Going wild for animal magic
OF course there are lions and elephants and zebras and much more besides but perhaps it’s the hippos that amaze the most. Huge groups of the jolly looking yet grumpy and very dangerous beasts wandering and wallowing at the watering hole. It’s one of the wonders of South Africa, a country less explored than many yet with so many delights, a magical mix of the wild and the sophisticated, from the safari parks to the chic waterfronts of Cape Town, with views up at Table Mountain.
Two new offerings from upmarket escorted tour specialist Titan Travel explore both extremes of the fascinating place at extremely good prices. The Contrasts of the Cape trip costs £3,049 for a 17-day adventure around the verdant tip of the continent, a price that includes flights, Titan’s VIP door-to-door travel service and all manner of tours, breakfasts and a great number of lunches and dinners.
The trip starts with three nights in Cape Town where, from the Commodore Hotel, there are views of Table Mountain and Robben Island, the former prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years – hop on a ferry for a closer view. There are tours of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
Next it’s the rugged coast, with some of the world’s best land-based whale watching, driving the glorious Garden Route. Storms River, where the sea crashes against the black rocks, is on the way to Kariega Game Reserve, home to the big five (lions, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard), for two nights in the main lodge – and four game drives.
Leaving there, there’s a drive across semi-desert, the Great Karoo, for sightings of rare black rhino before spending the night in renovated slave quarters dating back to the 18th century.
Head into the snow-capped Swartberg Mountains, a landscape rich in ostriches (feed them by hand) and tobacco plantations, before taking Cape Route 62, the world’s longest wine route, past cliffs, streams, forests and some of the world’s leading vineyards. The trip’s finale is an exquisite dinner, paired with top wines, by one of the country’s leading chefs.
The other tour, The Garden Province of KwaZulu-Natal with Lesotho, comes at things from a different perspective. The 14-day holiday, from £2,699, with most breakfasts and dinners and some lunches, even high teas (plus flights and home pick-up), combines colourful safari visits and South Africa’s Zulu history.
STARTING in Durban (for two nights), things kick off with a tour of Oribi Gorge, a nature reserve among cliffs and forests where leopards, baboons and antelopes roam. There are then two nights in Amakhosi Private Game Reserve and two in Isandlwana, in a hotel built into a rock face overlooking the spot where the British fought the 24,000-strong Zulu army.
The three-night finale is St Lucia, a town that’s a Unesco World Heritage Site on the edge of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where the big five includes the white rhino, saved from extinction.
The coast is home to the country’s largest herd of African elephants and even gives the chance to spot whales.
Each tour is wildly different – but brings home the natural beauty of a country that deserves to be seen.