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Elegant Africa: A Review (Sept 18-30, 2026)

CharlesHood

This was our 13th Tauck trip and certainly the most exhilarating overall. We were gobsmacked by what we saw and experienced many times over. The itinerary is ambitious, meaning you are on the go most of the day (with early wake up calls and early to-beds), but the tour packs in a ton of wonderful activities and events. Our tour guide, Mitch Bloem, was fantastic—very personable, knowledgeable of the area as a native South Afrikaner, and generally low-key and well-humored. He kept the vibe positive the entire trip. The hotel in Cape Town (Fairmont) on the V and A waterfront is superb, a great place to start the journey. Highlights there were the cablecar ride to the top of Table Mountain, the botanical garden, and the drive south to the ineffably beautiful Cape of Good Hope. The penguins were a nice touch also, along with the dinner at the winery in Constantia. Next, we flew to Skakula to begin the safari drives from two lodges, Lion Sands and Sabi Sabi. A total of eight three-hour safari rides through different kinds of terrain on the two properties adjoining the Kruger National Park. Of the two, Sabi Sabi was the clearly superior property—much more modern with better accommodations and food—but our safari guide, Ollie, at the Lion Sands lodge was amazing. We saw all desired game animals and birds plus much more. Just a jaw-dropping experience, day after day. After our four days on safari, we flew to Johannesburg for the nadir of the trip; clearly, the stop here was necessary to position us for the international flight to Zimbabwe to end the tour. Our two days in Joburg weren't unpleasant, just relatively dull compared with the other venues. The trip concluded with two days at the wonderful Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe. A wonderful river sunset cruise on a private pontoon boat was amazing, and the next day we visited Victoria Falls by helicopter and then on foot. A visit to an elephant rehab center was also very nice. Overall, we had a great time and came away with no major complaints; if I had to change one thing, it would be to eliminate the Johannesburg weekend visit and spend another day or two at Sabi Sabi. Kudos to Tauck for engineering yet another wonderful trip and handling all the travel logistics for our four intra-tour flights. And hats off to Mitch for excelling as our guide!

Comments

Goddess

Agree - Mitch and Ollie were terrific; had them on this tour last October.

British

it’s many years since we took this tour, it’s changed quite a bit, no Robben Island, and I assume no welligton-clad dancers, and don’t tell me you no longer stay at the Cape Grace hotel.

I actually think the Johannesburg visit is a must, for example, lunch in the township and the visit to the Apartheid museum, the latter was a favorite of most of the people in our group. Meeting the sister of Oscar Pieterson was very special.

CharlesHood

We still begin at the superb Cape Grace Hotel…my favorite hotel of all the Tauck trips so far. And yes, you are right when you mention the stirring narrative from the lady who lost her younger brother in the Soweto uprising of 1976. The Apartheid Museum was very good actually. My point is that the tenor of the Joburg visit was a major departure from the otherwise nature-centered exploration, and apart from the museum, Joburg had little to offer.

Goddess

We saw the wellington-clad dancers. I agree with you British re: Johannesburg. Important stop - I could have spent the day in the Apartheid Museum. The beauty of this tour is that it's a mix of nature and culture. I would not have taken it if it was all about the animals.

British

This is meant to be a mixed tour. If you want just safari, virtually every other safari type tour is just Safari. When I first started traveling with Tauck there were just two choices, Elegant South Africa and Kenya and Tanzania

Smiling Sam

I'm in between both sides on this discussion. I agree this tour is a mix of nature and culture. This mix of nature and culture is why I enjoyed this tour so much. That said I agree with Charles, that for me, Johannesburg was the weakest stop on this tour. I wouldn't go as far as Charles and recommend that it be dropped from the tour.

The two sights - the Apartheid Museum and the Supreme Court were very interesting, but as a whole I still rate this stop lower than the stops in Cape Town, Safari Camps, or Victoria Falls.

For me, part of what lowered my assessment of the Johannesburg stop was the overall state of the community - lots of shuttered buildings. Johannesburg as a community seemed to be more economically depressed than Cape Town.

British

Sam, we drove past some of the most huge houses I have ever seen in Johannesburg

Smiling Sam

British, I agree, but they were all surrounded in barbed wire. There is no middle class in Johannesburg from what they showed us. Either large enclosed compounds with barbed wired walls or very, very much the opposite.

In my comment above, when I said economically depressed, I meant from a business perspective. When they drove us to the Supreme Court it seemed like half of the tall buildings in the downtown area were shuttered. About the only foot traffic downtown was a protest march going the the Supreme Court building that we were going to visit. We cut our visit a bit short and just as our bus was leaving the Supreme Court compound the protest march was at the bottom of the block the Supreme Court was on. In another 10 minutes, we would have been trapped in the compound by the protest march.

British

Parts of Philly business areas are like that

cuzin GJ

Nice review. We took this trip a week before you ( my comments and photos on separate discussion ). Ollie was superb guide, as was Albert at Sabi. Enjoyed arriving 3 days early - lots to do in Cape Town. Sadly, next year this trip ends at Victoria Falls. Hopefully, Tauck will provide some guidance to travelers when they connect in Johannesburg to go home to eliminate airport anxiety.