Review: Luxury Africa Safari, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Town, Franschhoek, Hermanus, Whale Watching

Our travel agent arranged the most phenomenal trip.  We were three couples.  We saw only a bit of the gorgeous country of South Africa, but all that we saw and experienced was beyond any expectation.  We were met at every juncture by the most professional and knowledgeable guides.  Our accommodations were five star.  Everyone we met was friendly and wanted to be certain that we were having a good time.  There was never even the tiniest glitch.  It was perfect.

We traveled from Pretoria to Cape Town on the Rovos train, an experience beyond description:  luxury, gourmet food, scenery, wild animals.  The people we met on the train were predominantly South African, on holiday, and to a person they were helping us spot wild animals, making suggestions for the remainder of our trip, and just wonderfully fun and interesting.

In Cape Town, we rode the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, the landmark of Cape Town.  It was foggy and the view of the city disappeared in the fog halfway to the top, but the flora on top was beautifully amazing and there were lots of dassies up there.  One day, we drove down the peninsula to the cape.  The coast is gorgeous and the mountains are spectacular.  We saw African penguins and wild ostriches, but no baboons though we were told they were around.  We also spent a day in the Constantia wine area near to Cape Town.  It, too, was gorgeous and the wines were really really good.  We stayed four nights in a very luxurious hotel right on the waterfront.  There were seals in the harbor right in front of the hotel

We drove to Hermanus and spent two nights at the Thatch House, which is gorgeous. Our room was almost as large as the entire top floor of our house and had a view of the lagoon.  We did some awesome whale watching, whales right under the swim platform of the boat.  We also drove up the Helm in Auld valley and had a wonderful lunch and wine tasting.

From Hermanus, we drove over and around the mountains to Franschhoek, a beautiful scenic drive.  We spent three nights.  We did lots and lots of wine tasting and saw some awesome wine estates and gorgeous countryside, as well as tasting exquisite wines.  And we petted cheetahs at a sanctuary.

From Franschhoek. We flew to Sabi Sands to the Dulini Lodge.  Our bungalow was wonderful, luxurious and overlooking the dry river bed.  The food and the service were excellent.  Our guide and our tracker were so very very good.

One day, I showered with an elephant looking in.  The day before, it was a nyala.  The shower had a glass wall to the outside and the animals come right by.  It was just amazing.  We saw so much, up close:  lions, leopards , elephants, rhinos, and so much more.  It is kind of like Galapagos.  The animals are not afraid of the large range rovers and the driver took us right near to the animals.  Often the lion or the elephant or the leopard walked right past the vehicle.  If you stood or got out, they would run, but as long as you stayed seated, they had no fear.  The same happened on our deck.  If we stayed seated, the animals came right by.  We even had elephants drinking out of the plunge pool at our bungalow.

From the Dulini Lodge, we drove to the Kruger Park Airport and flew to Livingstone, Zambia.  A short drive took us across the bridge into Zimbabwe.  We spent an entire morning at the absolutely awesome Victoria Falls.  It truly is one of the natural wonders of the world.  

On our final day, we crossed into Botswana.  We began to doubt the value of this excursion after very long lines to exit Zimbabwe and to enter Botswana, but it was absolutely worth it.  We saw baboons and hippos and kudu.  The highlight was getting to see the elephants swimming across the Chobe River.

It was, without doubt, the trip of a lifetime.  I cannot thank this travel company, and specifically our agent, enough for the absolutely perfect arrangements.