There may be no other country on the planet that contains such a rich collection of worlds as South Africa, from the wild game lands of Kruger to the urbanity of Cape Town, with a taste of just about everything in between, including the fine vintages of the Winelands. South Africa certainly made a lasting impression on the young Winston Churchill, who, in the midst of the Boer War, took time out to admire its “wonderful air and climate . . . the magnificent scale of its landscape, the life of unceasing movement and of continuous incident.”

In Johannesburg we’ll be guided by Robin Binckes, winner of South Africa’s first Tour Guide of the Year award and Travel & Leisure’s Global Vision Award. Robin will share his legendary passion for his native land, taking us around and about Jo’burg, the townships, and the Apartheid Museum, a bracing reminder that all worlds are not necessarily wonderful. Then we fly south to George and the Garden Route, a world-class coastline of forested hills, deep lagoons, and shining white beaches. Now south to Walker Bay, probably the best place in the world to watch southern right whales, and a five-star lodge set in an ancient milkwood forest in the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. And we’ll have a night in the Winelands’ Le Quartier Français, another great inn in an itinerary rich with great inns, before heading over to three nights at the gorgeous Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town, perhaps Africa’s most beguiling city, wandering, touring, and gazing up at “lofty Table Mountain with its beautiful table cloth of fleecy clouds,” in the words of David Livingstone. We conclude with a fine look at one of the world’s most revered national parks, Kruger, heart of an ecosystem that boasts what is probably the continent’s most eclectic congregation of wildlife (all of the so-called Big Five are abundant, and this is surely the best place in the world to see leopards in the wild).

Day 1: arrive in Johannesburg • Day 2: tour Jo'burg and townships with Robin Binckes • Day 3: fly to George; drive to Plettenberg Bay • Day 4: drive the Garden Route • Day 5: drive to Walker Bay • Day 6: Walker Bay and environs • Day 7: drive to the Winelands • Day 8: drive to Cape Town • Days 9 & 10: Cape Town • Day 11: fly to Kruger National Park • Days 12 & 13: Kruger National park area • Day 14: transfer to airport and flights home.

Victoria Falls Extension is available for this trip

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