The Featherbed Co have been worked hard at rebuilding the infrastructure and facilities as well as rehabilitating the vegetation since the devastating Knysna fires in June 2017 razed the restaurant and tourist facilities to the ground and left most of the plant-life reduced to ashes. Re-opening the standard Featherbed Eco Tours were an exciting moment, these are the tours started the Featherbed business and remained as the core product for 32 years.

The formula for visiting the Featherbed Nature Reserve will remain unchanged. Visitors who want to enjoy a tour of the reserve will be transported on board the Featherbed ferry from the terminal at the Cruise Café on Remembrance Drive. At the reserve, the Featherbed guides will lead guests on a 4×4 journey to the top of the Western Head – offering spectacular views over Knysna and the lagoon. Your clients will then have the option of either following the 2.2 km coastal walk or returning by vehicle to the restaurant where they will enjoy a scrumptious lunch, followed by a return boat transfer back to town.

The Food Forest restaurant has been redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up, complimented by a new indoor facility to accommodate all weather conditions when needed.

Featherbed is planning on offering exciting new tour options, of shorter duration, allowing guests with less time on their itinerary to visit the reserve. Keep an eye out for these offers coming soon!

Please contact us if you would like some more information on a Featherbed Eco Tour or some sample packages showing how this experience can be incorporated into a package.

The post The Magic of a Featherbed Eco Tour appeared first on Southern Africa 360.

Cape Town has no shortage of beautiful beaches, adventure activities, wine tasting, markets galore, shopping, wildlife safaris, day trip options and more. It is no wonder the Mother City has many awards and achievements to boast!

Here are a few of the top activities not to be missed by first time visitors to the Mother City.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens – Take a quite walk through Africa’s most beautiful garden. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch, against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain. The garden contains over 7000 species of plants from southern Africa. Pack a picnic and enjoy the lawns surrounded by the beautiful gardens.

Cape Point – Is a spectacular sight with towering stone cliffs, endemic fynbos, breath-taking bays, beaches and rolling green hills, just 60km outside Cape Town. Explore spectacular scenery overlooking ocean currents colliding and enjoy a range of activities available at Cape Point such as the Flying Dutchman Funicular, the Two Oceans Restaurant, a walk of the Shipwreck Trail, tidal pools, wildlife, whale and bird watching and more. Be sure to pack your camera and comfortable walking shoes!

Table Mountain Ariel Cableway – This flat-topped majestic mountain forms a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. For the best views of the city, take a trip up the Ariel Cableway with rotating floors offering 360° views. The cableway is a unique and 87-year- old method of seeing the wonders of the Cape Town. Once at the summit you will be astounded by vistas of the Mother City, Robben Island and the Peninsula.

Robben Island – Home to the prison that housed many political prisoners under apartheid, the most famous being Nelson Mandela. Explore the island that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit. Robben Island was used from the early days of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) right up until 1996, this Unesco World Heritage site is preserved as a memorial to those who spent many years incarcerated here. You can only go here on a tour, which lasts around four hours including ferry rides, departing from the Nelson Mandela Gateway beside the Clock Tower at the Waterfront.

The V&A Waterfront – Where the city meets the sea. The V&A Waterfront attracts roughly 24 million visitors each year and is South Africa’s most-visited destination. Shop, dine and enjoy entertainment in a spectacular working harbour. The V&A Waterfront is a mixture of hotels, stores, restaurants, leisure and entertainment facilities. Spanning 123 hectares the V&A Waterfront offers a space where you can work, live, eat and play. With so much on offer, there really is something for everyone on offer.

Groot Constantia – Experience South Africa’s oldest wine producing estate, established in 1685. Simon van der Stel’s manor house, a superb example of Cape Dutch architecture, is maintained as a museum at Groot Constantia. Set in beautiful grounds, there is a large tasting room as you enter the estate. Further on is the free orientation centre, which provides an overview of Groot Constantia’s history, and the beautifully restored homestead. Other activities in and around Constantia include the Constantia Valley Zip & Sip, the Constantia Cape Peninsula Tour and the Sunset Wine & Dine.

Zeitz MOCAA Museum – The Zeits Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is the largest art museum in Africa, and the largest museum in the world showcasing the art of Africa and its diaspora. The museum is dedicated to researching, collecting, and exhibiting this art, and houses an impressive collection of work from all over the continent and beyond. Opened on the 22^nd of September 2017 the exhibition space covers 6,000 square meters over nine floors, with 100 gallery space.

Boulders Penguin Colony – A serene spot where penguins party! Just a 40-minute drive from Cape Town lies the beautiful Boulders Beach – home to a colony of some 3000 delightful African penguins. This picturesque area has enormous boulders and small sandy coves. A boardwalk runs from the Boulders Visitor Centre at the Foxy Beach end of the protected area – part of the Table Mountain National Park – to Boulders Beach, where you can meet the penguins at one of the most visited beaches and one of the only places in the world where you get this close to African Penguins.

District Six Museum – It’s impossible not to be emotionally moved by this museum, which celebrates the once lively multiracial area that was destroyed during apartheid in the 1960s and 1970s, its 60,000 inhabitants forcibly removed. Inside the former Methodist Mission Church, home interiors have been recreated, alongside photographs, recordings and testimonials, all of which build an evocative picture of a shattered but not entirely broken community. The District Six Museum, established in December 1994, works with the memories of the District Six experience and with that of forced removals more generally.

Aquila Game Reserve – The Aquila Private Game Reserve is situated just a 2 hours’ drive from Cape Town, making it the closest private game reserve to the city and an ideal excursion for those who are not visiting one of South Africa’s famous wildlife reserves further away. Aqulia offers an unforgettable wildlife experience in a beautiful setting situated in a valley between the Langeberg and the Outeniqua Mountains. Aquila is home to the incredible Big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo) as well as hippo, giraffe, buck and over 170 different species of bird.

There is no shortage of activities on offer in Cape Town, explore all that this amazing city has to offer – scenic natural beauty, fine dining, adventure, night life and activities galore. Please contact us if you would like some more information on things to do in and around the Mother City or some sample packages showing how this destination can be incorporated into a package.

The post Top things To Do In & Around Cape Town appeared first on Southern Africa 360.