Southern Africa Tour With Friends

Touch down in Cape Town to begin your Southern Africa tour. A private driver transfers your party to Mount Nelson, a sprawling oasis dressed in blushing pink old world charm and situated in the heart of the city. Settle in, perhaps with a cocktail on the terrace or spa treatment. If you’re up for it, Kloof Street’s restaurants are a stone’s throw away.

Explore Cape Town’s story through food on a private culinary walking tour. Across 15 stops, your chef-guide leads you from Bo-Kaap’s spice-scented streets to Greenmarket Square, weaving together culture, history, and flavor. As you wander, sample local favorites, uncover hidden gems, and take in the city’s architecture and street life. Tip: Your guide’s intel might inform this evening’s dinner reservation. 

With a private guide and driver, your day on the Cape Peninsula unfolds around your group’s interests. Browse Kalk Bay’s harbor front and vintage shops; paddleboard or kayak to a rogue penguin colony; hike quiet trails in Cape Point Nature Reserve; and sip sundowners at a local hangout. Return to the city via majestic Chapman’s Peak Drive. Optional add-ons: a surf lesson with a local legend, treetop ziplining, or a bee conservation walk. 

Drive to the Franschhoek Valley for wine tasting aboard the Franschhoek Wine Tram. Hop on and off at your own pace to visit family-run wineries, sip tasting menus, and snack on artisanal provisions in picturesque settings. Reunite with your luggage at La Clé Villas to unwind in an exclusive-use villa nestled upon a working farm. Unwind as a group then gather for a braai (barbeque) dinner served with estate-produced wines. 

Franschhoek Village pulses with creative energy and storybook architecture. Follow a passionate local guide into the back rooms of galleries to meet curators and artists. Visit Everard Read’s sculpture garden, Ebony Curated’s contemporary spaces, and learn the stories behind works at IS Art. We’ve made you a coveted lunch reservation at Haute Cabrière for beautifully plated, French-inspired South African dishes served on a sun-drenched terrace. 

Pile into a Land Cruiser at Waterford Estate for a wine safari that connects you to the land behind the label. Take your first sips in the cellar before arriving at the 1988 Chardonnay block, home to Waterford’s oldest cherished vines. On the Red Wine Deck, graze a charcuterie board while sipping The Jem, Waterford’s esteemed flagship blend. The afternoon is yours to while away.

Fly to Greater Kruger to begin writing this trip’s first exciting safari chapter. We’ve chosen Jaci’s Sabi House in Sabi Sands Nature Reserve for your group, a stylish, exclusive-use villa that feels like a home in the bush. Privately guided and attended by a butler and a chef, days unfold at your rhythm. Plentiful gathering spaces invite unhurried conversations and set a joyful tone for roaming meals and social hours.

With total freedom, you’re free to set your schedule; sleep in for a late start, pack a picnic lunch and stay out all day, or take a night drive after sundowners. It’s safari, your way. Widely considered the crown jewel of South Africa, Sabi Sands promises some of the best leopard sightings in Africa. Expect up-close sightings of the Big Five, as well as giraffe, zebra, kudu, and buffalo drawn to the rivers.  

Rise in the honeyed light of dawn to the wafting fragrance of fresh-pressed coffee. Rumble along dusty tracks as the landscape shifts between sandy riverbed, savannah, riverine forest, and acacia trees. Check up on the resident lion pride to see if they had a successful night hunt, then steadily tick off a checklist of wildlife sightings. Dinner is a candlelit affair in the bush, before star-spangled cocktails around the fire. 

Today you’ll fly to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Instead of staying in town, we’ve hidden you away at Mpala Jena, an intimate, barefoot-luxe camp in Zambezi National Park. Sip cocktails in a swing chair shaded by sausage trees as elephants wander by. Later, salute sundown on a sunset cruise aboard a traditional dhow as hippos wallow in the Zambezi’s shallows. 

Rise early and make the atmospheric boat trip down the Zambezi River to arrive just above Victoria Falls. From a scenic overlook, stand awe-struck and humbled by the superlative cascade, thundering in the quiet of the morning. Spend the rest of your day absorbing the wonder of Zambezi National Park with Mpala Jena guides. Enjoy a game drive, bush walk, tiger fishing, or birding. A riverside dinner is served beneath a banner of stars. 

Fly to the Okavango Delta for a dramatic safari finale in the remote Khwai Conservancy for a wilderness experience that feels all your own. With just four tents, Little Machaba becomes your exclusive-use camp. Canvas Meru tents, bush walks, picnics, and armchair safaris observed from the deck harken to an old-school safari adventure. This afternoon, set out on a game drive, then sip sundowners at a pop-up gin bar. 

In Khwai, game drives wind through a sublime mosaic of floodplains, mopane woodlands, riverine forest, and wetlands. This is prime predator terrain; meet the resident lion pride, track wild dogs, and scan for leopards draped over branches. Herds of elephants, towers of giraffe, dazzles of zebra, bloats of hippo, and kaleidoscopic birdlife round out the wildlife parade. Alive with wildlife dramas, no two drives are ever the same. 

Today, you might park the game vehicle for a safari led by the senses. In the soft morning light, follow guides into the bushveld for a walking safari. With instincts heightened, every sound is amplified, every movement is magnified, and the sheer size of wildlife is put into shocking perspective. In the afternoon, a traditional mokoro canoe brings safari to the water. Gliding through reed-lined waterways, you’re a stealthy, silent observer.

Savor your final morning game drive as your safari comes to a close. Enjoy an unrushed breakfast on the terrace chorused by birdsong before flying back to Maun. From here, continue your onward journey or board your international flight home.