The Indian Ocean Arc

Nights

12

Party

2–4 guests

Countries

South Africa · Mozambique · Tanzania

From

US$ 38,750 per person, based on four guests sharing, including private aircraftExcludes international flights to and from Africa.

Best season

Jun–Oct

Four nights in the bush, then two islands. You start at MalaMala, where the Sand River runs through one of the longest-established private reserves in the country, with your own vehicle on every drive and a boma on the riverbank one evening. Then east to the Bazaruto Archipelago, where the villas at Azura Benguerra look over shallow water that changes colour through the day and dugong still graze the seagrass. And north to Zanzibar, for a morning in the forest and an afternoon in the old town before the private atoll of Mnemba. Three countries sound like a lot of travel. In your own aircraft it is four comfortable flights.

Highlights

• The MalaMala boma and wine evening
• Dugong off Bazaruto
• Humpback whales (Jul–Sep)
• Diving the Mnemba reef
• Red colobus in Jozani
• Stone Town on foot

1. Day 1–4

   Johannesburg → MalaMala Main Camp, Sabi Sand (4 nights)

   Your Pilatus PC-12 meets your international arrival in Johannesburg. Over MalaMala's own strip the pilot makes a low pass to clear the impala and warthog, and the safari has started before you land. Four nights at Main Camp on the Sand River, with your own vehicle and guide every time you go out. One evening the riverside boma is set for you alone, and the wines come out one region at a time, each explained as it is poured.

2. Day 5–8

   MalaMala → Azura Benguerra Island, Mozambique (4 nights)

   The PC-12 flies east to Vilanculos, where you clear into Mozambique, and a helicopter takes you out over the archipelago to Benguerra. Ask the pilot to go the long way; the colours of the shallows from the air are worth it. Four nights in your beach villa. Snorkel or dive with your guide looking for dugong, one of the last viable populations in East Africa. Between July and September humpback whales pass close enough to watch from the beach.

3. Day 9–12

   Benguerra → &Beyond Mnemba Island, Zanzibar (4 nights)

   The Embraer Phenom 300 flies north from Vilanculos to Zanzibar. You spend the arrival day ashore. First Jozani Forest for the Kirk's red colobus monkeys, which live nowhere else, then lunch on the Emerson Spice rooftop and a private walk through Stone Town, and the boat across to Mnemba in the afternoon. Three full days on the atoll, diving and snorkelling the reef, and one candlelit seafood dinner on the sand.

4. Day 13

   Zanzibar → departure

   The boat and a short drive get you to Zanzibar airport, where the Phenom 300 is waiting to take you to Dar es Salaam, Nairobi or Johannesburg for your international flight. Three countries, and you will not have stood in a single queue.

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