Cape, Waterberg & Mauritius

Set in the Western Cape of South Africa, Cape Town is a fabulous, fascinating city, tucked in the folds of a very beautiful national park, where you are never short of a view and never more than a short walk away from an epic hiking trail. There's so much to see and do that a few nights will only enable you to scratch the surface.

Set on the Whale Coast, De Hoop is a lovely coastal nature reserve, a real hidden gem, containing fabulous white dunes, swimmable rock pools, shore-based whale-watching (Jun-Oct), fascinating endemic fynbos flora and fauna, plus a good range of larger mammals, notably including baboons, bonteboks and caracals. There are a handful of good accommodation options.

Set in the heart of the Cape Winelands, Franschhoek is a beautiful and relaxed village and a very popular place for our guests to stay, with a wealth of high class wineries, restaurants and hotels, plus options for shopping, mountain hiking and biking.

Set in the northwest of South Africa, Tswalu is the largest private reserve in the country, with awesome Kalahari landscapes and a rich range of wildlife, notably including meerkats, aardvarks and pangolins. Guest accommodation is in just three very high quality lodges, which are almost always accessed by shared charter flights direct from Johannesburg and Cape Town. Non-malarial.

Set to the northeast of South Africa, Johannesburg is the great commercial heart of the country and the main transport hub, a sprawling mess of a place, scarred through its heart by the gold mines. It is not somewhere safari travellers tend to linger too long, although the Cradle of Mankind may be worth a visit.

Set way out in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is a very remote and beautiful tropical island, with a verdant mountain interior, fabulous white sand beaches and rich coral marine life. The island is mainly focused on large luxury beach hotels and golf resorts, which are occasionally combined with safari in South Africa.