South Africa: Wildlife and Winelands

Rising from the plains of the north, Joburg is a modern metropolis, the powerhouse of South Africa, its veins coursing with rivers of gold. Yet for all the country’s natural wonders, it is human history that is writ large in Johannesburg: moving museums chart the difficult story of Apartheid, while the Cradle of Humankind is home to the largest concentration of ancient human fossils ever discovered, a fascinating glimpse into where human life began. 

Set within the wild confines of Kruger National Park, Sabi Sand promises some of the finest wildlife-watching in South Africa. Seasoned safari-goers spend their days watching leopards snooze from the branches or waiting patiently for an elephant herd to trundle down to the riverbed, before returning to some of the most opulent lodges in the country, trading tales beneath immense, star-laden skies as the trilling, night-time melodies of the bush recommence.

Stand atop Table Mountain and see fertile seams of natural beauty threading through the city below, from the fynbos-covered hills of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens to the soul-melting sunsets of Lion’s Head and the sands of Boulders Beach, home to thousands of African penguins. Down by the docks, the chic V&A Waterfront is hosts the Zeitz MOCCA, the largest collection of contemporary African art in the world, while the food and wine across melting pot Bo-Kaap and trendy Woodstock are an artform themselves.

Let the rolling fynbos guide you into a land striped with vines, where luxury spas and Georgian mansions recline in the shadows of mammoth peaks. South Africa’s wine region is legendary, whichever route you take: to Constantia, where some of the country’s oldest wineries still produce fine Sauvignon Blancs, through the iconic estates of Stellenbosch or to the old French town of Franschhoek, home to art galleries and fine-dining restaurants just as heavenly as the wine. 

Rolling red dunes and luxurious, far-flung lodges scattered beneath the summits of the Korannaberg Mountains: South Africa’s largest privately protected space is a wild experience, where days are spent studying the rock engravings of the San people, among the oldest hunter-gatherer peoples on earth, or heading out to spot a cabal of mammals: jackals, cheetahs and the critically endangered ground pangolin, perhaps, all adapted to the desert’s unforgiving whims.