This escorted group tour blends a selection of South Africa’s quintessential experiences into a well-paced itinerary for lovers of wildlife, walks, wine and sensational scenery. Begin with safari drives in a ‘Big Five’ private game reserve in the Eastern Cape, before making your way along the picture-perfect ‘Garden Route’. Take a welcome deviation to the vineyards of the world-class Winelands, ending up in the captivating city of Cape Town, steeped in momentous history and bordered by dramatic landscapes.
Wildlife drives in a private game reserve
Explore the Cango Caves
World-class wine tasting
Visit a local household & enjoy a home cooked meal
Farewell dinner & drumming at the Gold Restaurant
Stay in 4-star accommodation
Small group size – maximum 18
Fly overnight from London (regional connections available) to Port Elizabeth, via Johannesburg. Transfer to Amakhala Safari Lodge (or similar) where you will stay for 2 nights. Join a brief welcome meeting over lunch with your guide and fellow travellers, followed by a late afternoon game drive if time allows. (N) (L, D)
Board specialist safari vehicles for morning and late afternoon wildlife drives in a ‘Big Five’ game reserve. Cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and an assortment of antelope species also roam these lands. (B, L, D)
Early morning wildlife drive, before travelling to the Tsitsikamma National Park. Here you can take a picturesque walk and cross the suspension bridge that spans the gorge at the mouth of the Storms river. Then continue west to Knysna and stay 3 nights at the Knysna Hollow, located on a beautiful three-hectare country estate. (B, D).
Cruise across a stunning lagoon to the Knysna Heads aboard the John Benn, a classic boat named after a legendary harbour pilot. Then enjoy a leisurely stroll through the Featherbed Nature Reserve. Spend the following day at leisure, relaxing or joining an optional excursion. (B, D)
Drive to Oudtshoorn, ‘the feather capital of the world’. Take a guided tour of the Cango Caves, one of Africa’s most spectacular natural rock formations. Its vast caverns are adorned with beautiful and delicate stalagmites and stalactites. Then enjoy lunch and an informative excursion to a working ostrich farm, where you will come face to face with the world’s largest birds. Overnight at Swartberg Country Manor (or similar). (B, L, D)
Head out on an optional early morning meerkat adventure, meeting rescued former captives, accompanied by an expert guide. Then continue along Route 62, a scenic roadway that leads through the Karoo. Stop at the quirky town of Barrydale for lunch (payable locally) at Karoo Art Hotel. Stay 2 nights in the Winelands at Oude Werf Hotel (or similar). (B, D)
Full-day tour of the Cape Winelands. Drive through mountain ranges, vineyards and Cape Dutch homesteads between the golden triangle of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. Take a Land Rover wine tasting safari at Warwick Wine Estate, tasting ‘Big Five’ grape varieties. (B, L, D)
Morning guided walk around Stellenbosch, including a visit to the village museum, which charts the history of the region. Transfer to Cape Town for an afternoon at leisure. Stay 3 nights at the Cape Milner Hotel, which lies in the shadow of Table Mountain. (B, D)
Morning cable car ascent to the top of Table Mountain (weather permitting). Afternoon at leisure for exploration of the waterfront area or take an optional excursion to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for three decades. Dinner in a local home in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood, tasting authentic Cape Malay cuisine. (B, D)
Full-day tour of the Cape Peninsula. Drive along the Atlantic seaboard passing authentic fishing villages and the pretty seaside suburbs of Camps Bay and Hout Bay. Continue to the southernmost tip and visit Cape Point, returning via the penguin colony at Boulders Beach and Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Evening farewell dinner at Gold Restaurant, accompanied by an interactive drumming experience. (B, D)
Day at leisure to explore Cape Town or take optional excursions. Evening transfer to the airport for your flight to London, arriving the following day. Alternatively, contact our travel consultants to discuss extending your holiday. (B) (N)
Meal basis
As per itinerary – B: Breakfast, L: Lunch, D: Dinner, N: No meals.
Important information
Superior tour
This tour is based in 4-star accommodation.
Single supplement
From £675pp.
Private & tailor-made travel
This itinerary can be taken privately on a date that suits you, for which guideline prices are shown. Alternatively, it can be tailored to your exact requirements. Please contact us for details.
What is included?
International flights (and domestic flights if applicable)
UK departure and overseas airport taxes
Accommodation, itinerary and meal basis as described
Local transfers in an air-conditioned vehicle
Fully escorted by an English-speaking guide throughout
Entrance fees unless otherwise stated
ATOL and ABTA protection for your financial security
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Great cruise, boat, taxi, hotel, meal (and more!) arrangements in Athens and Corfu.
Oliver has this amazing ability to know what we would enjoy, which is why I've already booked my next trip with RB! To the Carribbean we go in November!! 🥳
Thanks Oliver and the entire team at RB!
Zain Qazi
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‘As usual, Sam at RB Collection arranged our recent Iceland/Scotland cruise with attention to every possible detail. He remembered what had worked for us previously and used that knowledge to enhance our experience. No question was too much trouble for either Sam or his colleague Clare. We would not consider anyone else for our holiday arrangements; RB Collection are truly superb!’
Hilary Carroll
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Wonderful way to book a wonderful holiday.
Such a personalised & attentive approach to helping us find the perfect family holiday! Couldn’t recommend more!!!
Pandora Bahrami
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They found us the perfect hotel for our London stay. Exactly the right balance of perfect location, incredible breakfast and they really listened to what we wanted. I even had access to one of London best gyms included in the stay!
Katie May Medley
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RB Collections are a wonderful family run firm who welcome you into the family from the first holiday you book with them. My special thanks go to Clare who always ensures my booking runs smoothly and takes the stress out of the process of decisions by ‘knowing’ and implementing my preferences using information she has ascertained from previous bookings. I don’t have to remember…..Clare does it for me.
Janet Goodwin
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Having just returned from a fantastic long weekend at Disneyland Paris, we had to leave a review for Sam and the team at RB Collection. They removed all the stress from organising the trip and ensured everything was in place for a truly memorable trip for all the family. We can’t thank them enough and we will certainly be back for future holidays. Our experience has been 10/10 👍🏻
Mike Boyden
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Just returned home from a wonderful holiday in Madeira arranged by Sam from RB Collection. Every detail from flights, hotel, transfers, recommended restaurants and "must to do's" was excellent and all documents arrived by post in good time for checking before departing on our holiday. Due to the weather, our journey was delayed by two days. However after contacting RB on the emergency number in the holiday package, all was sorted by the team - an upgraded hotel room at the same hotel, flight, transfers, taking away all the stress from ourselves and allowing us to enjoy our extra two days. One cannot put a price on a phone call and text messages when something unfortunate happens and you feel vulnerable.
On our return, the excellent service has continued by Sam and colleagues who are now dealing with the necessary correspondence with the airline company.
My husband and I and children at home who were concerned when we were stranded, cannot thank the team at RB enough for their support and professionalism and we are looking forward to many more holidays using the company.
Tom & Janet
Tom&Janet Marks
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We came to RB Collection with an idea of some of the places we wanted to visit in Rajasthan, India - and they made it all happen, expertly and efficiently. Oliver and Clare were a pleasure to deal with, sorting every aspect and adding their own ideas to really enhance this wonderful trip. They checked in while we were away to make sure everything was going well (which it was) and I knew they'd be on hand if we needed anything. Thank you!
David Page
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The purpose of this review isn't to confirm that our holiday was a 5 star experience (which it was, by the way) but it's a review to say that RB Collection's involvement in planning, booking and safety netting our holiday experiences has been truly 5 stars.
Are people bothered if my wife and I had a great holiday - I suspect no......
Are people interested in the company that was instrumental in creating 5 star holidays - I suspect yes
......and so it's RB Collection's skills and involvement that get this 5 star rating.
As a family we have booked our own holidays almost exclusively by ourselves for 35 years - until a year ago when we used RB Collection's services for the first time to book a holiday to the Ice Hotel in Sweden. We chose to book through them because we had no experience or knowledge of the Ice Hotel and their exclusive Ice Hotel Website was great.
Their involvement made all the difference - in particular their personal commitment to making things work and since the first contact, they have been getting to know our travel "needs, wants and likes" more by each contact.
Our next holiday was a Silversea Cruise - one that we could easily have booked ourselves, but RB's influence allowed us to save a significant (4 figure!) sum. Reason alone to recommend!
Our third and most recent booking with RB was a safari which could not have been a better holiday experience.
The reasons for this are as follows:
1. Up until raising the possibility, I knew nothing about safaris i.e. where to go / at what time of year / for how long etc. Within 72 hours of a discussion of a suggestion by me for a Tanzania trip (based on a google AI search), I was infinitely far better informed and after weighing up possibilities, we opted for a Kenyan trip to Amboselli and the Masai Mara. What a brilliant decision!
2. Whilst the travel options were perfect for our particular needs, RB's involvement to seamlessly arrange the multiple transfers on our journey came to the fore. This was particularly evident on coming back from Zanzibar (beach unwind) to Nairobi International, which would have presented a significant challenge had we opted for self booking, due to the (multiple) security & immigration stages. (Yes, of course - we would have negotiated the stages - we're grown ups - we can look after ourselves, but oh my. the loss of wasted heartbeats would have been significant!)
Turns out that what was arranged for us was faster than "fast track" and I certainly became aware of lots of people looking enviously towards us and our safari representative as we whizzed by!
3. Photography is an important aspect of our holidays. Good photographic subjects / scenes are our means of ensuring that we're seeing good stuff, which - IMHO - is a main focus of a holiday. Our safari guides had been well briefed about my photography wishes and from the get-go, they discussed what we were looking for from our holiday and so every day we had a mutually planned itinerary for the wildlife that never disappointed. Our guides had been particularly selected from the briefing given by RB pre-travel to the safari people.
In a nutshell, RB have changed our attitude to holidays and their associated experiences. In our time with them, we have undertaken holidays that we have never done before and we are now definitely thinking differently about what to do in the future.
Add to this, the reassurance and safety net that travel agency
booking confers and I think that RB Collection definitely deserves a 5 star review.
By the way - we live distant to their location - all of our dealings have been by telephone and email so don't think you need to be locals to use their services.
Colin Scott
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A big shout out for RB Collection ….they have done it again !!!!
Made our World touring a pleasure AGAIN ….having done the cruising in various parts of the world …the Canada trip…..the India & Nepal trip…& just recently the Hongkong Australia New Zealand trip…it’s like being transported on a Dreamliner !every attention to detail from getting to the airport arriving at the destinations & being picked up & taken to the various types of accomadation ….Thanks Team RB & especially to Sam for this last one 🌴☀️😎