Classic South Africa
What you'll see
The journey, one day at a time
Into Cape Town
Arrive in Cape Town, met and transferred to your accommodation. A South African trip built only on bush misses half the country. Cape Town, the Peninsula and the Garden Route add scenery, sea, penguins, whales, fynbos and wine — a completely different register that turns a safari into a fuller, more varied journey. Pairing the two is the classic, and best, way to see the country.
Mountain, ocean & wine
Table Mountain, the Cape Peninsula, the Boulders penguins and the winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. More of the Cape — Cape Point, the beaches, the marine life and the wine country.
Mountain, ocean & wine
More of the Cape — Cape Point, the beaches, the marine life and the wine country. Transfer to Cape Town and settle in, with time to get your bearings.
Mountain, ocean & wine
Table Mountain, the Cape Peninsula, the Boulders penguins and the winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.
On to Sabi Sand
Transfer to Sabi Sand and settle in, with time to get your bearings.
Off-road leopard country
Off-road, tracker-led drives for the world's finest leopard viewing, with the full Big Five.
Off-road leopard country
Dawn and dusk drives following the cats by sign — leopard, lion and more, up close.
Off-road leopard country
Off-road, tracker-led drives for the world's finest leopard viewing, with the full Big Five.
On to Johannesburg
Transfer to Johannesburg and settle in, with time to get your bearings.
City & origins
Soweto and the Apartheid Museum, and the Cradle of Humankind's fossil sites on the city's edge. More of the city — history, culture and the deep story of human origins.
City & origins
More of the city — history, culture and the deep story of human origins. A safari trip can connect straight through Johannesburg without pausing. But a day here — the Apartheid Museum, Soweto, the Cradle of Humankind — frames the whole journey, grounding the wildlife in the country's history and even the origins of our species. It is the human context to the wild.
Departure
A final morning in onward — a last outing or a slow start as time allows — before the transfer onward and the journey home.
The season changes what you see.
Dry-season bush
Prime bushveld safari — sparse cover, game at water, cool and clear. The Cape is wetter, but the whales are in.
Green summer & the Cape
Lush bush with newborns and migrants; peak, dry, sunny season for Cape Town, the coast and the winelands.
Hand-picked camps & lodges
Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel
Cape Town's grand pink hotel beneath Table Mountain — a colonial-era landmark and city institution.
Ellerman House
An exclusive cliffside villa-hotel above the Atlantic in Cape Town, art-filled and discreet.
Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa
Johannesburg's most celebrated hotel, a discreet villa retreat in leafy Sandhurst.
Londolozi
A legendary family-run Sabi Sand lodge — a pioneer of the leopard viewing the reserve is famous for.
Singita Boulders
Singita's flagship Sabi Sand lodge on the Sand River — a benchmark for refined safari luxury.
Cheetah Plains
A strikingly modern, all-electric exclusive-use villa lodge in Sabi Sand, design-forward and private.
Make it yours.
Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.