Northern & Western Cape exploration

Set off from Cape Town heading up the West Coast. We'll have a good ice-breaker enjoying a little wine tasting. The journey will take us to a hidden gem in the Olifants River Mountains, where vast dramatic rocks meet cool waters, here there are plenty of trails and rock pools, where you'll be guided through some of the areas on a TravelUp Nature walk, taking a dip whenever you want a refresh, if you are a little more daring there are a few spots where you can jump off the high cliffs into the pools.

We spend some time along the coast, if you're a keen birdwatcher, this will be paradise. We'll see the local breeding ground of the Cape gannets, depending on the time of year, we can see anything from resting, nesting, chick raising, or first flight. There are a vast amount of other sea birds that can be spotted like gulls, cormorants, and terns. Sometimes dolphins and seals can be spotted. We take some time in Clanwilliam where we will explore some local heritage at the museum and maybe take a walk around the town. Once we get to our accommodation you have the option of a TravelUp rock art walk, where we look even further back in the past and see the amazing paintings.

During certain times of the year we could be driving through a magnificent field of wildflowers, they come out with the good rains after the land has been barren and dusty for most of the year, otherwise, the vast landscapes are still incredible to see, we will take some time in the doing a TravelUp safari in the National Park where we will see some local wildlife, mostly comprising of ostrich, antelope and sometimes an overwhelming amount of tortoises.

This a restful transit day to get ready for Augrabies Falls and Kgadagali. We'll drive through the Goegap National Reserve.

We experience the Augrabies Falls, the vast amount of water falling, this seems to be incredible after seeing spans of a dry, empty harsh land.

We head off on the journey to the Kgadagadi, where desert dunes go for into the horizon, and sparse plant life during the dryer seasons shows how life can still carry on under extreme circumstances. Renowned for its magnificent predator experiences, you find there is very little man-made interference and ungulates are able to migrate. Commonly seen animals are meerkats and ground squirrels. We will enjoy what the park has to offer for us on the day with a TravelUp safari.

Spending the day roaming the desert in search of amazing sightings. Some of the rare animals to be spotted in the park are the pangolin, honey badger, and bat-eared foxed on top of the more commonly seen animals.

We do a short TravelUp safari before we head to Upington, here we can restock, and have an easy day after all the recent activities.

We head down towards Branvlei on a very casual drive, once we arrive we will enjoy a wonderful sundowner.

The Tankwa Karoo is a beautiful area filled with views, moon like landscapes, birders paradise with many birds restricted to this area. After rains there are amazing flowers that come up to bloom from nothing, during August to September) the blooms can be most spectacular. We will explore the park with a TravelUp safari.

Spend some time in the morning on a TravelUp safari, then head to Worcester where we will spend our last evening fishing and swimming in the river, the accommodation offer rubber tubes, canoe's and rafts to rent. There is also a foefie slide that you can take to zipline into the river.

We can enjoy what the river has to offer, before heading off back to Cape Town where we say goodbye to a great desert and Karoo journey.