Journey Within: South Africa
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The Garden Route
We've designed this trip for epicureans! From Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, we'll stimulate all 5 senses. In Cape Town, a cable car ride up Table Mountain will take your breath away as you take in the panoramic views. In the Franschhoek and Stellenbosch region, you'll taste some of South Africa's finest tannins, while your nose will take in all the aromas, from the most classic to the most original, emanating from South African cuisine. In the Sanbona Game Reserve, you'll be on the lookout for the slightest rustle in the bush, betraying the presence of a lion or one of its fellow creatures! Finally, heading east, here are the long beaches of Cape St Francis, where you'll enjoy taking a dip and letting yourself be touched by the gentle caresses of the Indian Ocean. You'll end your journey at the must-see Addo Elephant Park, a veritable elephant sanctuary.
In the Journey Within episode, Marilia Moreno explores South Africa's Garden Route through plant medicine, beauty in nature and a quiet connection with animals. This self-drive itinerary follows the same coastline and lets those themes shape the stops. The route moves from vineyards and botanical gardens to game reserves and Indian Ocean beaches. The link below opens the full trip, and every part of it can be customized.
Wine Country First
Cape Town sets the tone before you ever get behind the wheel. You can ride the Table Mountain cable car, spend a full day touring the Cape Peninsula, walk through Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which fits the episode's plant thread, and taste your way through South African cuisine on a guided tour.
Then the road turns inland to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. A full-day wine route links the historic estates, so the tastings come with a look at the valleys that produce them. Nights at the Winchester in Cape Town, the Oude Werf in Stellenbosch and Akademie Street in Franschhoek keep the pace unhurried.
Vineyards in the Franschhoek valley, on the full-day wine route and tastings.
The Karoo and Its Game
Past the vineyards, the landscape opens up. At Sanbona Game Reserve, a half-day 4x4 drive crosses the folded mountains of the Little Karoo, and you spend the night at Tilney Manor, inside the reserve. A short drive away, Oudtshoorn offers a 90-minute ostrich safari that shows how a working Karoo farm runs, with a stay at the Rosenhof Country House. From there, the road heads back toward the sea.
Ocean, Whales and Elephants
The coast brings a change of pace. At Plettenberg Bay, the two-hour Robberg trail follows a rocky peninsula and gives you a morning on foot after the days of driving. Farther along at Cape St Francis, you can try sandboarding or head out on a whale-watching cruise in St Francis Bay.
Addo Elephant Park, the full-day safari that closes the trip.
The route ends with a full-day safari in Addo Elephant Park, seven hours among the herds with an English-speaking guide.
Wine tastings, ostriches, whales and elephants all sit on one route, and the itinerary books as a single trip through the link below. Trade a winelands night for an extra day at the coast, or keep it as it is. Click through and shape it into your own.
The Garden Route
We've designed this trip for epicureans! From Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, we'll stimulate all 5 senses. In Cape Town, a cable car ride up Table Mountain will take your breath away as you take in the panoramic views. In the Franschhoek and Stellenbosch region, you'll taste some of South Africa's finest tannins, while your nose will take in all the aromas, from the most classic to the most original, emanating from South African cuisine. In the Sanbona Game Reserve, you'll be on the lookout for the slightest rustle in the bush, betraying the presence of a lion or one of its fellow creatures! Finally, heading east, here are the long beaches of Cape St Francis, where you'll enjoy taking a dip and letting yourself be touched by the gentle caresses of the Indian Ocean. You'll end your journey at the must-see Addo Elephant Park, a veritable elephant sanctuary.
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