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2-Day Panorama Route Tour – Africa’s ‘Grand Canyon’ – Add on to your Mmilo Tours Kruger Park safari

Blyde River Canyon Three Rondawels Viewpoiny
Price From : ZAR 8496.00 (Per Person Sharing) Currency Converter

*This 2-Day Panorama Route Tour – Africa’s ‘Grand Canyon’ – Add on to your Mmilo Tours Kruger Park safari has been designed as an Add-on to a Kruger National Park safari that has been booked through Mmilo Tours*

Panorama Route

This is a world-renowned dramatically scenic northern Drakensberg escarpment route close to the Kruger National Park. It includes such sights as God’s Window, Bourke’s Luck Potholes, several beautiful waterfalls including the Mac Mac, Lisbon, and Sabie Falls.

One of its main highlights is Blyde River Canyon the third deepest in the world after the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon, and is the deepest of all green canyons (not in a desert) in the world. We sometimes if time allows visiting Pilgrims Rest, an old 19th-century gold-mining town preserved in its entirety. The cemetery at Pilgrims Rest and the headstone inscriptions make interesting reading and it is beautifully situated looking over the town.

We also go through one of the highest towns in South Africa, Dullstroom ( if proceeding from Johannesburg) at over 2000 metres, which regularly has snow and heavy frost in winter and cross the Long Tom Pass where the road descends a winding route from 2000 metres to below 400 at Hazyview where they grow bananas and oranges. The Long Tom Pass is named after the cannons manufactured by Le Creuset in 19th century France, the very latest in long-distance shelling weaponry of the day with which the Boers bombarded the advancing British, and of which one remaining stands beneath the summit of the pass.

The best way to see the Panorama Route is to do the stayover for a one-night tour in the misty town of Graskop, getting to your lodge in the Kruger the next day. Or vice versa after your safari in Kruger going back to Johannesburg. Please read the description of an overnight trip. We usually use the following tried and trusted accommodations.Graskop Hotel,  Sabie Guest Lodge ( 3 stars), Dar Amane, Westlodge ( 4 stars),  Flycatcher Castle ( 5 stars)

If you want to do this tour in reverse i.e. on your way back to Johannesburg from your safari then we do it in reverse.

We can also fit in the Abel Erasmus Pass and/or Pilgrims Rest Mining Village but this will require early starts on at least one of the days. 

From Kruger Lodges, we do the Day Trip up onto the route and back to your lodge. In this scenario, there is not enough time to cover all the above but most of the important highlights.

Please request any of the above variations in the Enquiry Form 

2023 ZAR8496.00 per person sharing, ZAR13 905.00 for a solo traveler, and ZAR3 240.00 for a child under the age of 12 years old sharing with at least one adult.

 (Please mention on the Enquiry Form if you want the other accommodation options, Flycatcher Castle or Westlodge so we can check availability and price for you)

Itinerary for This Tour

Day 1

Meet and greet by guide at your Johannesburg/ Pretoria hotel or the airport and depart for the town of Sabie via the Long Tom Pass (weather allowing). For this itinerary, it is necessary to depart the Johannesburg region before 7.30am at the latest.  Of course, the earlier you can go on this day the better and the more sites can be visited and we can collect you as early as 6.00am.

Passing through the town of Dullstroom you reach points on the central plateau (called the Highveld) that are over 2000 metres. Although the region can have very pleasant temperatures in the daytime throughout most of the year, at night and during winter they can plunge well below freezing. Log fires are considered a popular treat in all guest houses. Trout, a fish that thrives in cold water, have been introduced to local rivers and streams. It is a popular destination for fly fishers and many north European trees and plants grow here too. Snow is common in winter.

We will stop en route to have a quick “on the go” snack lunch.

Once over the Long Tom Pass, we journey through the forestry town of Sabie and misty Graskop village at the edge of the escarpment with its famous lift down into the deep leafy subtropical hardwood forest in the gorge below. Usually, on this day, we go to God’s Window and Lisbon Waterfalls but we might also choose to go to Three Rondawels viewpoint of the Blyde Canyon first. It depends on which part of Kruger Park you are going to and your particular itinerary. Because this tour is private we can adjust to your specific needs.

Accommodation at Graskop Hotel, Lunch, Dinner, Bed, and Breakfast

Day 2

Rise early this morning for breakfast at the hotel/lodge. Our guide will depart with you and take you for the balance of the Panorama Route Tour, not covered the day before, all entrance fees and lunch (usually traditional pancakes savoury and sweet in the mist belt town of Graskop) included.

There are some stimulating but not too strenuous walks to the various viewpoints and waterfalls to be done and this together with the clean high mountain air will give you an appetite! But do wear good walking shoes, hats, and sunscreen on both days of this tour. When it is not misty the sunshine is very bright and intense even in the cooler weather. UV is always high at these altitudes.

Finally, but only if you are going to northern Kruger or to stay at Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and Moholoholo Forest Camp, the wonderful animal rehabilitation centre picturesquely situated underneath the cliffs in a small game reserve at the bottom of the escarpment,  we traverse the Abel Erasmus Pass which also has many unusual attractions including a “Tufa” waterfall, more dramatic mountain scenery, and finally at the bottom catch sight of your first Baobab Tree.

If staying at Moholoholo for an extra night we can then arrange the boat trip on the Blyde River into the canyon beneath the towering cliffs of the Drakensberg escarpment and if you have a binocular see the tiny figures of people viewing the canyon from where you did on top, the day before!

Your guide will drop you at your Kruger area location in the evening (or back in Johannesburg if doing it at the end of your safari or the local Nelspruit airport or Johannesburg Airport to fly home or on to Cape Town).

Day 3

Inclusions:

  • Private guide and vehicle,
  • Entrance fees to attractions along the Panorama Route,
  • Lunch on the Panorama Route,
  • 1-night accommodation at Graskop Hotel, Dinner, Bed, and Breakfast. ( please mention on Enquiry Form if you want the other accommodation options, Flycatcher Castle or Westlodge so we can adjust price)

Exclusions:

  • Any accommodation before or after the tour,
  • Additional transportation before or after the tour,

Accommodation for this Tour

Westlodge Bed and Breakfast

Your holiday accommodation, ideally situated along the famous Panorama Route in mpumalanga, situated in the small town of Graskop. Westloge is beautifully designed, Victorian-Styled Bed and Breakfast.

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