Big Cats & Desert
9 nights, 2 stops — desert & coast.
From Kgalagadi to Cape Town, the route is built around South Africa’s wildlife and wild coast.
What you'll see
The journey, one day at a time
Into Kgalagadi
Arrive in Kgalagadi, met and transferred to your accommodation.
Kalahari predators
Drives along the Auob and Nossob for black-maned lions, cheetah, gemsbok and superb raptors.
Kalahari predators
More of the desert — predators at the waterholes and raptors over the dunes.
Kalahari predators
Drives along the Auob and Nossob for black-maned lions, cheetah, gemsbok and superb raptors.
Kalahari predators
More of the desert — predators at the waterholes and raptors over the dunes.
On to Cape Town
Transfer to Cape Town and settle in, with time to get your bearings. Table Mountain, the Cape Peninsula, the Boulders penguins and the winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.
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. 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.
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.
!Xaus Lodge
A remote community-owned lodge deep in the Kgalagadi dunes — stark, authentic Kalahari.
One&Only Cape Town
A polished lodge, for the city, coast and winelands.
The Silo
A dramatic hotel atop the Zeitz museum on Cape Town's V&A Waterfront — pillowed glass and harbour views.
Cape Grace
A polished lodge, for the city, coast and winelands.
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.