CAPE TOWN e PARCO ADDO

Cape Town rises in one of the most spectacular natural settings on earth, hemmed between the ocean and the towering flat-topped wall of Table Mountain, which presides over South Africa’s most beloved city. The cableway to the summit unveils 360-degree views over the city, the peninsula and the Atlantic, while the trails of Table Mountain National Park — UNESCO-listed as part of the Cape Floral Region — wind through the world’s unique endemic fynbos vegetation. The historic heart reveals itself on foot around the Company’s Garden and the city-centre museums, while the Malay quarter of Bo-Kaap dazzles with its vividly painted houses and historic mosques, the legacy of a community with deep roots and a spice-rich cuisine to sample in its small eateries. Along the seafront, the V&A Waterfront blends a working harbour with markets, boutiques and seafood restaurants, and is the departure point for boats to Robben Island, the prison island where Nelson Mandela spent many years of captivity and which is now a place of memory. To the south the peninsula unfolds along scenic roads such as Chapman’s Peak Drive towards the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, where the oceans seem to meet; along the way, Boulders Beach shelters a colony of African penguins. The beaches of Camps Bay and Clifton, beneath the Twelve Apostles, invite relaxation, while a short drive away the winelands of Constantia, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek offer tastings among vineyards and Cape Dutch architecture. Between grand landscapes, a complex history and a lively food scene, Cape Town is best savoured slowly, letting the sea, the mountain and the African light tell their story.

Herds of elephants drinking at the waterholes and unspoiled savannah just a couple of hours from Port Elizabeth: Greater Addo is one of South Africa's best-loved safari destinations, with the precious advantage of being a malaria-free zone, ideal for families with children. At its heart lies Addo Elephant National Park, the country's third-largest national park, created to protect the last Cape elephants and today home to more than six hundred of them. This is the only place on earth with a Big Seven: to the classic Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo) are added the southern right whale and the great white shark off the coast. The landscape shifts between dense spekboom thicket, coastal dunes and fynbos, explored on guided or self-drive safaris. Between close encounters and starlit skies, Greater Addo delivers the wild adventure of Africa with no compromises, in complete safety.