The Grand Traverse

Nights

18

Party

2–4 guests

Countries

South Africa · Botswana · Kenya

From

US$ 63,750 per person, based on four guests sharing, including private aircraftExcludes international flights to and from Africa.

Best season

Jul–Oct

The Grand Traverse is the longest journey in the golf collection, crossing three countries with eight places to stay and four rounds along the way. Cape Town comes first, with the Zeitz MOCAA, Robben Island by private boat and dinner at Nobu. Fancourt gives you all three courses and an evening in the cellar. Leopard Creek puts you on the Kruger boundary, and MalaMala shows you the Sabi Sand the way it has always been done. Then the aircraft takes you to Mombo on Chief's Island in the Okavango, up the continent to Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, and last of all to Angama Mara for the Migration.

Highlights

• All three Fancourt courses and Leopard Creek
• Robben Island by private boat
• Dinner in the MalaMala boma
• Wilderness Mombo on Chief's Island
• A Mara River crossing with no other vehicles
• The Out of Africa picnic

1. Day 1

   Cape Town · The Silo Hotel

   We meet you at Cape Town International and drive you to The Silo Hotel, 28 rooms in a converted grain silo above the V&A Waterfront. Rest and the rooftop this afternoon. Dinner at the hotel, early, so the flight can wear off.

2. Day 2

   Zeitz MOCAA

   Go downstairs and you are in the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, which fills the base of The Silo: 6,000 works by 100 artists. Your guide takes you round before the day's visitors arrive. The afternoon is free on the Waterfront or up on the rooftop, with the harbour and Table Mountain in front of you.

3. Day 3

   Robben Island · One&Only Cape Town

   A chartered boat, not the public ferry, takes you to Robben Island with a specialist historian who gives the island the time it needs. In the afternoon you cross the Waterfront to One&Only Cape Town. Dinner is at Nobu, the only Nobu in Africa.

4. Day 4

   Cape Town → George · Fancourt Hotel

   Your Embraer Phenom 300 lands at George in under an hour. In the afternoon you play the Outeniqua, a Gary Player course ranked No. 22 in South Africa, with a caddie. Non-golfers have the spa and the gardens. Dinner at Fancourt.

5. Day 5

   Golf · Fancourt Montagu

   The Montagu is No. 4 in South Africa, a Gary Player design upgraded in 2005, played in the morning with the Outeniqua Mountains behind every tee. Non-golfers can drive to Knysna for lunch on the lagoon, or visit the Golfing for Change project in Oupad.

6. Day 6

   Golf · Fancourt The Links

   The Links is No. 1 in South Africa for 2025 and hosted the 2003 Presidents Cup. Your caddie will tell you what the wind is worth on each tee. Non-golfers have a quiet day at the spa. In the evening the sommelier opens the library for a vertical tasting and a six-course pairing in the Fancourt cellar.

7. Day 7

   George → Lowveld · Private lodge near Leopard Creek

   The Phenom 300 flies north-east, about ninety minutes, to Malelane on the southern edge of the Kruger. You stay at Buhala Lodge, ten minutes from Leopard Creek, above the Crocodile River with the Kruger on the far bank. Take a late drive with your guide this afternoon, or rest.

8. Day 8

   Golf · Leopard Creek Country Club

   Leopard Creek is No. 3 in South Africa for 2025 and hosts the Alfred Dunhill Championship. On the 13th the Crocodile River runs below the green on the Kruger boundary, and you will usually see hippo. Your caddie reads the greens and the river. Non-golfers go into the Kruger for a morning drive with the lodge guide and join you for lunch.

9. Day 9

   Lowveld → MalaMala · MalaMala Main Camp

   A Cessna Caravan makes the short hop to the MalaMala strip, with a low pass first to clear impala, and sometimes buffalo or elephant, off the runway. MalaMala Main Camp sits on the Sand River. Your own vehicle and guide are waiting for the afternoon drive.

10. Day 10–11

    MalaMala · Sabi Sand

    Two full days on MalaMala's land, with the Sand River running through it and the Big Five on it. Your guide stays at every sighting as long as you want. One evening dinner is in the riverside boma, where the camp pours South Africa's wine regions one bottle at a time while the fire burns down.

11. Day 12

    Sabi Sand → Okavango · Wilderness Mombo

    A Pilatus PC-12 takes you to Kruger Mpumalanga International for customs, then on to Maun and the Mombo strip on Chief's Island in the Moremi Game Reserve. Wilderness Mombo has eight suites raised above the floodplain on a 45,000-hectare concession. The afternoon drive goes as soon as you are ready.

12. Day 13–14

    Wilderness Mombo · Okavango

    Two full days on Chief's Island. Your guide follows the lion, leopard and wild dog of the floodplains, and elephant and buffalo walk past camp every day. In the heat of the day, sit on your deck and watch what comes down to the water in front of it.

13. Day 15

    Okavango → Nairobi · Giraffe Manor

    An Embraer Praetor 600 flies you from Maun to Nairobi in about three hours, and you are at Giraffe Manor in Karen by late afternoon. In the morning the Rothschild giraffe put their heads through the upper-storey windows at breakfast and take pellets from your hand.

14. Day 16

    Nairobi → Maasai Mara · Angama Mara

    After breakfast with the giraffe, a Cessna Caravan flies you from Wilson Airport to the Angama strip, about forty-five minutes. Angama Mara sits on the Oloololo Escarpment, its tented suites 1,000 feet above the plains. The afternoon drive takes you down into the Mara Triangle.

15. Day 17

    The Mara River crossing

    Your guide has been watching the herds along the river since before dawn. Your vehicle goes to the crossing point, with no others in sight, and you wait while the wildebeest gather. When the first one goes the river fills with animals, and you stay until it is over.

16. Day 18

    Out of Africa picnic

    A slow last morning. In the afternoon your guide takes you to the spot on the escarpment where Out of Africa was filmed: white linen, champagne, and the Mara 1,000 feet below turning gold on your last evening in Africa.

17. Day 19

    Departure

    A Cessna Caravan takes you back to Nairobi for your international flight, or the Praetor 600 flies you on to Johannesburg. Your Journey Architect has your luggage checked through. Thirty days later the coffee table book of your trip reaches your door.

Flown by turboprop, light and super-light jet and mid-size and super mid-size jet. How we choose the aircraft