Rovos Rail Golf Safari
10 days
2024 departures: 11-20 Sept, 21-30 Oct
2025 departures: 6-15 Jan, 24 Feb-5 Mar, 10-19 Sep, 20-29 Oct
From ZAR 92 060 pps
View Brochure
The Golfer’s Dream Tour
Six golf courses in ten days, safari game drives and other excursions for non-golfers along the way, travelling to each destination on Rovos Rail, the most luxurious train in the world.
It’s a golfer’s Dream Tour!
Itinerary
Pretoria-Pilanesberg-Spionkop-Durban-Hluhluwe-Imfolozi-Eswatini-Kruger-Dullstroom
This Golf Safari combines everything a golfer could wish for into sublime slow travel across South Africa. Pampered on Rovos Rail with old fashioned glamour, dressing for dinner, sipping fine wines and the world’s largest train cabins, serviced by your own butler. You’ll play five golf courses in South African and one in Eswatini, while non-golfers go on excursions including big game safari, introduction to fly fishing, whisky tasting, Anglo Boer war battle tour and curio shopping.
Day 1
JOHANNESBURG…PRETORIA
From Johannesburg airport, you’ll be whisked away on a private transfer to the Rovos Rail station in Pretoria for the all-aboard call at 10am. A red carpet and glass of champagne is awaiting you, indicative of the kind of luxury to expect on this most exclusive train. The train chugs gracefully around South Africa, recreating the style of travel of the Edwardian era, with décor to match and the finest wines flowing and gourmet cuisine served.
This morning we travel north-west until the slopes of the Pilanesberg Mountains appear. Hiding in the wilderness of Pilanesberg National Park are Africa’s big five most dangerous animals. Also, the most splendid Gary Player designed golf courses at the Sun City Resort.
All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Day 2
PILANESBERG
All guests depart for the 18-hole Sun City or Lost City Golf Course, with undulating and rocky terrain and spectacular views across the bushveld. The Lost City 13th hole has a green in the shape of the African continent and crocodiles in the water feature – no need for alarm. The whole course has wide fairways and a series of lakes, making it one of the most unusual, exciting and interesting golf courses in the world. There are facilities in Sun City Resort for the enjoyment of non-golfers, and everyone has an afternoon of leisure.
All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Gary Player Golf Course
Lost City Golf Course
Day 3
SLOW TRAVEL ON ROVOS RAIL
This tour is about travelling slowly, in style and relaxing to the rhythm of the train as we head south-east to our next destination of Ladysmith in the beautiful KwaZulu Natal Midlands. Leaving its bloody colonial history and Boer War battles behind, this town has changed its name to uMnambithi. The fertile countryside is now famous for farming and horse-breeding ranches.
We’ve come here because tomorrow the golfers will play on a course rated as South Africa’s most beautiful golf course, with the clubhouse occupying one of the great locations in world golf. All meals and beverages on the train included. Dinner is Africa themed or smart casual.
Day 4
SPIONKOP
Golfers depart for Champagne Sports Resort for tee off and lunch. This 18-hole championship golf course is incredibly scenic, among lush wooded parkland and challenging holes with elevation changes and undulating terrain. The opening holes run alongside a deep river gorge that cuts through the property, and the 430-metre second is a terrific downhill par-4. Take a well-deserved rest at the 19 th whose panoramic views extend beyond the golf course to the surrounding countryside and Drakensberg mountain range. It has an outside deck with sun umbrellas for the summer and inside fireplace for the winter.
Non golfers have the opportunity to visit Spionkop Lodge, with the Drakensberg Mountains as a backdrop for historic battle stories. Your host, Raymond or his son Alastair, will walk you around some historic sights, while painting a vivid picture of the military mindset that
resulted in the loss of so many British and Boer soldiers. It is a story on which the sun never sets and gives context to South Africa’s complex past. All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Day 5
DURBAN
It’s an early continental breakfast for the golfers, who are going to tee off before lunch at one of Durban’s fine golf courses; Durban Country Club, Mount Edgecombe, or Cotswold Downs. It’s a sub-tropical climate here, with a pleasant average of 25°C all year around and a few degrees hotter in the humid summer months. Non golfers are offered a Durban city tour and visit to the botanical gardens, with special collections of orchids, bromeliads, palms and cycads. Lunch is at the beachfront and the afternoon is at leisure.
All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Durban Country Club
Mount Edgecombe
Cotswold Downs
Day 6
HLUHLUWE-IMFOLOZI GAME RESERVE
We head for Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park for a 4×4 game drive, seeking out the animals this area is renowned for, in particular elephants and rhinos. This extremely scenic park has over two hundred thousand acres of hilly terrain covered in low acacia bushveld. There is no off-road driving, but elephants normally oblige by crossing the road, or quite often blocking the road, just when you are passing. This often gives a closer experience than you bargained for. There’s something to see around every corner. Back on the train, lunch is served in the dining car, while we travel toward the eSwatini border and cross into this rural country landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique.
All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Day 7
ESWATINI
The tiny Kingdom of eSwatini, meaning “place of the Swazi” is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, with King Mswati III holding veto power over all branches of government. He’s hugely popular across the length and breadth of this scenic, rural country, where the pace of life is slow.Golfers will have an early morning breakfast before transferring to the Royal Swazi Sun for tee off and lunch. This golf course within the Ezulwini Valley (Valley of Heaven) has magnificent fairways lined by parkland.
Non golfers will take advantage of Swaziland’s game-watching opportunities in Mkhaya Reserve, with good chance of seeing rhinos, who are very well-protected in Swaziland. Following this is lunch and a visit to the famous, colourful Swazi Candles and some exquisite curio shopping.
All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Day 8
KRUGER PARK GOLF AND GAME
Golfers depart early morning for Leopard Creek Country Club. A unique feature of each hole is a magnificently sculpted bronze leopard, by South African Dylan Lewis, one of the world’s most famous living sculptors. He’s renowned for capturing movement in his works, especially the big cats. This golf course borders Kruger National Park, and the namesake of the Crocodile River inhabits the river, and antelopes, buffalo and even elephants have been known to make an appearance on the course. Non- golfers go on a game drive in Kruger, before everyone boards the train for a dramatic route due west up to the top of the Drakensberg escarpment.
All meals and beverages on the train included. Guests are requested to dress for dinner.
Day 9 DULLSTROOM
We’ve arrived in Dullstroom, famous for trout fishing in its crystal-clear lakes and an altitude of 2,100 metres above sea level. The non-golfers in the party will get a fly-fishing presentation, followed by lunch in the elegant Walkerson’s Hotel.
Golfers are in for a treat at Highland Gate Golf & Trout Estate, set among scenic mountainous terrain. Ernie Else says, “When golfers say they were torn between hitting their next shot and pausing to take a photo of the course and its scenery, you know it has to be a very special place. Highland gate is definitely that kind of place”. In the afternoon there’s an introduction to whisky distilling and a tour of the Arts & Crafts Centre.
Guests are invited to dress for a 1920s themed dinner, or wear smart casual.
Highland Gate Golf & Trout Estate
Day 10
PRETORIA
The train reaches its journey’s end at the dedicated Rovos Rail Station in Pretoria. A driver will transfer you to Johannesburg.
N.B. The golf courses played depends on availability.