African Tribal Heritage Tours

Tour TH2: Swaziland / KwaZulu-Natal & Free State

A sixteen-day, highly focused heritage theme tour with the following highlights: Relive the Afrikaner heritage in Pretoria. Experience the indigenous culture mix of Johannesburg and Soweto. Rural Contact and Urban Acquaintance-visits to Swaziland; St Lucia Wetland Park, Hluhluwe / Umfolozi Game Reserve; A travel of Shaka's Way to Durban, visit to Pietermaritzburg and a Zulu Cultural Village; uKhahlambu Drakensberg Park; visits to the scenic Golden Gate, a Basotho Cultural Village and the Afrikaner city of Bloemfontein. Fly home from there via the Johannesburg International Airport - or join a charter flight to Port Elizabeth and continue from there onto our Eastern & Western Cape Module.

Day 1: Pretoria and an Introduction

Arrive at Johannesburg International Airport in the morning. You are met in person by your hosts and transferred to your guesthouse in the Capital of Pretoria - capital city of the old Dutch and Afrikaans cultures. After some refreshments and a short information session, we enjoy lunch and some leisure time. Late afternoon we are treated to a visual introductory lecture of the indigenous peoples of South Africa by one of the country's leading ethnological experts, Dr Hanneke du Preez. This presentation will provide us with the background required to begin to understand this multi-cultured, Rainbow Nation.

Day 2: The Capital, Pretoria

Today we experience the Afrikaner and indigenous heritage in and around this charming capital city. We visit Paul Kruger House Museum, view the old Afrikaner architecture around Church Square and see the majestic Union Buildings Parliamentary building overlooking the city. In the afternoon we view the impressive architecture and sculptured panels of the Voortrekker Monument, portraying stories around the Great Trek of the Afrikaners to the north in the early 1800's. Before returning to our guesthouse we visit a shopping mall - providing our first opportunity for a Safari Kit-out!

Day 3: The Unique Culture of Soweto

A visit to South Africa is not complete without experiencing the vibrant township life. We visit Soweto, the expansive and contrasting black city-within-a-city and learn about day-to-day black city life. We first visit important monuments of the Apartheid struggle period, such as the Apartheid Museum and the fascinating Hector Peterson museum, depicting scenes from the student uprising of 1976 and the eventual transition to democracy in South Africa. We also pass Nelson Mandela's and Winnie Mandela's (separate) houses and later visit some of the local residents, to see and hear how many thousands of South Africans live and make ends meet. We enjoy a leisurely lunch and local beers in the friendly and social atmosphere of a "shebeen" before returning to Pretoria.

Day 4: Mpumalanga Scenery, Arts & Crafts

.Early departure. We follow rolling hills and grassland along the N4 east to Dullstroom. The Panoramic Route takes us through the Drakensberg mountain range through Sabie and Graskop. We admire the natural wonders of the Blyde River Canyon and view the Pinnacle, God's Window, The Potholes, Blyde River Nature Reserve and the Mac-Mac Falls. We return to Graskop, where we visit an African silk weaving cottage industry and one of the best places in South Africa to view and buy arts & crafts. Here we spend the night in a small country hotel.

Day 5: Swaziland, Maguga and first Rural Contact

We depart from Graskop, entering the Kingdom of Swaziland at Jeppe's Reef, then descending from the Nkhangala ("treeless country") towards Hlanzeni ("place of trees"). There we make contact with a typical Swazi rural community at Maguga dam (off the beaten track, yet accessible by tarred road). We enjoy traditional lunch with a Swazi family, then leave for Mbabane. late afternoon we book into our country hotel for two evenings.

Day 6: Mbabane and Urban Acquaintance

Today we visit selected stalls of Swazi artefacts, pottery, carvings, mats and beadwork in Mbabane and environs. We visit the Royal kraal of Lobamba, and join privileged spectators of the Incwala and reed dance ceremonies (in season). In the evening we enjoy a local dinner with Abraham Dlamini, learn firsthand about Sobhuza (the nation builder), Swazi History, about the Nguni and Mswazi heritages and about Swazi battles of survival against the Zulu.

Day 7: Hluhluwe / Umfolozi Game Reserve

After a leisurely breakfast, we continue our journey into the heart of Zulu country. We enter this malaria-free Big Five reserve and enjoy a game drive against the backdrop its unique topography. The Reserve is especially famous for its large populations of the impressive black and white rhinos. This evening we go on an exciting night drive in open vehicles to view some of the more elusive of the Big Five and other shy, nocturnal animals.

Day 8: The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park World Heritage Site

After breakfast we venture southward into the Zulu territory of KwaZulu Natal. We visit a Zulu cultural village and view their characteristic and masterfully-constructed beehive huts. Thereafter we continue on to the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. 60 Million years ago, the seabed receded, creating a combined estuary and lagoon system so exquisite that it gained World Heritage Site status. We discover its matchless legacy of bird, crocodile and hippopotamus life when we go for a boat cruise on the lake. The night is spent in the town of St Lucia.

Day 9: The KwaZulu Natal Battlefields

After breakfast we undertake a country excursion to the famous battlefield sites of Ulundi, Talana, Blood River and, time permitting, Rorke's Drift and Isandhlwana . Listen to his narrative of the spine-chilling history of Natal. Learn about Voortrekker (Dutch Pioneers) clashing with the "impi" (warriors) of the Zulu King, Dingane, British intervention in Natal and their bloody battles against the Zulu empire and Boer Republics. We also visit the Kraal of the Zulu King, Dingane, the Bulawayo Site of Shaka's Kraal, and, time permitting, also Fort Kwa-Mondi and Fort Nongqai. The night is spent at a typical South African Country Lodge in the Battlefields area.

Day 10: Shaka's Way / Durban and Pietermaritzburg

After a sumptuous breakfast, we journey onwards through the spectacular Valley of a Thousand Hills to the capital city of KwaZulu Natal. We undertake a city tour of the multi-culture seaside resort city, enjoy a rickshaw ride and visit the Indian market. Spend the night in a luxury hotel and experience the nightlife of Durban.

Day 11: Pietermaritzburg and Zulu Country

After breakfast we drive to Pietermaritzburg, the charming Kwa-Zulu capital. We visit the Voortekker Museum and a Zulu Cultural Village nearby, where we are treated to traditional dances and lunch. Learn about the colourful Bhaca, then venture on into the Valley of a Thousand Hills, former territory of the fearful Debe cannibals, and ascend onto the summit of Natal Table Mountain, to where some of their victims escaped. Explore the Umgeni Valley and visit the kwaNogqaza falls ("place of the tall one". Today known as the Howick falls). We proceed on to the uKhahlambu Drakensberg Park, booking into one of the famous mountain lodges for two nights.

Day 12 & 13: The KwaZulu uKhahlambu Drakensberg Park

Some 150-180 million years ago basaltic lava surged through immense fissures in the mantle of the earth, disposing a colossal coagulum from which other tools of nature sculptured the massif, that the Zulu call the "uKhahlamba" (great barrier) and Europeans, the "Drakensberg" (dragon mountain). We explore the berg, its valleys, cliffs and pinnacles during our two-day sojourn in the Drakensberg and learn about San paintings in the vicinity.

Day 14: Free State: Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Today we travel to the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, the scene of vividly coloured sandstone cliffs, where we spend the night. We visit unique San rock paintings and experience the life and traditions of the colourful Basotho nation in a Basotho village in the Qwa-Qwa National Park.

Day 15: Bloemfontein

We travel to Bloemfontein and visit the fountain previously known to the Basotho as Manguang ("place of leopards") and to Europeans as, "flower spring", from which present day Bloemfontein derived its name. We browse around the fountain where pioneer traders, missionaries, hunters, explorers and Voortrekkers camped in earlier years and join a guided tour of the "Vrouemonument" (Women's Monument) and museum, which commemorate the role of women in the Boer War concentration camps, as well as other national monuments and places of interest in today's judicial capital of South Africa.

Day 16: Bloemfontein

After a leisurely breakfast we leave the city and tour back to Johannesburg for your flight home or join up with any of our other tour modules

Included in the tour:
  • Transport in air-conditioned vehicles
  • Services of an accredited guide
  • All breakfasts
  • Accommodation in good Guest Houses, Guest Lodges and Country Hotels (The Guest Houses/Lodges are all quality establishments, offering private rooms with private bathrooms and full breakfasts)
  • All entrance fees and conservation fee in the Kruger National Park
  • The following excursions:
    • A visual introductory lecture of the indigenous peoples of South Africa
    • Soweto: Apartheid Museum, Hector Peterson Museum, city and shebeen tour
    • Paul Kruger House and museum, Pretoria
    • Church Square Boer architecture
    • Voortrekker Monument and Afrikaner heritage
    • The Panorama Route
    • African silk weaving cottage industry
    • Delagoa Arts & Crafts
    • Contact with a rural Swazi family
    • The Royal Kraal of Lobamba
    • The St Lucia Wetland World Heritage Site
    • The Hluhluwe Game Reserve and game drives
    • Ulundi and Talana British/Zulu battlefields
    • Blood River Boer/Zulu battlefield
    • Kraal of Zulu King Dingane
    • Kwa-Mondi, Nongqai and Pearson forts
    • Durban cultural city tour
    • Zulu Cultural Village
    • Howick (Kwa-Nogqaza) Falls
    • Royal National Park
    • Meeting with Ngwane people
    • Basotho Village and daily life
    • A Voortrekker Boer Culture tour of Bloemfontein
Not included:
  • Meals not mentioned above
  • All alcoholic beverages
  • All items of a personal nature
  • Tips, e.g., the tips for your local guides and the customary 10% tip in restaurants
  • Porterage
  • Optional excursions
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