The Southern Arc

Nights

14

Party

2–4 guests

Countries

South Africa · Botswana

From

US$ 43,750 per person, based on four guests sharing, including private aircraftExcludes international flights to and from Africa.

Best season

May–Jun · Sep–Oct

The Southern Arc is the long version of the southern African golf safari, and it ends on the water. You start in Cape Town at the Belmond Mount Nelson, with a tasting at Klein Constantia and dinner at FYN. Then Fancourt for the Montagu and The Links, with a vertical tasting in the cellar. Leopard Creek is next, on the Kruger boundary, followed by four nights at Singita Boulders on the Sand River, one of them out at a fly camp. Finally the aircraft crosses into Botswana for Wilderness Jao, a private island in the Okavango, where you go out by mokoro at dawn.

Highlights

• Fancourt's Montagu and The Links
• Leopard Creek
• Four nights at Singita Boulders, one of them at a fly camp
• Wilderness Jao's private island
• A mokoro at dawn and a helicopter over the Delta
• Dinner at FYN and in the Fancourt cellar

1. Day 1

   Cape Town · Belmond Mount Nelson

   We meet you at Cape Town International and drive you to the Belmond Mount Nelson in the Gardens, under Table Mountain. The gardens and the pool are there for the afternoon. Dinner is in the hotel, and early, so the flight can wear off.

2. Day 2

   Klein Constantia · FYN

   Your guide drives you out to Klein Constantia, No. 6 in the World's Best Vineyards for 2025 and the highest a South African estate has been placed, for a private tasting. In the evening you eat at FYN in the City Bowl: ten courses drawing on Cape Malay, Japanese and South African cooking, with the city lights below.

3. Day 3

   Cape Town → George · Fancourt Hotel

   The Embraer Phenom 300 lands at George in under an hour and you are at Fancourt by lunch. Hit balls on the practice ground this afternoon, or try the spa. Dinner is a private table in the Fancourt Manor House, the original manor and a national monument, and the room still keeps its old formality.

4. Day 4

   Golf · Fancourt Montagu

   The Montagu is No. 4 in South Africa, a Gary Player design upgraded in 2005. You play it in the morning with your caddie and the Outeniqua Mountains behind every tee. Non-golfers take a private drive along the Garden Route to Knysna for lunch on the lagoon, back at Fancourt by late afternoon.

5. Day 5

   Golf · Fancourt The Links

   The Links is No. 1 in South Africa for 2025 and hosted the 2003 Presidents Cup. It is open and firm, the wind settles most of it and your caddie settles the rest. Non-golfers can visit the Golfing for Change project in Oupad, Knysna. In the evening the sommelier opens the library for a vertical tasting and a six-course pairing down in the Fancourt cellar.

6. Day 6

   George → Lowveld · Private lodge near Leopard Creek

   The Phenom 300 flies north-east for 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. The afternoon is free. After the flight, a late drive along the river with your guide is a good way to stretch your legs.

7. Day 7

   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 with the Kruger beyond it, and there are usually hippo in sight. Your caddie reads the greens, and the river. Non-golfers go into the Kruger on a morning drive with the lodge guide and meet you for lunch at the clubhouse.

8. Day 8

   Lowveld → Sabi Sand · Singita Boulders

   A Cessna Caravan makes the short hop to the Singita airstrip. On the way in the pilot does a low pass to scatter the impala, and sometimes buffalo, off the strip, so your first game viewing is from the air. Singita Boulders has twelve suites on the river, and your own vehicle, guide and tracker are waiting. The afternoon drive leaves when you say.

9. Day 9–11

   Singita Boulders · Sabi Sand

   Three full days on the Singita concession. Your guide and tracker follow its leopard and lion, and you stay at a sighting for as long as you like. On the second night you leave the lodge for a Singita fly camp in a remote corner of the reserve: canvas, a fire and the bush all round you.

10. Day 12

    Sabi Sand → Okavango · Wilderness Jao

    A Pilatus PC-12 takes you to Kruger Mpumalanga International to clear customs, then north-west to Maun and on to the Jao strip in the northern Delta. Wilderness Jao is on a private island in the Jao Concession, five suites and two villas raised in the trees above the floodplain. You arrive in time for an afternoon on the water.

11. Day 13

    Mokoro and helicopter

    At dawn your poler takes you out in a mokoro, sliding through the papyrus channels without a sound as the light comes up. Later a helicopter flies you over the Delta, and from up there the channels, palm islands and floodplains start to make sense, with elephant and buffalo crossing them. Evening is on the deck as the Delta goes quiet.

12. Day 14

    Jao island sleepout

    Your last full day in the Delta, on the water or in the vehicle as you like. Towards sunset your guide takes you to a small private island where a mattress, bedding and a fire are ready for the night. You fall asleep to frogs and hippo calling across the channels, and wake to fish eagles.

13. Day 15

    Departure

    Breakfast back at camp, then a Cessna Caravan to Maun, where a Phenom 300 is waiting to take you to OR Tambo for your international flight. Your Journey Architect has your luggage checked through before you land. Thirty days later the coffee table book of your trip reaches your door.

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