Beauty of Southern Africa: Highlights Tour in 13 Days

Cape Town offers a majestic ambiance that stems from blossoming gardens, elegant boulevards, and lively culture between the shimmering Atlantic Sea and soaring mountain summits. The gorgeous city rises out of foundations from the oldest European settlement in Africa and dates back to the 17th century. Your flight will land at Cape Town International Airport, where your private transfer will meet you upon arrival. You will quickly settle into luxury at your hotel where you can enjoy the grand views of renowned Table Mountain. You can watch the clouds fold over the plateau-like cloth at 3,558 above sea level.

The seductive beauty of Cape Town will return in the morning. Your guide will meet you at the hotel and lead you to wonders like the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. The vibrant colors of the flora will spread across two square miles beneath the rugged mountain peaks. You can wander down the timber and steel bridge that pass through the trees. History will come to life as you wander through the 17th-century Dutch defenses with its pentagonal-stone walls. The interior hosts a military museum that displays antiques and historical decorative arts, such as Cape Dutch furniture.

This morning, your guide will meet you in the lobby of your accommodation and lead you on a scenic tour outside of Cape Town. As you travel near Chapmans Peak, you will find The Hoek. Here, waves form clear barrels splash near the white sands. Cape Point acts as the most southerly tip of Table Mountains National Park. The wind will carry the briny scent of the Atlantic Ocean while Cape Zebra graze on the windswept bush. As you travel back to Cape Town, you will stop at Boulders Bay to find a colony of more than 2,000 African penguins.

Your private transfer will escort you from Cape Town to a gorgeous farm at the heart of the Cape Winelands, where luxury stems from personalized attention, the lush landscape, and seasonal ingredients. The remainder of the day will be yours to indulge in the beauty of your surroundings, such as relaxing with a soothing spa treatment to wandering the gardens. You can also enjoy an olive workshop to learn how to grow, press, and preserve olive oil. During your workshop, you can sample the savory taste of local olives before finding the aromas of grass and honey after the olives are pressed.

You will venture into the vineyards around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, which are two cities helping to create the Cape Winelands. Lush vineyards spread to the sheer mountain slopes that border the fertile landscape. You will visit a selection of wineries with your guide to find celebrated flavors and dynamic layers to different wines. After wandering the vineyards with your guide, you will enter the tasting room to find a wine with aromas of plum and chocolate, leading to complex flavors of black currants and graphite. When in Stellenbosch, restaurants, cafes, and popular markets will brim with aromas of grilling steaks and smoked vegetables.

After breakfast, your private transfer will meet you at the hotel and escort you to the airport for your flight to Kruger Mpumalanga Airport. The scenery will dramatically shift from the combination of mountains and ocean of Cape Town to the plains and lakes that spread across the landscape of greater Kruger National Park. You will continue to your luxury lodge within the world-renowned Sabi Sands Reserve, which is known for its population of big cats and stunning panoramas. The remainder of the day will be at your leisure to spot wildlife at the watering hole that neighbors the lodge and attracts animals, such as impala and zebra.

You will meet your guide before sunrise and head out on an exciting game drive. Sabi Sands encompasses over 250 square miles with unique ecosystems that support the renowned Big Five. Venturing into the wilderness before dawn will provide you with the best opportunity to view active wildlife. The herbaceous aroma of the landscape will fade as your guide looks for signs of hunting leopards or foraging elephants. The private reserve has the highest number of leopards in South Africa, accounting for over 12 leopards per every 38 square miles.

Your immersion into the Sabi Sands wilderness will continue as you enjoy the fabulous game drives around the protected landscape. Starting your safari in the evening will give you another opportunity to view active wildlife. Big cats like lions and leopards return to the hunt in the cooler night air while nocturnal animals like servals and pangolins return to the woodlands. Spotting nocturnal wildlife can bring a new perspective to the wilderness by revealing marvels that often go unnoticed by visitors. A pangolin relies on its senses of smell and hearing to hunt for ants and termites.

You will fly from Kruger National Park to Livingstone and travel with your private transfer into Zimbabwe. Your hotel will overlook the majesty of the Zambezi River and the cascading waters of Victoria Falls. You can wander along the paths for views of the marvelous falls at your leisure. The series of falls stretches for more than 5,603 feet and reaches over 354 feet tall. The thunderous sound of water crashing into the Lower Zambezi River will echo as a cloud of mist sprouts up from the base.

You will travel to Kasane Airport in Botswana for a short scenic flight to Linyanti, which is located at the southern edge of Chobe National Park. The wildlife edges the marshland, attracting lions, cheetahs, and leopards in addition to offering one of the best destinations to view wild dogs. After settling into the luxuries of your lodge, you can meet a ranger for a walking safari around the private reserve. A walking safari will slow down your discovery of the region for more detailed interactions with the wilderness and wildlife, such as signs of passing lions or elephants.

In the morning, zebra, cape buffalo, and antelope drink from the edges of the marshland. You will begin your game drive before sunrise so that you can explore the captivating collection of wildlife the region offers from waterbuck to vervet monkeys. Your guide will explain how the region supports the world’s highest density of African elephants. As the morning warms, you can find elephants rolling in the muddy riverbanks to cover their bodies in the clay. Between June and September, large numbers of elephants march across the landscape.

After breakfast, you can enjoy the wildlife around your lodge in a variety of ways as well as more game drives and a birdwatching excursion. The stunning avifauna of Linyanti remains a huge attraction due to its diversity from black-breasted snake eagles to Bradfield’s hornbills. As you explore the thick grasses and calm waters around the Linyanti River, you can hear white-rumped babblers singing a chorus of harsh chattering. You may pass while rufous-bellied heron contrasts the surrounding greenery with their dark gray foliage and bright yellow legs.

At breakfast, you can bask in the aromas of fresh coffee as the surrounding wilderness once again returns to life. The sounds of Bennett’s woodpeckers will fill the air as zebras return to the water’s edge. Giraffes tear leaves from the trees while elephants pull grass from the soil. Your private transfer will escort you to the airstrip for your flight back to Kasane Airport, where you will continue on to Johannesburg International Airport to begin your journey home.