as this is a densely populated game area with many of the large predators among the animal species found here.

 

We leave shortly after this for the bright lights of Gauteng.

 

We leave Kruger through the Malelane Gate.

 

Lunch will be en route (Own Account)

 

We stop at the Sudwala Caves Craft Village, and a little later on Something-out-of-Nothing, an Ndebele Craft Outlet. If time permits we may also stop at other craft outlets such as Little Elephant near Middelberg and Sizakele Craft Centre at Waterval Boven.

 

Hotel: Arbez Home Lodge

 

 

Day 13:  Bosworth Rock Engraving Site  Friday 13^th February 2009

 

 

Bosworth Rock Engraving Site near Klerksdorp. This site is situated on a private farm in the open highveld grasslands. It includes from beautiful fineline engravings of wild animals that used to roam the area. These engravings were most probably made by San hunter-gatherers, or their immediate predecessors.

 

Lunch will be a picnic at the rock art site.

 

Lodge: Arbez Home Lodge

               

 

Day 14:  Redan Rock Art Site; Clarens  Saturday 14^th February 2009

 

 

We travel along the N3 south-east. Along the way we detour at Redan Rock Engraving Site. This extensive sandstone outcrop has rocks engraved by both Stone Age Khoi and Bushmen, with both animal and abstract motifs. There are about 300 motifs at this particular site.

 

Lunch will be at Riviera on Vaal  (Own Account)

 

Hotel: Maluti Mountain Lodge

 

 

 

 

 

Day 15:  Clarens; Fertility Cave  Sunday 15^th February 2009

 

This morning will be spent wandering about the charming mountain village of Clarens. Here we may visit the numerous craft and art outlets, and relax in the many coffee shops and restaurants that this village has to offer.

 

Lunch will be at a coffee shop or restaurant of your own choice (Own Account)

 

After lunch we will be taken on an exciting excursion into a time past. Some distance from Clarens is an immense sandstone overhang used for ancestral veneration by African traditional healers who actually live in the cave, known locally as Fertility Cave.

 

Hotel: Maluti Mountain Lodge D/B/B

 

Clarens – Named after the town in Switzerland where President Paul Kruger died  (Kruger Park named after him).  During the Basuto War of 1865 Kruger arrived in this valley as a young man, and with a group of commandos.  Partly due to his desire to impress his superiors, and partly driven by ambition he demanded to have a secretary to record his diary. Members of the commando were so impressed with his style and dignity that after this short war he was promoted, and later elected, to become the president of the Old South African Republic – also referred to as the Old Transvaal Republic 

 

 

Day  16:  Dinosaur Excursion  Monday 16^th February 2009

 

 

We will be taken on a tour of early Jurassic period fossil sites and the site of the oldest fossil eggs in the world by a palaeontologist, within the Golden Gate National Park. In a layer pre-dating the dinosaur era we will see mammal-like reptiles, some of which closely resemble the skeletal structure of dogs and even fulfilled the same ecological function as hyenas and wild dogs do today.

 

Lunch in Clarens town (Own Account)

 

Golden Gate Park – Between two mountain ranges, the Maluti and the Rooiberge (Red Mountains) are these dramatic sandstone mountains.  In the late afternoon, but most especially just before sunset, the entire region transforms into a breathtaking kaleidoscope of colour, It is also one of the most prolific sites for dinosaur fossils in the world.

 

Hotel: Brandwag Golden Gate Resort D/B/B

 

 

Day 17:   Basuthu Cultural Village; Giant’s Castle  Tuesday 17^th February 2009

 

 

We wake early for a morning walk into the mountains. After our walk we will have breakfast at our hotel.

 

Our route today will take us southwards along the edges of the Drakensberg Mountain Range.

 

En route we stop at the Basotho Cultural Village, a dynamic cultural village constructed to present traditional high-veld Sotho way of life. It includes the domestic structures of a highveld Sotho village and shows how Sotho culture has changed throughout the years and into the present day.

 

Lunch  will be at a restaurant en route at Tokozisa Complex  (Own Account)

 

During the course of the afternoon we arrive at Giant’s Castle Game Reserve.  The evening will be spent in Giant’s Castle Camp surrounded by the majestic splendour of the Drakensberg Mountains and the ancient haunt of the Stone Age Bushmen.

 

 

Hotel: Giant’s Castle Main Camp D/B/B

 

 

Day 18:  Giant’s Castle Main Caves   Wednesday 18^th February 2009

 

 

 

In the early morning we will take the breathtaking walk up to one of the best-researched rock art sites in South Africa, Main Caves where we will be able to see Bushman rock art. The remainder of the morning will be spent visiting other lesser known rock art in the area.

 

Lunch will be in Giant’s Castle Restaurant (Own Account)

 

The afternoon is free.

                            

Hotel: Giant’s Castle Main Camp D/B/B      

                           

Day 19:  Kamberg Game Pass Shelter  Thursday 19^th February 2009

 

 

We drive further south along the fringes of the Drakensberg Range and even deeper south into the Central Drakensberg where we will hike to Bushman Rock Paintings at Game Pass Shelter in the Kamberg Nature Reserve of the Central KwaZulu Natal Drakensberg.

 

Lunch at the camp coffee shop (Own Account)

 

Hotel: Rawdens Hotel D/B/B

 

 

Day 20: Homeward Bound  Friday 20^th February 2009

 

 

Today we say our goodbyes as respective guests leave from Durban Airport to catch their international connections at Johannesburg International Airport.

 

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