Safaris in Cape Town

When we think of safaris, the idea of a 4x4 car in a desert area always comes to mind, but you should know that the concept of safari goes far beyond that, as it refers to all kinds of nature and wildlife viewing. As such, Cape Town is a strategic point for accessing these types of excursions with options for both land and sea tours.

Visiting important national parks in South Africa, visiting the Aquila Game Reserve and the Botlierskop Private Reserve, travelling to the Cape Peninsula and visiting the penguin colony, interacting with sea lions, observing the oceanic fauna and having contact with sharks from a cage, or even watching the hundreds of birds that live in the World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary & Monkey Park, are just some of the experiences you can have if you decide to go on an adventure. Here are some of Cape Town' s favourite things to do in Cape Town.

If you're heading to Cape Town with children, this is an ideal family-friendly option. A day trip to Aquila Game Reserve, a nature reserve and resort located about 176 km from the city centre and easily accessible by car. There, you will not only experience game viewing, but you will be treated as if you were a guest of the hotel.

Depending on where you are staying in Cape Town, this type of activity may offer hotel pick-up at the door of your hotel. When you arrive at the resort, you will get to know the facilities and enjoy the spaces. In fact, you could take a dip in the pool, go to the spa or take a break and admire the scenery.

The viewing experience includes a visit to Africa's Big Five. You will see various animals at the top of the food chain such as lions, leopards, buffalo, elephants and rhinos. You will see these species in their habitat as they feed and interact with the environment. All this from an off-road vehicle with a panoramic view.

You will also see the flora present in the region and meet other species such as giraffes, monkeys and the exotic Aquila Verreauxii It will be hours of appreciation and interaction with the wild world, where you will listen to the commentary of a professional guide.

Useful information

• Price: the price of this tour is around 139 € per person.
• Duration: This experience is estimated to last approximately 9 hours.

A 2-day safari experience allows you to immerse yourself in the African bush, specifically the Garden Route in the Cape Agulhas area. This natural area was declared by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve and is home to some jaw-dropping flora and fauna.

You will be able to participate in guided game drives where you will see a variety of animals such as elephants, buffalo, leopards and lions in their living spaces. You'll take to the trails in an off-road vehicle and enjoy the scenery that South Africa's southern zone has to offer .

At night, these tours offer accommodation in a lodge, a cabin comfortable enough to recharge your batteries and continue your adventure.

To make the most of your visit, you'll pass through Hermanus, a town famous for being a spot for whale watching on the mainland. If you're lucky, you'll catch a glimpse of some of them. You will also go to a nearby bay, where penguins usually stay during their breeding season. So, depending on the season of your visit, you will see these charming animals and their nests.

Useful information

• Price: Tickets for this experience usually cost approximately €340 per person.
• Advantages: Transfer to and from the hotel is usually included in the package.

As I mentioned earlier, when people talk about safari, they usually think of desert terrain and 4x4 vehicles. However, the concept encompasses any kind of excursion in natural environments, including aquatic spaces as well . Therefore, the aim of this type of experience is for you to meet the five great animals of the ocean on a day-long exploratory boat ride.

The adventure usually begins with a pick-up at your hotel door, heading to the harbour to board the boat. You'll head out into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the company of a marine biologist. Once at the observation point, the show will begin and species such as the great white shark, sea lions, whales and dolphins will cross before your eyes.

The journey continues and you'll head to the popular penguin and seabird sanctuary at Gansbaai, where you'll see dozens of these animals basking in the sun and learn about some of the species and their care.

By the end of the tour, you'll know a lot more about the behaviour of marine animals and aquatic life in general. For all these reasons, this tour is suitable if you will be in Cape Town for 5 days or more.

Useful information

• Price: The price of this tour is approximately €133 per person.
• Benefits: You will learn about marine biology from a professional.

Cape Town is an urban epicentre that serves as a gateway to a vast array of natural destinations filled with beauty and unique examples of South Africa's flora and fauna. So whether you're spending 3 days in Cape Town or more, you should consider a trip to the Cape Peninsula and Penguin Colony.

These are day tours to the peninsula route, filled with beaches, gardens, cliffs, bays and more. Among the places you'll visit are:

• Chapman's Peak Drive, the road to the peninsula, which offers great views of The Sentinel Peak and the towns of Noordhoek and Hout Bay.
• Hout Bay, a small coastal town. You can go to the market to sample local foods and buy handmade goods from the shops.
• Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a world heritage site, home to over 9,000 species of plants and the largest in South Africa.
• Penguin colony, established in the protected area of Boulder's Beach. This is an African penguin species found only in this region and in Namibia.

If you want to take your experience of appreciating wildlife in their habitat to another level, then you could venture to Duiker Island, a tour that is offered to visitors on an optional basis . The island is home to dozens of seals, which can be seen basking in the sun or swimming in the sea.

Useful information

• Price: The cost of this tour is around €84 per person.
• Advantages: You'll get to see a variety of natural attractions in a single trip.

If you love aquatic wildlife, then opt for a sea lion snorkelling experience in Hout Bay from Cape Town. This activity will allow you to interact directly with one of the big five animals of the ocean and see the aquatic world from a different perspective.

The experience will take place in the Hout Bay area, specifically on Duiker Island. You will be taken by boat to this location, but first you will receive snorkelling instructions from a professional. Once you've been trained, it's time to navigate the ocean, stop at the observation point, put on the necessary equipment (wetsuit, goggles, gloves and fins) and dive in to start exploring.

Although the main attraction of this experience is the sea lions, if you're lucky, you may also come across sea lions and even see some seals. All this in the company of professional guides.

At the end of this experience, you can return to the boat and make your way back to continue your itinerary of things to do in Cape Town at night

Useful information

• Price: the activity is approximately €55.
• Duration: The net time of the experience is usually 2.5 hours.

The ocean waters around Cape Town allow for some of the most diverse and almost unique safari experiences in the world. One example of this is the shark cage boat ride, an activity that will take one of the 7 days in Cape Town but will literally take your breath away.

For this experience, you will travel to the town of Gansbaai. You will arrive at the dive centre and receive instructions to dive and embark on the boat trip to the observation point.

You will sail for approximately 20 minutes to Dyer Island and stop at a certain point to experience the adventure. You will enter the water at a depth of a few metres and, protected by a cage, you will see the great white sharks that inhabit this region up close.

Best of all, you will be accompanied by a local guide and a marine biologist to learn about the life of these imposing animals and many interesting facts.

Useful information

• Price: to live this adrenaline-filled experience you will have to pay from 183 € per person.
• Duration: the total time of this tour is approximately 10 hours.

Another option for a safari activity in Cape Town is to visit World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary & Monkey Park, a magical place full of biodiversity where you will see some 400 species of birds such as meerkats, flamingos, eagles and parrots, as well as many other animals that show off the natural value of South Africa.

Easily accessible from the city, this park, considered the largest bird reserve in Africa, is sure to impress, especially if you plan your visit around the feeding time of many of the species (between 11.30am and 4.15pm), as you will have the opportunity to observe them in all their glory without any distractions.

Besides the birds, this natural complex has a space exclusively dedicated to monkeys, so you will be able to see and interact with the famous squirrel monkeys and be amazed by the speed with which they move and their striking orange, yellow, green, white and black colours.

You can live this experience together with your whole family. In fact, this destination is one of those included in the Cape Town sightseeing bus, so be prepared for an unforgettable trip, with lots of contact with nature and different living creatures.

Useful information

• Price: entrance fee is from €10 per person.
• Duration: the duration may vary according to the way you do the visit, but in an average of 3 hours you will get to know almost the whole park.

To explore the marine world beneath the surface, you don't necessarily have to dive. For example, in Cape Town you have the opportunity for an educational, contemplative and fun experience if you visit the Two Oceans Aquarium.

There are many activities you can do at this aquatic complex, beyond the species viewing and exhibits, which in itself is quite extensive. You can join an interaction experience with the yellow tufted penguins, take a guided tour of how the aquarium works, go snorkelling or scuba diving and much more.

This huge aquarium is home to some 8,000 thousand species of animals . So you'll see turtles, jellyfish, sharks, octopus, penguins, coral reefs and a kelp forest with dozens of fish swimming among them.

You can also see the microscopic life exhibit, where magnification technology allows you to see things invisible to the naked eye such as sea urchin feet, nudibranchs, strawberry anemones and other creatures imperceptible to the naked eye.

Interesting information

• Price: the entrance fee to the aquarium is around €17 per person.
• Duration: The visit lasts approximately 3 hours.

In case you plan to stay more than 1 day in Cape Town, you can opt to experience this safari adventure at Addo Elephant National Park This wonderful settlement is about 45 minutes from Port Elizabeth (the city where the Garden Route, which starts from Cape Town, ends).

This natural wilderness estate is home to some 600 elephants and hundreds of other species such as lions, which you can see at various times of the day, although many say that the morning hours are one of the best opportunities for viewing.

The visit to this park can be done with a private safari experience or even take a tour with your own car accompanied by a professional guide. In either case, it is best to be prepared to travel a few kilometres in this terrain to see buffalo, zebra, hyena, various birds, etc.

If you wish, you could also stay in the park, as it has a good camping structure, which offers adequate comfort for rest. Keep in mind that the longer you stay and explore, the more species and other wonders of the place you will be able to see.

Useful information

• Price: entrance usually costs €16 per person.
• Duration: the visit requires approximately 2:30 to 3 hours.

Just four and a half hours from Cape Town, a great adventure awaits you at Botlierskop Private Game Reserve, an area of around 4,200 hectares of land, home to at least four of Africa' s Big Five. Here you can venture deep into the bush to see elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards, buffalo, gazelles, giraffes, antelopes and more.

As a private reserve, you can camp and stay here according to your budget and preferences. On the other hand, you should know that the best of all are the safaris. In this natural reserve you can not only go on conventional guided safaris, but also opt for night safaris.

This type of trip attracts the most daring tourists, who, with just a torch and the light of the moon, take a walk along the trails to observe the animals that are most active at night.

You will also have the company and knowledge of professional guides, who not only know how to take care of the animals, but will also do everything possible to ensure that you don't miss out on seeing the different species of wild animals that live in the area.

Useful information

• Price: the cost can be from 75 to 120 € per person.
• Duration: the length of the visit will vary depending on the experience you purchase, which can be a half-day, one or two-day visit.