Intimate Highlights of South Africa and Botswana Safari

Legacies will whisper through Cape Town’s streets of change. The city’s transformation has been quite remarkable since Mandela led South Africa out of apartheid. Street markets will impress with vibrant hues and exotic smells, and pastel-hued houses will ensure an old slaving heritage is not forgotten. Out on Robben Island, you will be guided around by Mandela’s former prison guard, Christo Brand, listening to tales of friendship and adversity. With a full day to explore, a city guide will show you marvelous places and histories. In the late afternoon, you will ascend by cable car up the mountain. You will take some time to walk one or two of the trails upon the summit and then gasp at sunset over the city.

The Cape Winelands start just 45 minutes from central Cape Town. Vineyards will blanket the landscape, basking in harmony with mountain pinnacles. They have been making wine on these slopes for over three centuries, and your first stop will be an old-world winery, which is a rustic farmhouse that introduces you to the region’s main varietals. Next on the journey is De Vaal, which is the vineyard where Pinotage was first cloned, and there is nowhere better to taste South Africa’s indigenous grape. You will have lunch in Stellenbosch, strolling around the country’s second oldest town and absorbing its slow and laid-back atmosphere. Then, you will finish in the new world, which is one of the fresh waves of wineries that are taking South African production to new heights.

From Cape Town to the Sabi Sands, and from Table Mountain to the Sabi River, a different kind of nature will take over. Zebras will splash around as they drink, and acacia trees will lie above the water. Kudu and springbok will also be at the river, drinking during the hottest part of the day. The safari will have already started, yet you will be sitting around a pool, sipping on drinks. That will be the style in the Sabi Sands where there is a contemporary luxury in the bush. While you will be going on game drives, the animal experience always continues for 24 hours a day.

There are three game drives a day: early morning, late afternoon, and after dark in the evening. These reflect when the animals are most active. Game drives do not need to travel far. They tend to stick close to the Sabi River, which is a permanent water source that snakes through Greater Kruger National Park. There are no fences, and the reserve is a jigsaw piece of the larger Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which is a protected wilderness area that is spread across three countries and some 100,000 square kilometers. Wildlife will move freely around the Sabi River, and you never need to travel far in order to see it.

As dawn breaks, the tracker may see a lioness on the move. Up ahead, you can see the zebra, and the guide will position you beyond them, so you do not interrupt the hunt. Monkeys will howl from above as the zebra become increasingly alert. If one runs, the others will follow. There is no telling whether they run into an ambush or not as every game drive is different. Sometimes, you will encounter these dramatic scenes, perhaps even lions feasting on a carcass, and at other times you will find more charm than drama.

Leopards are a particular highlight of this reserve and can be wonderfully followed on a nighttime game drive. The area supports great numbers of elephants and rhinos as well, along with buffalo herds that are sometimes 60 or 70 strong. The famous Big Five are just the start. The Sabi Sands supports over 100 large mammal species, helping to provide a diverse overview of African wildlife in its natural habitat. Think wildebeest, springbok, kudu, eland, giraffe, hippo, baboon, peculiar antelope, and small nocturnal predators. Most poignantly, these three days on your safari will reveal how the species interact with each other, highlighting behavior in a way that is only possible in the wild like watching a baby elephant chase a warthog from the river.

It will take three short flights to reach the Okavango, so most of today will be taken up with travel, but the Okavango Delta will provide a serene place to relax after your journey. The camp will be perched on an island of palms trees and surrounded by the seasonal waterways of a desert oasis. Water is essential, especially in the desert, and animals migrate here from thousands of kilometers away just to get a sip. If you gaze out, you will be able to see their enthusiasm. Animals will skip in the water, and elephants will splash with their trunks. Even the hippos will not appear to be bad-tempered. In such a lush, watery oasis, you will quickly experience how seasonal change attracts life in wild Africa.

Hippos will grunt, and their calls will sound a lot like burps. Elephants are more harmonic, which sound much like a chorus of horns and trumpets. Lion calls echo in a sonorous and surreal way as they stretch across the landscape. There will be more immediate sounds as well: red lechwe wading, exotic birds above your suite, and oryx nibbling around the reeds. Smells will also entice, slowly impressing the life that surrounds you. You will explore in a mokoro canoe, and the safari will continue to be a multi-sensory experience. These traditional canoes are constructed from a single tree trunk. A gondolier will push you down narrow channels, taking you silently alongside everything around the banks.

With a mokoro you can get incredibly close to the wildlife, often being able to look up at the four-legged giants. A motorboat is the equivalent of a safari vehicle here as traveling by water is the easiest way to get around. You will travel slowly, going around islands, across lagoons, and through the heart of the Delta. In a water world, you never know what animals have been marooned somewhere. Buffalo and elephants will swim across while hippos dip their heads under the water. Game drives and game walks will also be a part of your safari program with the exact itinerary being planned on a day to day basis.

Your camp is to the west of the Delta, which is the area that floods first and has water all year around. This side of the Okavango is recommended for a multi-destination safari, as it proves to be a massive contrast from Sabi Sands and Linyanti. Hippos will become your neighbors, elephants will wander past your camp each evening, and wildlife will thrive in this bountiful space. By using all your senses, you will pick up on more of the details, learning what different animals do at different times of the day, and appreciating the daily battles between and within species.

The short flight to Linyanti will be spectacular, providing a scenic impression of how the Okavango Delta spills eastwards. You will cruise above snake-shaped channels, islets, and floodplains, spotting elephants and giraffes that are on the move. Landing in Linyanti, you will immediately grasp a mix of habitats. There will be water here along with open plains and thick swathes of forest. To the north is Chobe, which is a woodland that is home to the world’s largest elephant population. To the south, you will have the Okavango Delta, which is a seasonal wildlife haven. Linyanti is on the migratory path between them, and it is a reserve that has been made even more special during the last few years. For decades, the Savuti Channel was dry, but now it runs strong and clear, making the reserve a popular place for year-round residents.

Massive herds of buffalo will graze on the open plains, joined by zebra, wildebeest, oryx, and, clusters of more bashful antelope. Giraffes poke their heads above the trees, and you will quickly lose count of the elephants with herds roaming past at all hours of the day. Most of all, this is a place for predators. Deep in the trees, you will find a leopard that is draped along an acacia branch, and around the savannah fringes, you will discover lion prides that are learning how small their territories.

Across the savanna, you will see something move as figures move their heads in and out of the grass. You may be lucky and witness a pack of wild dogs that are out on their afternoon hunt. They move with tact at first but quickly pick up the chase. In comparison, the big cats must get really close in order to pounce. Working as a pack, the dogs chase their prey, trying to isolate a target. Once isolated, the animals run and run as the wild dogs work their prey to exertion.

This wildlife drama will be complemented by daily charm. Not every sighting will be thrilling and exciting. Soon, you will find that many animals are so numerous that they begin to blur into the landscape. After nine days on your safari, it will be hard to picture a land that is not populated by hippos and elephants. Walking safaris will bring a new impression. Now, you will be sharing the land with these giants, looking up and across at them. You will be just another mammal, and the herds will look at you inquisitively and unsure of what to make of such two-legged visitors. Walking safaris can be incorporated into your safari program along with nighttime drives as well.

You will depart Botswana by first flying to Maun, meaning another dreamy view over the Okavango Delta. In Maun, you will connect onto your international flight.