South Africa Coast and Safari: Cape Town, the Garden Route and a Malaria-Free Eastern Cape Reserve, 10 Nights

You are met at Cape Town International Airport and driven into the city on a shared transfer. Rooms are usually ready from mid-afternoon. Stretch your legs along the Sea Point promenade or at the V&A Waterfront, where there are restaurants for every taste and views back to Table Mountain.

A half-day tour that starts, if the wind and cloud allow, with the rotating cableway to the top of Table Mountain for views over the city and bay; cableway tickets are paid separately. Then the tour visits the Bo-Kaap’s painted houses and the historic centre. The afternoon is yours.

A full day down the Peninsula, with entry fees included. Drive along the Atlantic coast through Camps Bay and Hout Bay, then on to the lighthouse and cliffs of Cape Point inside the Table Mountain National Park. The colony of African penguins at Boulders Beach is the last stop before the return along False Bay.

A day without plans. The Cape Winelands, with Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl, make an easy full-day tour we can add. Otherwise, visit Kirstenbosch botanical garden, take the ferry to Robben Island, or spend the afternoon on Clifton’s sheltered beaches.

Your driver-guide collects you in the morning for the drive east along Route 62, through wine valleys and mountain passes into the semi-desert Little Karoo. Stop for lunch in one of the small towns on the way, such as Montagu or Barrydale, before reaching Oudtshoorn in the late afternoon.

A guided tour of the Cango Caves and their huge limestone chambers, followed by a tractor tour of a working ostrich farm. In the afternoon the road climbs over the Outeniqua Pass and down to the coast, arriving in Knysna, set on its lagoon, by late afternoon.

A morning at Monkeyland near Plettenberg Bay, where guides lead walks through forest home to rescued primates from around the world. The afternoon is free in Knysna, with optional lagoon cruises, kayaking, or, from June to November, boat trips to see whales off Plettenberg Bay.

East along the coast through the Tsitsikamma forests to a private reserve in the malaria-free Eastern Cape, where you check into a tented camp. In the late afternoon you head out with a ranger on your first game drive; dinner is served at the camp afterwards.

The morning brings the reserve’s special experience: a walking safari with a guide to track giraffe on foot, an intimate way to see these animals. After a rest in the heat of the day, an afternoon game drive continues into sunset, and dinner is back at the camp.

A half-day game drive in Addo Elephant National Park, home to hundreds of elephants that gather at waterholes, along with buffalo, zebra and a wide range of antelope. Lunch and the park fee are included. The rest of the day is at the camp, with dinner in the evening.

A last game drive on the reserve in the morning, if time allows, then a shared transfer to Gqeberha’s airport for your flight home, usually connecting through Johannesburg or Cape Town. The international connection is not included in the package.