Multigenerational Family Journeys · 10 nights
The Kalahari Family Expedition
At sunrise a meerkat climbs the nearest child to get a better look at the Kalahari.
At a glance
- Nights
- 10
- Party
- 4–6 guests
- Countries
- South Africa
- From
- Price on application
- Best season
- Year-round (malaria-free)
We built this one for families who can't, or would rather not, take malaria tablets. That usually means very small children, an expectant mother, or a grandparent whose doctor has said no. Every night is malaria-free, and the wildlife is no consolation prize. Tswalu is the largest private reserve in South Africa, with black-maned Kalahari lion, both rhino species, pangolin, aardvark and cheetah.
Your family has Tarkuni, Tswalu's private homestead: five bedrooms for up to ten guests, booked for one party only, with its own chef, guide and tracker. Tswalu asks for at least two nights, three in peak season, and here you have six. Johannesburg comes first, for the Apartheid Museum and the Cradle of Humankind. Cape Town closes it in one of Ellerman House's villas.
Highlights
- Malaria-free every night, for every age
- Tarkuni to yourselves, with your own chef, guide and tracker
- The habituated meerkats at dawn
- Black-maned Kalahari lion, tracked from first light
- Horseback in the red dunes for adults and teenagers
- An Ellerman House villa with its own pool above Bantry Bay
The places
Where this journey takes you
South Africa
Johannesburg
A city in a planted forest on the Highveld, and the start of most journeys north and east.
Johannesburg · Tswalu Kalahari · Cape Town
The route
- Day 1–2
Johannesburg, The Saxon
Interleading suites and a large pool. Day one: the Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill for the adults, Gold Reef City for the children, by private vehicle. Day two: the Cradle of Humankind, with a guide who makes the fossils as good for a seven-year-old as for a grandfather.
- Day 3
Johannesburg to the Kalahari
One Pilatus PC-12 or King Air 350 from Lanseria to Tswalu's own airstrip. Your guide meets the aircraft and drives you to Tarkuni.
- Day 4–8
Tswalu Kalahari, Tarkuni
Day four: the meerkats at dawn. Day five: horses for the adults and teenagers, archery and Junior Rangers for the younger ones. Day six: helicopter over the Korannaberg. Day seven: dinner at Klein JAN for those 12 and over, with the chef at Tarkuni cooking for the younger children. Day eight: the lion pride, tracked from dawn. A second vehicle on request lets the grandparents take shorter drives.
- Day 9–10
Cape Town, Ellerman House
The aircraft flies you from Tswalu to Cape Town. One of the two Ellerman House villas: three bedrooms, a private pool and garden. A private sunset cruise in Table Bay on the last evening.
- Day 11
Departure
Transfer to Cape Town International for your flight home.
Flown by turboprop and helicopter. How we choose the aircraft
How each generation spends the days
Grandparents
A camp chair at the meerkat burrow, shorter drives, dinner at Klein JAN, the Malori deck under the stars.
Parents
Riding through the dunes at sunset, the lion pride at dawn, the helicopter over the Korannaberg.
Children
Meerkats on their shoulders, archery and Junior Rangers at Tarkuni, the Gold Reef City rides in Johannesburg.
The guide drives you to the burrows while it is still dark and sets out camp chairs for the grandparents. The children sit in the sand. Nobody tells them to be quiet; they just are. When the sun clears the dune the first meerkat comes up, looks around, and climbs the highest thing nearby, which is a seven-year-old's shoulder. The child doesn't move. Behind her, a grandmother's camera doesn't stop.
Where you stay
The lodges
Included
- All private flights in one aircraft: Lanseria to Tswalu, Tswalu to Cape Town
- 2 nights The Saxon, Johannesburg
- 6 nights Tarkuni for your family alone, with chef, guide and tracker
- 2 nights in one Ellerman House villa, Cape Town
- All meals at Tswalu, including baby food and soft diets
- All Tswalu activities: drives, meerkats, horseback, archery, Junior Rangers, Korannaberg helicopter
- Dinner at Klein JAN (12 and over)
- Johannesburg and Cradle of Humankind touring, Table Bay sunset cruise
- All ground transfers by private vehicle
- Pre-departure delivery package and post-journey coffee table book
Price on application. Every family is different, so we price each journey on the number of guests and the ages of the children. Excludes international flights.
Treat this journey as a starting point. Your Journey Architect will change the pace, swap a lodge, add a round or take one out.
Download this itinerary (PDF)Day by day, the lodges, the courses and the aircraft, to share or forward.
Begin your journey
Your aircraft
is waiting.
In confidencePrivate line +27 83 647 7997