Icons of Southern Africa - From £1,208

Nothing can quite prepare you for what awaits in Cape Town! Table Mountain, endless beaches, and big city scenes, all this and much more are ready to welcome you today. Explore the heart of the city and get a first-hand feel of this cosmopolitan buzz, before starting the trip off right, with your Travel Director and your fellow travellers, where excitement will be riding high.

In what the locals call the ‘Mother City’, you’ll waste no time getting started. Kick off with an essential morning orientation tour to get your bearings, as your Travel Director brings the city to life — from the colourful facades of Bo-Kaap to the lush Company Gardens and the 17th-century Castle of Good Hope. Later, you can choose to uncover another side of the city on a Choice Experience to Cape Flats and explore Athlone’s powerful anti-apartheid history. Then it’s time to shift gears and take in Cape Town from above. Ride the iconic cableway up Table Mountain, where panoramic views over the City Bowl and Atlantic Seaboard promise a real ‘wow’ moment.

Today is about taking in Cape Town and surrounds, your way, and you’ll have options galore. Wine lovers could choose to pop the cork and sip their way through the day in the Cape Winelands, via the Franschhoek Wine Tram. Other options for those whose perfect day is the great outdoors: lace your boots up for a guided hike to the top of Table Mountain, or take it up a notch on a thrilling mountain-biking trail. In the evening, keep the local flavour going with a Choice Experience — a home-hosted South African BBQ dinner served with warm hospitality and plenty of conversation.

Farewell Cape Town, it’s been a dream. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. You're in for a treat though, as another adventure in the form of a safari, awaits today! We board our included flight and say a quick hello to Johannesburg, before hopping straight to it as we make tracks to Mabula Game Reserve, home to the main event. Set against the picturesque backdrop of the UNESECO-listed Waterberg Mountains, the fantasy of coming to Africa will really set in. Wild, open and magical, in our 4x4 vehicle, it will be all eyes peeled as the sun sets over the bushveld and the animals begin to emerge.

You’ll be rising early today as we go in search of lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo that make up the magnificent Big 5, and there’s no better way to do it than with your Local Guide leading the charge. Feel like a true explorer as we navigate the dusty tracks in pursuit of spotting animals in both the vegetation and sparse open spaces while learning all about the area under our Guide’s expert knowledge of the area. Whether you spot the Big 5 or not, there’s no doubt you’ll enjoy this truly magical experience. So take a moment to put your camera down and soak up sights, sounds, and smells of Africa.

We’ll bid a fond farewell to the bushveld, tucking into a tasty breakfast, and just like that it's time to head back to civilisation to our next city stop. Johannesburg is hard to resist, get your bearings first up with an orientation of its sights and sounds with your Travel Director. With an afternoon to explore your way take the opportunity to get a history fix at Soweto, delving into the infamous history of South Africa's oldest township and once home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners. For a slice of adventure, consider donning a helmet to explore the Sterkfontein Caves and wander the Maropeng Visitor Centre, where humanity’s origin story comes to life through interactive exhibits. However you choose to explore this afternoon, you’ll be sure to have taken away a piece of why people fall in love with the people and energy in this vibrant city.

Your trip around southern Africa's icons comes to an end today. Say 'totsiens' (until we see each other again) to your new friends as you prepare to return home.