Arrival in Johannesburg. Your tour guide will meet you at the airport and accompany you on your transfer to your hotel in Pretoria, where you can recover from the long flight. (A)

Irene Country Lodge

Journey time on the bus 1 h

After breakfast you have the option of taking a half-day excursion to Johannesburg to the Apartheid Museum and see the famous Soweto township from a bicycle (at your own expense). In the afternoon, transfer to Rovos Rail's private railway station in Pretoria, where you will be welcomed on board the Rovos train. After making yourself comfortable in your cabin, enjoy dinner on board the train while the Highveld landscape flies by outside. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Journey time on the bus 2 h

After breakfast on the train, a transfer takes you to the gold mining town of Pilgrim's Rest. From Graskop, you cycle along the edge of the Drakensberg and visit the Pinnacle, an imposing stone pillar, as well as God's Window, a vantage point with magnificent views as far as the Kruger National Park and Mozambique. We go on a short hike in a piece of rainforest.

From Bourke's Luck Potholes, an impressive system of whirlpools through which the Blyde River carves its way into the Blyde Gorge, you will travel along a picturesque route to a viewpoint from where you will enjoy a fantastic view of the Blyde Canyon and the typical round mountain formations of the so-called "3 Rondavels". A transfer will take you back to the train to Nelspruit, where you will have dinner on board. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 30 km, 200 m elevation gain, tarmac

Journey time on the bus 2.5 h

After breakfast, you leave the train in Malelane and embark on a safari in the famous Kruger National Park, where you can expect to see lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, buffaloes, antelopes, wild dogs as well as colourful birdlife and diverse vegetation. In the afternoon you are back on the train, which now sets off in the direction of Swaziland. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Safari duration 8 h

Only 17,000 square kilometres in size, the Kingdom of Eswatini offers a variety of landscapes and you will experience the warm-heartedness of its inhabitants everywhere.
After a short bus transfer from Mpaka, you cycle along a quiet country road past numerous kraals to a craft workshop where the beautiful Swazi candles are made to lively music. You cycle on to the Milwane Nature Reserve. Apart from crocodiles and hippos, no dangerous animals live in this wildlife reserve, so you go on safari by bike - an impressive experience!
A transfer takes you back to the train to Mpaka, where your train continues to South Africa after the border formalities. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 25-30 km, 100 m elevation gain, tarmac/track, slightly hilly

Journey time on the bus 1 h

Your train arrives in Zululand early in the morning. You go on a full-day safari in Umfolozi/Hluhluwe National Park, world-famous for its successful species conservation programme for white and black rhino. In addition to the Big 5 (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo), the lowland nyala, a native antelope species, can also be found here. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Safari duration 8 h

After breakfast, you leave the train and cycle from Durban along the beautiful beachfront. You can then explore the city centre with its Indian spice market. A visit to the uShaka Marineworld Aquarium is highly recommended, as it is the sixth largest in the world. Sharks and rays are the highlights here. Alternatively, you can visit Durban's beaches, which are safe from currents and sharks and are ideal for swimming and surfing. In the afternoon, you will board the train again, which will take you further north to the Drakensberg. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 25 km, 50 m elevation gain, tarmac

Journey time on the bus 1.5 h

Today you leave the train in Ladysmith and embark on a full-day cycling excursion along the foothills of the uKhahlambra Drakensberg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at over 3000 metres. The cycle route leads through hilly, fertile farmland and past many Zulu kraals to the gigantic backdrop of the so-called "amphitheatre". Here the Tugela River plunges almost 2000 metres before beginning its journey to the Indian Ocean. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 50 km, 500 m elevation gain, tarmac

Journey time on the bus 2 h

After lunch, you leave the train and cycle through the Golden Gate Highlands National Park with its fascinating red and yellow sandstone formations to a viewpoint from where, with a bit of luck, you can see Cape vultures. From here we descend into a valley through the Maluti Mountains to the pretty town of Clarens. A short drive takes us to Bethlehem, where our train awaits us. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 30 km, 100 m elevation gain, tarmac

After arriving in Bloemfontein, an excursion to the sixth largest city in South Africa is on the programme today. You will visit the Women's Monument and the Anglo-Burmese Museum. Bloemfontein is also the city of the judiciary, home to the highest appellate courts in the country. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Journey time on the bus 1 h

After breakfast, we set off in an open Land Rover on safari in Addo Elephant National Park. The third largest nature reserve in South Africa stretches from the semi-arid Karoo across the Zuurberg Mountains and the Sundays River valley down to the coast. You can see elephants, plains zebra and various species of antelope and, with a bit of luck, buffalo, black rhino and lion. Equally impressive is the abundant birdlife, including the ostrich. On the way, you will stop at viewpoints and go on short game drives in the bush with the rangers. You will be back on the train for lunch. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Safari duration 4 h

After breakfast, a transfer from Port Elizabeth railway station takes you to the start of the Garden Route. You cycle along the coastal plateau on a quiet side road before descending to the mouth of the Stormsriver in the Tsitsikamma National Park. With a bit of luck, you may see the Knysna Loerie, a native parrot species. A short hike takes you to a suspension bridge, from where you can get a great view of the river gorge. A transfer takes you via the small lagoon town of Knysna to George, where you will stay at the famous Fancourt Hotel. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 50 km, 150 m elevation gain, tarmac

After breakfast, the bus takes you over the Outeniqua Pass into the Klein Karoo. There you will visit an ostrich farm, where you will learn more about the life of the ostriches and their economic importance for the region around Oudtshoorn. Afterwards you cycle through the spectacular Schoemans Gorge to the world-famous Cango Caves, gigantic stalactite caves formed from limestone. An extremely scenic bus journey then takes you to Prince Albert, where your train is already waiting for you. (FMA)

Rovos Rail

Cycle route 30 km, 200 m elevation gain, tarmac/nature

In the late afternoon, your train arrives at our destination in Cape Town after travelling almost 4000 km through southern Africa - a great moment. After saying goodbye to your beloved train crew, a transfer takes us to the hotel on the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. (FMA)

Portswood Hotel

This morning you will have the opportunity to get to know the "Noluthando" kindergarten project in the Khayelitsha district, which was set up and is supported by AFRICAN BIKERS TOURS. You will gain a deep insight into the social structures and the challenges faced by a large part of Cape Town's population. On a city tour or a city walk back in the city centre, you will get to know the main sights of the Mother City: Parade Square, Castle, City Hall, Greenmarket Square, Parliament Gardens, the Museum of Nature and Art History, the Malay Quarter and Kirstenbosch Gardens, one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, which is in full bloom in October! If time and weather permit, you can take the cable car up to the city's landmark, Table Mountain. The view of Cape Town, 1000 metres below, is breathtaking. You will have dinner in an African restaurant. (FA)

Portswood Hotel

Cycle route 60 km, 800 m elevation gain, tarmac

After breakfast, the tour continues along False Bay to the Boulders penguin colony in Simonstown and on to the Cape of Good Hope. A beautiful one-hour panoramic walk takes you to Cape Point. There you get on your bikes and cycle back to Cape Town on the western side of the Cape Peninsula. The coastal road via Chapman's Peak and Hout Bay is rightly regarded as one of the most breathtaking routes in South Africa. It is not for nothing that the popular Cape Town Cycle Tour takes place here every year with over 35,000 participants from all over the world. (FA)v

Portswood Hotel

Cycle route 70 km, 800 m elevation gain, tarmac

Journey time on the bus 3 h

After breakfast, there is still time for shopping, e.g. at the famous V&A Waterfront, where you can also take a look at the now very well-known MOCCA Museum of the German art collector Jochen Zeitz with contemporary African art.
At midday it is time to say goodbye to Southern Africa. A transfer will take you to Cape Town Airport, from where your journey home begins. (F)

Journey time on the bus 0.5 h