Luxury holidays in South Africa

With magnificent Table Mountain as its dramatic backdrop, Cape Town is one of the world's most beautifully sited cities and the pulsating gateway to the country. The lovely setting of this cosmopolitan city has always ensured great appeal but recent development around the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront has created a very fashionable destination. Just 45 minutes drive away are the mountains and valleys of the Winelands with their gracious Cape Dutch homesteads, cask-lined cellars and pretty villages with renowned restaurants and fine country house hotels.

Travelling east along the southern coast from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, is the famous Garden Route, a spectacular stretch of forest, lagoon and lake with delightful coastal towns. The Eastern Cape boasts the most concentrated elephant population in Africa and, to the north and east of Port Elizabeth, there are distinctive wildlife reserves that provide malaria-free game viewing. This was real frontier territory in the early part of the 19th century and reflections from this turbulent period are still in evidence.

Washed by the Indian Ocean, KwaZulu-Natal is rich in the culture of the Zulu people and historical associations with the Zulu and Boer wars. The mighty Drakensberg mountain range runs through its length, and its wildlife reserves have some of the finest game viewing in Africa. Home to the fantastic Madikwe Game Reserve, North West province extends up to the Botswana border and has the full complement of big game, incredible bird-life and wide open African skies. And within the boundaries of Mpumalanga province is Kruger National Park, the greatest wildlife sanctuary in the world. In the private concessions that surround the park are a collection of the most exclusive game lodges on the continent.