Archaeology
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Date, Rates & Hotels







Archaeology Tour: Itinerary
DAY 1 – CAPE TOWN
On arrival at Cape Town airport you’ll be met and transferred to your hotel, where you can relax and unwind before gathering for a welcome drink followed by scene-setting dinner with select guests. Cape Town for 4 nights
DAY 2 – CAPE TOWN / CAPE PENINSULA
Get your bearings by summiting Table Mountain by way of cable car, for an eagle’s eye view of the city and the Waterfront. Then travel south via Chapman’s Peak to Cape Point, driving along the Atlantic coastline’s ruggedly spectacular spine, to stand at the tip of the African continent and legendary meeting point of two oceans.
Celebrated for its astounding array of indigenous flora, wildlife and fascinating marine diversity, the National Park offers a rich cultural heritage stretching over millennia, with relics of significant prehistory.
Head back via the Indian Ocean, through the naval bastion of Simon’s Town, and picturesque fishing harbour of Kalk Bay, enjoying lunch-on-the-rocks here. A relaxed supper awaits your return.
DAY 3 – CAPE TOWN / HEART OF THE CITY
Spend the morning being shown over scientifically important specimens at the Iziko South African Museum located in the heart of the historic Company’s Garden, where you also lunch.
In the afternoon, be dropped off at the V&A Waterfront for independent exploration of this maritime playground.
The evening is open, with an array of dining choices on offer, and a shuttle service to the Waterfront at hand.
DAY 4 – CAPE TOWN / THE WINELANDS
The Winelands are a mere 50-minutes drive away. At the country’s premier wine estate stroll around spacious grounds and gracious manor house, before driving through Stellenbosch, a tree-lined university town in the heart of the Winelands.
On another historic estate, track 8,000 years of colonialism, slavery and apartheid to the dawn of democracy. Lastly wander around beguiling gardens based on the Dutch East India Company’s layout of its city garden that replenished passing ships with fresh food from 1652 for centuries.
In the evening, enjoy dinner together at a central hotspot.
DAY 5 – THE WEST COAST / LANGEBAAN
Leave Cape Town, heading for !Khwa ttu, a unique destination which introduces you to the descendants of the first indigenous people of Southern Africa. Hear from San/Bushmen about their traditional skills, languages, customs and how they survived until the arrival of the colonisers.
In the afternoon, go back 5-million years to where the greatest diversity of fossils were left in one place, at a landmark excavation site that has revealed significant artefacts. Hear where “Eve’s” footprints were deposited some 117,000 years ago on the magnificent lagoon shoreline.
Spend the night in Langebaan, at a homestead overlooking the lagoon, a Ramsar site famous for its wetland birds, dining on traditional West Coast fare.
DAY 6 – THE CEDARBERG
Continue north, snaking through the craggy Cedarberg mountains, to reach a luxury wilderness reserve in time for a refreshing high tea before the first of your open air drives in the afternoon.
Bushmans Kloof is a treasure trove of more than 130 San/Bushmen rock art sites, a wildlife & environment award-winner and stylish refuge to boot, for 2 nights.
DAY 7 – THE CEDARBERG
The day is yours, with morning and afternoon drives/guided rock art excursions, interspersed with a choice of outdoor activities to refresh the senses or simply to relax and savour the tranquillity.
Local ingredients such as rooibos are showcased and gourmet dinners paired with wines from their acclaimed cellar.
DAY 8 – JOHANNESBURG
After your last morning drive and reviving brunch, transfer to Cape Town airport for a 2-hour flight flight to “Joburg, the commercial capital, a city of contrasts and contradictions … whose mineral-rich underground deposits fuelled its 1880’s boom and bloom”- Wallpaper.
In Johannesburg for 3 nights, where welcoming staff are on hand to whip up a delicious meal.
DAY 9 – – JOHANNESBURG CITY & THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND
Begin your journey of discovery at the Origins Centre that uncovers where and when things began.
Move throught the development of art, symbolism and technology to rock art traditions – the world’s oldest continuous art form, and delve into ancient San beliefs and rituals.
Some 45 minutes north-west of Joburg, lies the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site of almost 200 square miles of rural landscape. The crown jewels of the palaeo world, the Taung child, Mrs Ples & Little Foot were found here. Dig deep into the past immersively, on guided underground cave walk.
In the late afternoon be dropped off at The Cradle Boutique Hotel for 2 nights, having dinner on its expansive deck overlooking the reserve.
Its Malapa Museum surfaces discoveries by Prof. Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand and team, of the Homo Naledi fossil inside the Rising Star Cave dating to the Middle Pleistocene 335 – 236,000 years ago.
DAY 10 – THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND
Spend the morning on The ‘Human Origins’ tour, a privately guided excursion in an open-drive vehicle that takes you to two famous fossil dig sites in the heart of the Cradle.
Spend the early afternoon on a petroglyph excursion among rock engravings in reputedly the oldest mountain range on earth, the Magaliesburg.
Over a festive farewell dinner, celebrate your last night under African skies, where 3.5 million years of human activity have taken place, and weave together all these strands of time while pondering the saying attributed to Pliny some 1,800 years ago: Out of Africa ~ Always Something New.
DAY 11 – JOHANNESBURG
Following a leisurely breakfast, you’ll be transferred to the airport to suit your home bound flight or optional onward safari.