Itinerary

So... I have no idea if I spelled that right, but that's not really the point of this. I leave for South Africa in 5 hours and 41 minutes!!!!!!!!!!! Well, that's what time our bus leaves the University. Anyways, I thought I'd let you guys know what we'd be doing each day. Please don't read all of it at once, you might die. There's a lot.


March 12-Deport Minneapolis
Board your flight from Minneapolis connecting to either the Washington to New York gateways to board your South African Airways flight. Overnight onboard the aircraft.

March 13-Arrive in Cape Town
On arrival in Johannesburg, connect to a domestic flight to Cape Town. Upon arrival in Cape Town International Airport, you will be met by your driver and your guide who will assist you to your awaiting coach. Porters will be arranged to assist with the transporting your luggage to the coach and transferred to your hotel for check in.

The Dutch settlement at Table Bay, under the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck was established in 1652. It purpose was to supply fresh produce and meat to the fleets of the Dutch East India Company for their voyages between Europe and the Spice Islands to the east. In the early days, the settlement was known among sailors from around the world as “The Tavern of the Seas”, and to this day Cape Town has maintained a reputation of friendly hospitality. With it’s majestic Table Mountain backdrop, Cape Town is undisputedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Linger awhile to enjoy the timeless beauty of Cape Dutch architecture; the all-persuasive aura of history; the 17th century castle; enticing boutiques and a myriad of restaurants offering a superb medley of Oriental, contemporary European and traditional Cape Cuisine.

About your hotel: This stylish hotel is based in the heart of Sea Point overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. With majestic Table Mountain and Signal Hill as a backdrop, this distinctive hotel offers luxury and style. Soak up the sun beside the sparkling plunge pool, take exhilarating walks along the promenade or make use of the hotel’s gym and wellness centre. Accommodation consists of 124 newly refurbished, air-conditioning and en-suite rooms.

March 14-Half Day Cape Town Sightseeing Tour
This morning, enjoy breakfast at the hotel before you are picked up at 8:30am for your half-day tour of this “Mother City”. Take a cable car up Table Mountain (weather permitting), before descending to savor the spicy aromas of the Malay Quarter. The tour ends at the shoppers’ paradise, the V&A Waterfront, or you may wish to return to your hotel. You will enjoy lunch at one of the restaurants on the Victoria and Alfred restaurants before being transferred to meet with the Kensington Chorale at 3:00PM to enjoy a cultural exchange prior to participating in an evening concert performance.

March 15-Peninsula Tour & Visit to Sellenbach University
This morning, enjoy an early breakfast at the hotel before you are picked up at 8:00am for your tour of the Cape Peninsula. See for yourself how this spectacular southern tip of Africa became known as the Fairest Cape. The tour begins with a drive past the pristine beaches of Camps Bay and Clifton. After a visit to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and its scenic viewing point, continue along the coastline to the beautiful Boulders Beach where you can sit among a colony of penguins. Your tour will end with a lunch stop en-route.


Return to your hotel to freshen up before departing to Stellenbosch for a cultural interaction with a combination of the Stellenbosch University and the Schola Cantorum Music Faculty Choirs, starting at 4:00pm.

March 16-Robben Island & Table Mountain Tour
This morning, at 7:30am, your guides will collect you for your transfer to the Mandela Clocktower Precinct from where you will board the 09h00 ferry to Robben Island. The Island is situated a mere 7 miles from Cape Town in the middle of Table Bay, within clear sight of the city. It was here that Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 18 years, much of it under hard labour. Prior to being a prison for political activists during the Apartheid era, the island was a leper colony. The island is now a museum and conservation area and was declared a World Heritage site in 1999. Former inmates lead tours around their old cells - a moving experience for both them and thousands of visitors from around the world. The tour includes a visit to Nelson Mandela's prison cell and the limestone quarry where prisoners work unceasingly day after day. There is the chance to view the wildlife and take photographs of Cape Town across the bay, with Table Mountain as the backdrop if the weather permits.

On return from Robben Island, you will enjoy lunch before returning to the hotel. At approximately 4:00pm, you will be transferred to Somerset to participate in an evening performance with the Siyacula Youth Choir. Warm up is scheduled to start at approximately 5:30pm before the evening’s performance
Return to the hotel and enjoy the evening at leisure.

March 17-Fly to Johannesburg, Visit Soweto School
This morning, at 7:30am you will transfer to Cape Town International Airport for check in at 8:10am on your domestic flight to Johannesburg departing at 10:10am. On arrival you will be met by your driver and your guide who will assist you to your awaiting coach. Porters will be arranged to assist with the transporting of your luggage to the coach. You will be transferred to the St Stithian School. Here you will meet and interact with the host choir and participate in an evening concert performance. Thereafter, you will be transferred to your hotel for check in and enjoy an evening at leisure.

About your hotel: This magnificent resort is located next to OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg). The resort offers a unique experience with luxurious accommodation and leisure facilities, a magnificent casino with unparalleled gaming enjoyment, the finest dining and entertainment, a unique retail concourse, a children’s paradise with an indoor themed entertainment centre, multifaceted conference facilities and impeccable service. The Metcourt Laurel Hotel offers comfortable accommodation with 80 rooms and suites, which include standard and family rooms. All rooms are large and conveniently equipped with an interactive pay television system, selected satellite channels, radio, hairdryer and fully adjustable air-conditioning. Metcourt Laurel Hotel guests enjoy breakfast at the Primavera Restaurant, or may order take away meals from selected outlets in The Emporium.

March 18-On Safari in Pilanesburg National Park
After breakfast at the hotel, we leave the bustling city behind to experience the world famous African bush. Bakubung Bush Lodge is only a short 2-hour drive away from Johannesburg, tucked in the expanses of the malaria-free Pilanesberg National Park which is home to Africa’s Big Five: elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo. Bakubung, or the “People of the Hippo”, provides guests with the peace and tranquility of a true African bush experience.

This afternoon, we set off in open 4x4 safari vehicles in search of lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard, and all manner of wondrous wildlife, birds and plants besides. Savor the magic of this enormous wilderness.


About your lodge: Air-conditioned, thatched roof rooms at the Bakubung Bush Lodge as well as the chalets curve into a horseshoe around the outside entertainment areas, huddling visitors in cozy intimacy while providing great views over the African bush. All rooms at the Bakubung Bush Lodge feature DSTV, direct dialing telephones, en-suite bathrooms, electric shaving plugs, coffee and tea making machines and hair dryers. The guest’s wildlife experiences are best shared at a blazing campfire, while one marvels at the spectacle of innumerable stars. Optional hot air balloon safaris as well as elephant back safaris are another very exciting way to get to know the African bush. Other facilities include a tennis court, swimming pool and an outdoor “boma” dining area.

March 19-Mourning Safari & Lesedi Cultural Village
This morning, you will have an early rise for another game driver in search of more amazing animals.
Return to the lodge for breakfast and enjoy a little time at leisure, before we head back towards Johannesburg to a cultural village for dinner. Lesedi Cultural Village is a multi-cultural African village set among pristine bushveld and rocky hills. Situated at Lesedi are a number of different homesteads or traditional villages where a kaleidoscope of African cultures awaits you. Each traditional homestead is inhabited by a family of elders, wives and children. Guest are in for an experience of a lifetime and are introduced to the art, dancing, history, tribal legend and cuisine of five of Southern Africa’s greatest tribes. The cultural experience begins with a multi-visual presentation on the history and origins of today’s rainbow nation, followed by a tour of four ethnic homesteads, namely: Xhosa, Zulu, Pedi and Sotho. After the tour guests are escorted to the boma where they enjoy dinner, and watch the different tribes of Lesedi Cultural Village perform dances and tell stories that date back to the days of their ancestors. After dinner, you will be transported back to the Metcourt Laurel Hotel for check in and overnight.

March 20-Soweto Tour & Regina Mundi Church Performance
This morning, enjoy breakfast at the hotel before you are picked up for your morning tour of Soweto at 8:30am. We take you through the streets of the sprawling township of Soweto, scene of the tragic riots of 1976. Despite crowded, chaotic conditions, there’s a tangible sense of community in these neighborhoods, which the ordered, walled suburbs lack. Few who venture into this ‘other’ Johannesburg are unmoved by what they witness. Enjoy lunch at a traditional African shebeen (restaurant) and thereafter you will be transferred to the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto where you can enjoy an informal performance. The Regina Mundi Churhc is one of the most well known churches in South Africa and had a very important history. Not only has the vast church always been a spiritual haven for thousands of Sowetans, it also played a pivotal role in the country’s history of resistance against Apartheid. On 30 November 1997, declared Regina Mundi Day, former president Nelson Mandela paid tribute to the church saying such was the role of this church in the lives of many of us; such was the esteem with which is was held, that it popularly became known as the people’s cathedral.

This evening, enjoy a farewell dinner with a singing together before returning to the hotel.

March 21-Visit Apartheid Museum & Fly Home
This morning, after breakfast at the hotel, you will check out before departing for a visit to the Apartheid Museum. Visitors to South Africa’s first apartheid museum will be taken back to the days of racial intolerance through separate entrances for whites and blacks. Giant images of the passbooks that confined blacks to squalid ghettos, line a corridor which eventually leads to rooms of hope. They show triumph over apartheid with Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 from 27 years of imprisonment. The Apartheid Museum is the story of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. The museum is a superb example of design, space and landscape offering the international community a unique South African experience.

In the afternoon, you will be transferred to the O.R. Tambo International Airport for your onward flight back home where you will take on board your last memories of a gorgeous African landscape.

March 22-Arrive Home
On arrival early this morning in Washington, connect to your domestic flights to Minneapolis. Welcome home!

Yep, so that's my trip and I am WAYYYY pumped!!! Especially to see the giraffes... :) No worries, I'll take MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY picutres!!

Well, I'd best go and finish my packing. I hope that you three of my dearest friends, Bekah, Bethany, and Jenny have a MARVELOUS time in California! I'll be praying for you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU BETHANY!!!!!