West Coast – Cederberg City hall caves tours
5 DAYS

DAY 1:
At 07h00 we depart from the Parc du Cap in Bellville (at THE LODGE).   The rest of the tour members will be picked up at the Road Lodge Airport.  Time of departure from the airport is 08h00.  Our first stop on the mountain tour is Table Mountain, where we’ll journey to the top via the aerial cableway, providing the weather allows.  It is after all the most important mountain in our country.  En route we pass the Castle and journey upwards through Adderley Street, one of Cape Town’s most famous streets with many important monuments and buildings, including the Andrew Murray statue and Jan Smuts’ statue and also Parliament.  Before we visit the Bo-Kaap with its Cape Malay houses, we’ll journey past the High Court and St George’s Cathedral. 

Henceforth we follow the spectacular route along Camps Bay, Clifton and Sea Point, where the RSG studio is situated and Green Point where the new Green Point stadium is being constructed for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.  We then follow the N7 through the Swartland with towns like Malmesbury, Moorreesburg and Piketberg, after which we will enjoy lunch on Piekenierskloof which is part of the Olifantsriver Mountains.

After lunch we drive alongside the Olifantsriver past Citrusdal all the way to Clanwilliam, the headquarters of Rooibos tea. Clanwilliam was also the home of C. Louis Leipoldt and we also visit Leipoldt’s grave in the Pakhuis Mountains, which is part of the Cederberg range.  The rocks look as if they were stacked on top of each other, hence the name Pakhuis mountains. After the visit we travel via Trawal and Klawer to Vanrhynsdorp.  This is the heart of Namaqualand and is also home to our own hotel and accommodation for the four night stay, the Namaqualand Country Lodge.

DAY 2:
After a hearty breakfast we depart for the Matzikama Mountains, the most northern end of the Cederberg range.  Here, we will enjoy scones and rooibos tea on a guest farm on top of Gifberg.  On Gifberg we will also witness how a small stream of water formed a hole in ‘n rock over centuries.  One stands amazed if you stand underneath the rock and see how the water falls through the rock.  The Matzikama Mountains is known for its rocky creatures and rock dinosaurs, which we’ll see on our tour on top of Gifberg.  Gifberg has its name thanks to the poison tree which is endemic to the mountain range and is unique to the area.  Bushmen used the poison to put on their bows and arrows.

After lunch in Vanrhynsdorp we depart for the Bokkeveld mountains through the Knersvlakte, where we’ll pass over the beautiful Vanrhyns Pass. Here we will see the biggest Quivertree forest and the Niewoudtville waterfall.  In Niewoudtville we visit a church with an interesting history, where the congregation buried a pig.  Our last visit for the day is the world renowned succulent nursery in Vanrhynsdorp, where we give you the opportunity to buy a Quivertree, Bababoudjie, Krap-ogie or one of the other rare succulent plants from the Knersvlakte. 

DAY 3:
After breakfast we’ll drive next to the Olifantsriver Valley to Clanwilliam where we will cross the Olifantsriver, over the Nieuwoudt Pass, into the Cederberg Mountains, past the beautiful Algeria.  It is here where the Ceder Trees of old grow in the high slopes of the Cederberg Mountains, between 1000 and 1700 metres above sea level.
This is a 70km gravel road to our ultimate destination, the City Hall Caves.  This route promises to be full of imaginative surprises between the tremendously high mountain slopes and ravines.  You will see examples of big hollow rocks and if you apply your imagination it almost seems like the place where the dinosaurs, seen in the Matzikama Mountains, hatched. 
A stones’ throw away, we’ll visit Lot’s wife that literally looks like a woman in the form of a pillar of salt.  Up in the mountains we will also see a wine cellar that is the wine cellar with the highest sea level in South Africa.  The vineyard almost grows at snow level.

The highlight of our tour is the City Hall Caves.  This is a part of our country that hasn’t been fully discovered by the tourist.  At the caves we’ll see some of the most beautiful rock art (Bushmen paintings).  We’ll also enjoy a picnic lunch amongst these majestic mountains.  It is here that your imagination will lead you to another dimension.  You can roam around for hours without seeing the same thing twice.  It is an experience you can’t try and explain in the written form.  Here, you will use most of your digital and/or video camera’s memory.  Please make sure that you make provision for enough films or memory on your camera.  After an unforgettable soul enriching day in the Cederberg Mountains, we travel back to Vanrhynsdorp. 

DAY 4:
This is a lovely and relaxing day where we will enjoy some time at the beach.  After a big buffet we depart for Vredendal. From Vredendal we drive along the Olifantsriver to Lutzville where we turn away towards Strandfontein.
Enroute we will pass underneath the longest railway bridge of its kind in South Africa.  We will also see the fishing town Papendorp, where the Olifantsrivier merges with the Atlantic Ocean, the end of a fertile valley.
At Strandfontein we enjoy a lovely picnic lunch at the beach and take a barefoot stroll along the ocean. Strandfontein is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the whole of Namaqualand and we’ll see why people flock here from around the world to enjoy their holiday. 
After lunch we depart for Strandfontein’s neighbouring town.  Doring Bay is a picture perfect West Coast town with diamond boats in the harbour and fishermen’s boats scattered on the beach.  Doring Bay is also the start of the whale route.
We drive further along the West Coast to Lamberts Bay, which is well known for its West Coast crayfish and the Malagasy Islands.  From Lamberts Bay we travel via Clanwilliam, back to Vanrhynsdorp.  En route we will see many rooibos tea fields in the Sandveld.    

DAY 5:
It might be our last day, but you are ensured another highlight and interesting West Coast experience.  We enjoy a “boere” breakfast and depart for Clanwilliam where we drive away towards Lambert’s Bay, which is famous for its West Coast crayfish and Malagasy Islands.  We follow a toll road from Lambert’s Bay to Eland’s Bay where the crayfish dinghies are loaded with a crane into the sea.   From here we move away from the sandveld in the direction of Dwarskersbos and visit three interesting towns called Laaiplek, Port Owen and Velddrif. Laaiplek is a typical West Coast town with a port in the Bergriver where grain use to be loaded. Port Owen is a relatively young town that reminds one of Venetia with its water streets.  Velddrif is the “bokkom” capital and also a town with lots of character.
From Velddrif we drive via the R27 to Langebaan, one of the most popular holiday destinations along the West Coast where many people come to enjoy their December holidays from all over the world.  Here, we will enjoy lunch at the Boesmanland Farm Kitchen at Club Mykonos.  It is THE place along the West Coast where you can enjoy pure traditional Boesmanland and West Coast cuisine.  On the menu you’ll find crayfish, prawns, snoek and sweet potatoes, different types of fish, calamari, barbequed meat, leg of mutton, tripe curry, vegetables and how does milk tart and “koeksusters” sound?
After this delicious West Coast meal we travel back to Cape Town, where we conclude our tour.  We arrive in Bellville between 17h30 and 18h00 and between 18h00 and 18h30 at the Road Lodge Airport.