This tour has been designed to cover some of the lesser known areas that influenced the life of Nelson Mandela. This is not your standard touristy visit to South Africa. Visits are made to the well known landmarks – Robben Island and Soweto, but a larger emphasis is placed on Mandela’s younger years – i.e. the Transkei and Eastern Cape. The tour also traces some of South Africa’s other influential leaders who played a role in the Apartheid Struggle, and is capped off with a visit to the country’s most famous rugby stadium – Ellis Park. The itinerary is 13 days in length – which can be extended or customized further to accommodate the visitor.

Detailed Itinerary - 12 Nights / 13 days

Day 1 | Upon arrival in Cape Town you’ll be met by our staff and transferred to your hotel. Given the late arrival of the flights into Cape Town – this is your night to catch up on some much needed sleep after the long haul flight.

• Overnight on a bed and breakfast basis at The Cullinan or Southern Sun Waterfront.
  

Day 2 | Today you will be taken to Bishops Court, home to the Garden Residence of Archibishop Tutu. Following this, your guide will give you a tour of the Cape Point and Peninsula and return back to your hotel around 5pm.

• Overnight on a bed and breakfast basis at The Cullinan or Southern Sun Waterfront.

Day 3 | Today your guide will meet you at your hotel and take you to the start of your Half Day Walk to Freedom Tour.

Walk to Freedom Tour:
Explore one of the most cosmopolitan and beautiful cities in the world on this Half Day Cape Town Walk to Freedom Tour.

The Bo-Kaap:
A look at the picturesque 'Malay Quarter', a living cultural museum and home to the oldest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere. You will discover the unique culture, lifestyle and personality of the Cape Muslim community and their contribution to South Africa's development on this Cape Town day tour.

District Six:
As a result of the Group Areas Act, 60 000 Capetonian families were forcibly removed from this once vibrant area between 1966 and 1982. The District Six issue remains crucial. You will examine the now desolate area, Zonnebloem, which was District Six and visit the living museum which attempts to represent and recapture District Six in various ways - as a fine spun tapestry of communal life torn apart but not forgotten.

The Townships and Cape Flats:
Seeking racial segregation, apartheid policies disrupted all non-white population groups, distorted both rural and urban development and ensured hopeless overcrowding. Few houses were built. Sprawling satellite camps of seemingly endless 'shanties' (makeshift structures of various materials) - provide little more than a roof and some shelter. As you shall see, squatter settlements are seeking their own solutions as an economic necessity. Against all odds, township life prevails, in all its nuances.As guests of local community workers, you will take a walk through a vibrant black community with all its different social strata. Langa is Cape Town's oldest formal black township. You will have the opportunity to talk to people and try the traditional African sorghum beer and ginger beer at the 'spaza' (a small township shop) or the 'shebeen' (tavern) on your Cape Town day tour. Witness the work in progress as hundreds of squatters, with the help of state grants, are setting about building their own brick homes.

• Overnight on a bed and breakfast basis at The Cullinan or Southern Sun Waterfront.

Day 4 | Today you will get to visit Robben Island. The V&A Waterfront offers a great variety of food, and take-aways may be bought on the ferry to Robben Island. The ferry departs at 14:00pm from the Clock Tower Terminal, V&A Waterfront. (Visitors should be here at 13:30pm.)

Robben Island:
Formerly a political prison and leper colony, before that, this historic landmark was recently established as a museum and national monument. On this leg of your Cape Town day tour you will experience the conditions of incarceration - view Nelson Mandela's maximum-security prison cell (Cell 5) and see the lime quarries. In the one, hard labor was served, in the other prisoners discussed strategy, freedom and the future. Later, they would develop eye problems as a result of the sun's reflection off the lime surfaces. This well-preserved landmark is a monument to the triumph of freedom, dignity and determination over humiliation and oppression. On Robben Island, visitors' movements are restricted by regulation to the bus and the group's guide. Tours of the island are conducted in large buses. On return to the V&A Waterfront you will be escorted back to your hotel, where your Cape Town day tour will come to an end.

• Overnight on a bed and breakfast basis at The Cullinan or Southern Sun Waterfront.

Day 5 | Transfer to the airport for your flight to East London. Upon arrival be transferred to the Blue Lagoon Hotel. The late afternoon is spent relaxing and is at your own leisure.

• Overnight Blue Lagoon Hotel on a bed and breakfast basis.

Day 6 | You will be picked up from your hotel after breakfast and we drive to the little town of Alice to visit Fort Hare University, alma mater of Mandela and many other African liberation leaders, including Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe and Julius Nyrere. The Fort Hare library houses the fascinating Liberation Archives and the De Beers Art Gallery has the largest collection of African art in southern Africa. On the way to Fort Hare we stop at Steve Biko's Garden of Remembrance in King Williams Town. In the late afternoon we drive back to East London to overnight at the Blue Lagoon Hotel.

• Overnight Blue Lagoon Hotel on a bed and breakfast basis

Day 7 | You will be picked up from your hotel after breakfast for the drive to the former Transkei homeland capital of Mthatha. En route we stop at Qunu, to visit Nelson Mandela's old home, and walk to the family grave. From Qunu we drive to the youth centre and see the site of Nelson Mandela's first school, where he was given the name Nelson. From the youth centre we will drive to Mthatha to visit the main Nelson Mandela National Museum.

• Overnight near Umtata on a bed and breakfast basis.

Day 8 | Transfer from Umtata Hotel to Eastern Cape Game Reserve on a fully inclusive basis. This is safari time – an important part of anyone’s visit to South Africa. Tourism is the ‘new gold’ of the SA economy. During the years of Apartheid, and the effect international sanctions that were imposed on South Africa – SA was not a top tourist destination. The safari experience that is now offered to the international visitor is the main reason people flock to the country.

• Overnight at Shamwari Game Reserve in Eastern Cape Game Reserve on a fully inclusive basis, including two game drives daily, all meals and selected drinks.

Day 9 | Full day on Safari.

• Overnight at Shamwari Game Reserve in Eastern Cape Game Reserve on a fully inclusive basis, including two game drives daily, all meals and selected drinks.

Day 10 | Today you'll transfer to PLZ Airport from your safari lodge. Board your flight to Johannesburg. Upon arrival, transfer from JNB Airport to Sandton.

• Overnight Southern Sun Grayson or Sandton Sun on a bed and breakfast basis.

Day 11 | Today you’ll be picked up for a Full Day Rise to Freedom tour. This tour comprises of a Soweto Township tour and a visit to the Apartheid Museum.

Rise to Freedom Tour:
Combine a Three Hour Sightseeing Tour of Soweto with an Afternoon Tour to the Apartheid Museum to get a real insight into South Africa's turbulent past. You will visit important monuments of South Africa's history, such as Freedom Square and Desmond Tutu's home, as you learn the history and segregation which once tore the country apart.

Soweto Tour:
You will be picked up at your hotel and driven through to Soweto (South Western Township). This sprawling metropolis of more than 3.5 million people on the outskirts of Johannesburg is synonymous with South Africa's turbulent past and its hopes for the future. Soweto is a multi-cultural composite of South Africa today. Peek into the past - hostels, Freedom Square, the struggle for liberty. Tread the paths to greatness by Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Visit the Mandela Museum. Stand on the only road in the world, which carries the honor of two recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. See Desmond Tutu's home. Your Soweto Tour includes a full view of Soweto from the vicinity of Baragwanath Hospital, visits to African merchants of traditional medicines, a typical four-roomed dwelling, an informal settlement, a creche, an old-age home, affluent suburbs and a typical Shebeen (tavern). See Winnie Mandela's house and the Hector Peterson Memorial.

Apartheid Museum:
Embark on a discovery of the racial segregation experienced by millions of South Africans a mere decade ago. On entering the building you are racially classified and you see this segregation in all forms of life. There are excellent displays on the Soweto up-rising, ANC in exile, petty apartheid, solitary confinement, anti-apartheid movements abroad and sporting boycotts. The displays culminate in the birth of a new democratic country, the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President and witness one of the most progressive constitutions in the world.

• Overnight Southern Sun Grayson or Sandton Sun on a bed and breakfast basis.

Day 12 | Visit the Ellis Park Rugby Stadium – and depending on the date attend a rugby match in the late afternoon or evening.

• Overnight Southern Sun Grayson or Sandton Sun on a bed and breakfast basis.

Day 13 | Today you’ll be transferred back to the JNB airport for your connecting flights home.

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Pricing and Hotel Options:

The Cullinan and Southern Sun Grayston

The Southern Sun Waterfront and Southern Sun Grayston

This includes:

• Meet and Greet at Cape Town International Airport
• Private Road Transfer from Cape Town International Airport to Hotel
• 5 Nights accommodation in Cape Town in a Standard Double Room including breakfast
• Full Day Private Peninsula Day Tour with Private Vehicle and Guide. Visit to Bishops Court, entrance fees to Cape Point, Boulders, Kirstenbosch, Seal Island Cruise is included - Lunch is for own account
• Full Day Private Walk to Freedom Tour including Private Guide and Private vehicle: Entrances fees to District Six included, Lunch for own account
• Ferry to Robben Island
• Private Road Transfer from Hotel to Cape Town International Airport
• Private Road Transfer from East London Airport to Hotel
• 3 Nights accommodation at the Blue Lagoon Hotel in a Standard Room including breakfast
• Full Day Tour of Pride of Amathole Heritage Tour – Lunch and Entrance fees included
• Full Day Tour of Nelson Mandela Freedom Trail – Lunch and Entrance fees inlcuded
• Road Transfer from East London to Shamwari
• 2 Nights accommodation at the Riverdene Lodge on a Fully Inclusive basis
• Road Transfer from Shamwari to Port Elizabeth Airport
• Road Transfer from Johannesburg Airport to your Johannesburg Hotel
• 3 Nights accommodation in Johannesburg in a Standard Room including breakfast
• Full Day Private Soweto Tour - Entrance fees included to Mandela Museum, Hector Pieterson Museum, Apartheid Museum, Lunch for own account
• Half Day Private Tour to Ellis Park Stadium: Private Guide and Vehicle included, Entrance fee Included
• Road Transfer from your hotel to Johannesburg Airport.