Fly from the UK, via Johannesburg, to Cape Town.

Upon arrival at Cape Town, meet your guide and journey east to Hermanus, a famous whale-watching centre from July to November and a year-round seaside resort. En route to Hermanus, you’ll call at Stony Point, home to a unique colony of African penguins.

Departures between September and November will include a whale-watching cruise. Tonight, enjoy an included dinner at La Pentola, close to your hotel

This morning you’ll journey to the Garden Route Game Lodge, in the heart of a privately operated reserve where you’ll spend the next two nights. During your stay here, in the shadow of the Langeberg mountains, you’ll enjoy all the wonders of safari game drives to see the Big Five (lions, rhino, elephants, leopards and buffalo) while staying in comfortable lodges and enjoying typical African dinners looking out over the reserve.

This afternoon, enjoy your first game drive, then perhaps enjoy a sun-downer beside the authentic Boma (camp fire) before dinner.

A second day at the lodge begins with a pre-breakfast game drive. Enjoy some free time for a siesta – perhaps by the pool – before setting off on a second evening game drive and enjoying another memorable dinner under the stars.

Enjoy a last early morning game drive before travelling on to Oudtshoorn, the Ostrich Capital of the World, in the heart of the Little Karoo plain. The world’s strangest, largest and often most-valuable bird has been farmed here for 130 years – first for its plumage, and more recently for its high-protein, low-cholesterol meat. Enjoy a taste at your barbecue lunch, before visiting the world-renowned Cango Caves, with their caverns of stalactites and stalagmites, before transferring to Mossel Bay for a two-night stay.

This morning, you’ll travel to coastal Knysna for a cruise on the beautiful lagoon, which hugs the edge of the fascinating Featherbed Nature Reserve. After the cruise, you’ll travel in a 4×4 up to the headland for some spectacular views, listening as your expert guide tells you about the local history, flora and fauna. A buffet lunch will be served at an outdoor restaurant under a picturesque canopy of milkwood trees.

After some free time to explore Knysna’s charming waterfront, enjoy a guided walk around the Garden of Eden in the Harkerville Forest. Tonight, you’ll enjoy a traditional South African barbecue.

Head west into the verdant Cape Winelands region and to wine-producing Franschhoek for lunch (own account) and a wine tasting in the fabled Franschhoek Wine Valley, before continuing to Stellenbosch, deep in the heart of this scenic landscape.

With its oak trees and picturesque, European-style Cape Dutch houses, Stellenbosch is a delightful place to spend a night.

Enjoy a guided introduction of historic Stellenbosch, followed by a glass of bubbly and some local nougat. Lunch will be included in a wine estate.

This afternoon, you’ll journey to Cape Town where you will spend the next three nights. The remainder of the afternoon and evening is at leisure to perhaps explore the Mother City, with its renowned Waterfront and cultural landmarks such as the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa or vibrant Bo Kaap.

Meet your tour manager for an orientation tour of the city. You’ll see historical landmarks like the Castle of Good Hope, the House of Parliament, and the leafy Company’s Gardens. You’ll also enjoy a stroll past the colourful Bo Kaap colonial district and, weather permitting, ascend Table Mountain in a rotating cable car that offers a 360-degree panorama as it climbs to the 1000-metre high summit. You will return to the hotel on time for lunch.

After the tour, you’re free to relax in one of the world’s most stunningly located cities. Why not take a stroll along the redeveloped Victoria and Alfred waterfront or catch a boat to infamous Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned?

Enjoy a fascinating full-day tour on which you’ll visit treacherous Cape Point, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean, Kirstenbosch, famous for its Botanical Gardens and Hout Bay, and – weather-permitting – breathtakingly scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive.

Spend the morning at leisure before transferring to the airport for your overnight flight home via Johannesburg.

You’ll land back home this morning, at the end of a wonderful holiday in South Africa.