After breakfast you travel to the Addo Elephant Park for an overnight stay at the Restcamp.

Addo Elephant National Park

The Addo Park has an interesting and somewhat sad history. In 1919 a celebrated big game hunter Major Jan Pretorius was asked to exterminate all the elephants that often emerged from the Addo bushveld to demolish the crops of local farmers. In the space of one year he shot 120 elephants until only 15 terrified elephants remained in the densest thickets. In the face of a national and international outcry, the hunt was called off and later the elephants' survival was assured when the area was proclaimed a National Park in 1931. The numbers of elephant have gradually grown over the years to well over 400 now. The growth in numbers is partly due to the unique Addo bush where the dominant plant is the pink flowered Spekboom, which is a favourite food for the elephants. The park is also home to many other wildlife as well as elephants such as Black Rhino, Hippos, Cape buffalo and many species of antelope. Recently the park has been extended to the Zuurberg Mountains to the north.

When you arrive at the park, ask the advice of the National Park rangers as to where the best sightings of elephant are currently. It is best to stay at one waterhole, as the elephants will tend to come to the waterholes in the heat of the day to drink. The park has an à la carte restaurant and also offers day and night drives in a open vehicle with a ranger as well as a variety of roads for self-drive game viewing.

Today you travel to the formerly known Transkei and the Wild Coast. Spend two nights at Kob Inn.

The Oliver Tambo District covers most of the former Tanskei. Umtata is the main centre, and the Oliver Tambo covers most of the Wild Coast and Pondoland. The district has a sub-tropical coastal belt, especially from Port St. Johns northwards. It has some game reserves that have indigenous forests. The hills beyond the coast rise to high levels of up to 1,500 meters beyond Umtata. The district has many rivers and is well-watered, with an average of 700mm of rainfall per year. Pondoland, being nearly the most fertile areas in South Africa, has warm temperatures and good soils with frost-free conditions. Some of the other major towns in the district are Mqanduli, Port St. Johns, Qumbu, Lusikisiki and Bizana.

Oliver Tambo has the second highest population of all the districts with more than 1,504,411 inhabitants. And for a mostly rural district it also has a high population density of 90 people per square kilometer. The Oliver Tambo District has an area of 15,535 square kilometers. There are very few coloured and white inhabitants and the population is 99% Africans. The first language is Xhosa but Zulu is also used in some areas of the district.

The Oliver Tambo District has a fairly small formal economy compared to the rest of the province, but the Transkei has a major subsistence and informal economy that isn’t measured by statistics. In the district agriculture is the major private sector activity and contributes 8% of formal employment. The chief formal agriculture enterprise is forestry, and the large forests to the north and west of Umtata are mainly leased by the private sector. There are also a number of small commercial farmers in the area and they concentrate on mixed farming of livestock and crops of mostly maize. In the Oliver Tambo some farmers have invested in irrigation, with the most popular crops being cabbage and potatoes. Manufacturing plays a small role as a small sector employing 6% of the districts population. The largest manufacturing sectors are food processing, furniture and wood products and they are all based in Umtata. The tourism in Oliver Tambo is centered on the breath taking Wild Coast, which is a host to many resorts and nature reserves. Port St. Johns is developing as a tourism destination The Pondoland coast is one of the most spectacular eco-tourism destinations in South Africa and is going to be host to an expanded nature and marine reserve. The Nelson Mandela Museum, in Umatata and Qunu, houses the history of the struggle against apartheid and the life of Nelson Mandela. The government is the chief employer in the economy and they employ thousands f people in the formal and informal sectors.

You have a long driving day ahead of you !! You leave the Eastern Cape to travel onto Kwazulu Natal and the Drakensberg Mountains. Spend the following three nights at Antbear Guesthouse.

The Drakensberg

The Drakensberg, also known as the 'Berg' by the locals, is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, reaching 3,482 metres (11,600 feet) at its highest peak in Lesotho. To the Zulu's they are the uKhalamba - the Barrier of Spears, a most apt description as they form a wall of basalt, which effectively acts as a fortress to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho behind. From the northern point of the range, it continues north into Mpumalanga to form the Drakensberg escarpment area, which is less mountainous and more a series of cliffs and canyons.

The main pleasure of the mountains is the glorious walking that they offer. If you are staying at one of the traditional mountain hotels, they offer daily walks with the hotel guide. These walks area usually varied with gentle walks on some days and full day hikes offered on others. Note: Temperatures in these high mountains can plummet very quickly. Any walkers should be as prepared as they would be walking in Europe.

Rain and the Natal Drakensberg

Like many mountain areas, the Natal Drakensberg has a high rainfall.  This is very much summer rainfall with virtually no rain from the end of April until October.  In summer spectacular thunderstorms are not uncommon. They start to build up around midday and 2pm bring lightning and thunder and driving rain.  Then it ends suddenly and by sunset the sky is clear and the air is refreshingly cool.  In contrast, the cold dry weather in winter brings heavy frosts, which kills the grass and turns the mountains brown within a few weeks.  If you are visiting the Drakensberg during the summer rainy season, please be careful on all gravel roads. After rains try to avoid gravel roads as much as possible as they become very muddy and slippery when wet.

Southern Drakensberg - Giants Castle and Kamberg

Further south is another spectacular area for scenery, walking and San rock paintings -  Giants Castle Game Reserve. It has a particularly good plant life with many of the Drakensberg's 800 flower species found here.  There are also 12 species of antelope in the reserve together with baboons, hyraxes and jackals.  It is considered to be one of the best places to see raptors such as the Cape vulture, the Lanner falcon, the snake eagle and the bearded vulture. As with the Royal Natal National Park, there is a reserve booklet, which details walks with basic maps of the trails.  Horse riding is also possible except during July and August due to the possibility of bad weather. However one of the main attractions of the park is a visit to one of the 50 odd San painting sites.  It is thought that some San people still lived here at the beginning of this century.  The Main Caves are one of the finest collections of San art in the Drakensberg on two huge rock overhangs, which often formed the San's favoured painting sites. The cave is an easy 30 minute walk from the restcamp and guided tours take place from 9am to 3pm daily for a small fee. The camp also has a restaurant and pub for lunches and dinners.  Park open 0500 to 1900 from October to March and 0600 to 1800 from April to September.

Central Drakensberg - Cathedral Peak and Monk's Cowl

The R600 from Winterton leads up to Monks Cowl Natal Parks. From here you can enjoy a one-hour walk to Sterkspruit falls or a 3ｽ hike to the Little Berg past the Sphinx and the Breakfast falls. The park open 0500 to 1900 from October to March and 0600 to 1800 from April to September. En route to Monk's Cowl on the R600, you pass the Ardmore Ceramic Studio and Tea garden. This farm is now a studio for more than 40 Zulu and Sotho artists mainly working in clay. Highly recommended. Contact them on (036) 4681314 for opening times. Another recommended visit is to the superb and deservedly famous Drakensberg Boys' Choir. Their weekly performances are on Wednesdays at 16:00 and sometimes on Saturdays. Bookings are essential on (036) 4681012

If you turn right off the R600 you come to the Cathedral Peak Natal Park. The hotel acts as the information centre for this part of the 'berg' with an excellent booklet outlining the various walks and their difficulty. A sense model of the area in the lobby also gives the walker an idea of what lies ahead. Just a couple of kilometres before you get to the hotel, you may like to visit the San Art Centre at Didima. This centre showcases the history, culture and mythology of the San people through displays and an excellent audio-visual presentation. It is open from 8am to 4pm closing for lunch between 1 and 2pm. The guided tour would take 1 hour, the San stories approx 10 minutes and 15mins for the multimedia presentation.

The Royal Natal National Park

The famous amphitheatre, an 8km stretch of cliff-like mountains some 1 400 metres high is to be found in the northern section of the Drakensberg. The main peak is called Mont-aux-Sources because five of the country's major river systems, including the Tugela and Elands, have their source here. The mighty Tugela River cascades 850 metres over the edge forming the Tugela Falls. A booklet 'Royal Natal National Park' gives descriptions of walks and a sketch-map. It also provides a good 1:20,000 map for walking. The most popular hike is a six-hour walk up the Tugela Gorge, which involves crossing/fording the river a number of times before emerging into the Amphitheatre. There are also some San rock paintings but they are less extensive than in the Giant's Castle National Park. (See below). The Parks visitor centre is 1km from the main gate. Park open 0500 to 1900 from October to March and 0600 to 1800 from April to September.

If you are staying in this area, you may also enjoy the scenic drive around to the top of the escarpment with stunning views over the landscape. Take the R74 north for 36km until it joins the R712 at a T-junction. Turn left and travel 33km until you come to another turnoff to the left to Witsiehoek. Turn left here and travel up the Sentinel pass (1 in 7) with several viewpoints en route. Fit and experience hikers can enjoy some spectacular walks from the end of the road.  The other main attraction of the area is the extensive collection of San rock art still to be viewed in some of the mountain caves particularly at the Giants Castle and Kamberg Nature Reserves.

Today you leave the Drakensberg area to return to Durban for an overnight stay at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel.

Durban

Durban is both a holiday city (mainly for South Africans coming from the Gauteng interior) and South Africa's second largest industrial port.  These two aspects of the city do not always happily co-exist together and consequently its rather garish attractions lie mainly alongside its golden beaches rather than in the city centre.

In 1823 Lord Salisbury sailed into the Rio de Natal, as the bay was called, with the mission of trading with the Zulus. The following year 18 settlers were allowed to settle permanently by the Zulu King, Shaka. Amongst these was Dick King, who later became a British hero.  In 1835 the settlement was proclaimed a town and named Durban after the British Governor of the time, Sir Benjamin D'Urban.  However after Shaka's death, things became a little more troublesome for the settlers.  Dingane, Shaka's successor, raided the settlement and the Voortrekkers were beginning to move into the hinterland from the west and north.  The British Government decided to build a fort to protect the town and this so angered the Voortrekkers that they besieged the town for 34 days.  It was Dick King who escaped in the night and rode to Grahamstown, some 960 km away to the British force stationed there.  The journey took him 10 days of solid riding.  The British army was dispatched and the Boers were forced to retreat.  To protect the town, more British settlers arrived and the Boers gradually moved further north to the Transvaal.  It is for this reason that, amongst the white population of Natal, the coast and Midlands area of Natal is considered very 'English' or Colonial.  The rolling green pastures of the Midlands area perhaps also reminded the Settlers of home.

As the lagoon was developed into a deep-sea harbour, the surrounding agriculture of sugar plantations grew. More labour was required and hence the immigration of many Indians to the Natal area in the 1860's.  The Indian population is now an important and influential part of Durban business and cultural life and the finest Indian food in South Africa can be sampled here.

Spend the morning exploring the city of Durban. At lunch time you return your rental car to the Durban Airport in time for your onward flight arrangements.