Do it all in two wild weeks

How often have you dreamt about standing right next to the thundering Victoria Falls, enjoying a sundowner on Cape Town’s stunning Table Mountain, shopping in Johannesburg, gliding in a dugout canoe through the swamps of the Okavango Delta and sleeping in a remote bush tent… but thought it not possible as your budget – and holiday leave – only stretches to two weeks.

Well, it is doable. In January my husband and I explored Southern Africa in 15 days. We spent five days in Cape Town, a weekend in Johannesburg, two days at Victoria Falls and five days in the Okavango Delta, taking in the best of South African, Zimbabwean and Botswanan sights and culture.

The first step is to book your flight to Johannesburg or Cape Town. Johannesburg is the official gateway to southern Africa, and despite its reputation for violent crime and ‘second rate’ status to Cape Town, it is actually a vibrant multi-cultural city with a heady mix of mining and Apartheid history. If you are brave enough to venture outside the airport, unless you are unlucky, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by its great shops, fantastic restaurants and friendly locals.

From Johannesburg, we headed to Cape Town – often listed as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. What most people don’t realise is that the city itself is not so special, but its true beauty lies in its stunning coastline (although the sea is often icy cold as the next stop south is Antarctica), and its luscious winelands.

Whether you want to cage dive with great white sharks, see Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, take the rotating cable car up Table Mountain, view African penguins at Boulder’s Bay or wine and dine all day, the Cape area has something for everyone.

Hiring a car in Cape Town is the best way to get around. The most beaten tourist route is along the winding rocky coastal road down to the Cape Point National Park, home to the treacherous Cape of Good Hope, which caused many a shipwreck. Despite popular belief, it is not the most southernly point in Africa – you’ll need to go a bit further south to Cape Agulhas where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet.

The Cape Winelands is home to over 126 wine estates – each unique in its own way. If you’re doing the wine routes, don’t miss the pretty, sleepy towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, which have stunning Cape Dutch architecture and mouth-watering food.

In fact, the food and wine is so unbelievably good in South Africa that you’ll probably pile on a few extra kilos before you get home.

From the very European and developed South Africa, it’s time to head into the real African bush. Many first-timers to Africa prefer to visit Kruger National Park, but if you are a seasoned safari-lover like me, you’ll want to go where the park roads are unpaved, animals outnumber people and the baboons still don’t know what a Coke is.

Head back to Johannesburg and catch a flight to Livingstone in Zambia or Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Perched on the border of both countries, Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and, the largest falls in the world.

They were ‘discovered’ by Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone in 1855. Today, the town of Victoria Falls is a tourist magnet, an ‘African Disneyland’, where the business-savvy but good-humoured Zimbabweans squeeze as much as possible out of clueless tourists. I get weary of the incessant selling of the locals but as we trade our hotel toiletries at the airport for some postcards, I also can’t help but smile.

Zimbabwe was once the pearl of southern Africa with a robust economy. It is still possible to sample some traces of its colonial past, such as afternoon tea at the grand Victoria Falls Hotel. I first visited the falls in 2005 when Zimbabwe’s economy was in dire straits.

Today, it’s slightly better – there is orange juice instead of Fanta at breakfast and our taxi doesn’t run out of petrol. The trillion-dollar Zim notes are long gone… replaced by the US dollar, now the official currency.

The locals like to tell tourists that wild animals roam the streets at night (probably to give the taxi drivers extra business), but apart from some cheeky monkeys, the occasional spider and the ‘municipality lawnmowers’ (the wart-hogs), you won’t see much wildlife.

Besides visiting the falls, a cruise on the mighty Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth longest river, is a must. It is home to a wealth of birdlife, hippos and crocodiles (who love tourists just as much as the locals). And if you are an adrenalin-junkie, Victoria Falls also has white water rafting, micro-light flights and bungee jumping.

With its good connections to neighbouring countries, it is a good base to start – or finish – your southern African adventure. Despite its political instability and shattered economy, Zimbabwe still has good safari spots but you’ll need to move away from Victoria Falls to places like Hwange National Park to see the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant).

If you want to get a Botswana stamp on your passport, the famous Chobe National Park, renowned for its large elephant population, is just an hour from Victoria Falls. It’s also on the doorstep of Kasane, at Africa’s ‘Four Corners’, the point where Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia meet.

Kasane is also one of the gateways to Botswana’s Okavango Delta where we board a small Cessna Caravan bound for the swamps. Make sure you choose a reputable, eco-friendly safari company that promotes sustainable tourism like Wilderness Safaris, which coordinates flights and accommodation right across southern Africa.

The Okavango Delta is one of the most unique habitats in the world. Like the animals have adapted to the arid deserts of Namibia, so too has the Okavango wildlife. Even the lions and leopards, who notoriously hate water, swim from island to island in search of prey.

To get the best of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’, combine leopard and herbivore spotting at a grasslands camp like Tubu Tree Camp and follow up with a few days at the water-based Xigera Camp for dugout canoe rides in mokoros and to swim in the thermal waters of the delta, with its soft white Kalahari sandbanks.

As your Land Rover ‘snorkels’ through metres of water, leopards growl on your balcony, packs of hyenas gather under your tent and monkeys swing over your head, you’ll probably have to pinch yourself to believe you’re not dreaming.

But always remember that going on safari is much more than seeing the Big Five. It’s about experiencing the bugs at dinner, sitting around a campfire at night and admiring the African sunset. Most of all, it’s about being at one with Mother Nature and leaving modern life behind you.

Touching down on the tarred runway at Kasane, before boarding our A380 back to Frankfurt, I see ‘civilisation’ with fresh eyes, but I crave the peace and quiet of Africa. I miss the camps, animals, food, people and safaris. That’s the sign of a true holiday – one you don’t want to end… ever.

Top 10 things to see and do in southern Africa

• Shop in Johannesburg’s chic shopping malls.

• Wine and dine along the Western Cape’s wine routes.

• Check out antique shops and Cape Dutch architecture in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.

• See Nelson Mandela’s cell in Robben Island.

• Dive with the great white sharks off the Cape Town coastline.

• Watch hippos and crocodiles on a sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi River.

• Hike the trails in the Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe.

• Spend a few nights in a small remote tented camp in the Okavango Delta.

• Do a mokoro canoe ride – and swim – in the thermal waters of the Okavango Delta.

• Make sure you see the Big Five – lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino – and don’t forget the Ugly Five – the hyena, wildebeest, vulture, warthog and marabou stork.

Southern comforts

Getting there:
Lufthansa flies daily to Johannesburg from Frankfurt; Emirates flies daily from Dubai to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban; Lufthansa flies daily to Johannesburg from Frankfurt. South African Airways, British Airways, Kulula and 1Time offer domestic flights in South Africa.

Where to stay:
Safaris, accommodation and bush flights with Wilderness Safaris (www.wildernesssafaris.com) which also owns charter company Wilder-ness Air; Urban Chic Hotel (www.urbanchic.co.za) in Cape Town; Asara Wine Estate (www.asara.co.za) in Stellenbosch; The Oasis Luxury Guesthouse (www.oasisguesthouse .co.za) in Johannesburg; Victoria Falls Safari Lodge (www.victoria-falls-safari-lodge.com) in Zimbabwe.

When to go:
Summer season is approximately from October to March.

Find more features on Africa from Alannah’s blog: http://alannaheames.wordpress.com .