The Cape, Privately · Monday 15 February 2027
First light in the Karoo, and then home.
Flights to Moscow leave in the evening, so the last day is a whole one rather than a scramble for the airport. We use it.
The Karoo at first light is the finest hour this reserve has, and it is the right note to end on: quiet, enormous, and entirely unlike the city they arrived in ten days ago.
Coffee in the dark, blankets on the vehicle, and away before the sun. The Karoo before sunrise is bitterly clear, and the animals are moving. This is the drive guests remember.
Laid out on the open ground as the light comes up, with the mountains turning from grey to red and nothing man-made in any direction.
An hour in the air, back over the Langeberg and down across the Winelands they walked through five days ago. Time enough at the airport for lunch, or in the city for anyone who wants a last hour of it.
Escorted through, in Russian, with no queue at any point. And a case of the wine they made at Stellenrust on Day Five — blended by them, bottled under their own label — sent on to them.
Their own wine, blended and bottled under their own label.
And some weeks later, a parcel. Inside is a book: the story of their journey, which I write myself, as I wrote September Tides, illustrated with photographs taken along the way, with their own names in it. Not a printed album but a written account of the ten days they spent here, by the person who travelled with them.
With it comes the rest of what was made while they travelled. A photographer and film-maker travels with the group throughout — not meeting them for an afternoon, but there for the whole journey, so the pictures are of people who have forgotten the camera is present. Each guest goes home with a library of images taken properly rather than on a telephone, and a film of their own days here: the summit at sunset, the horses in the surf, the cellar, the Karoo at first light.
He speaks to every guest before the journey begins about how they would like to be filmed, or whether they would rather not be filmed at all. Some prefer not to appear, and that is entirely respected. It is their journey, not a production.
Guests at this level are given a great many things. Almost none of them are written, and almost none of them are filmed.
| Trip guide | Sees them onto the aircraft, and through check-in with them, in Russian. |
|---|
| Guests | 12 |
|---|---|
| Game drives | 1, at first light |
| Departure | Evening, to Istanbul, Dubai, Doha or Addis |
The proposal
Not tours. Living chapters.February · The Cape
The Cape, three waysThe Cape, PrivatelyThe Cape, HostedThe Cape, EssentialApril · For the Families
For the FamiliesApril · Lesotho
Lesotho and the High CountrySeptember · The whales
The Whales, and Deep TimeWhere they stay
21 NettletonTintswalo AtlanticRadisson CollectionLanzeracGrootbosThe MarineHarbour HouseThe Shark BaySanbonaNambiti HillsEsiweni Luxury Safari LodgeCleopatra Mountain FarmhouseWhere they eat
Café CapriceStellenrustTwo Oceans RestaurantLa ColombeBeau ConstantiaCreationAlong the way
Table MountainThe Bo-KaapThe Castle of Good HopeThe Company’s GardenHout BayBoulders BeachGroot ConstantiaKlein ConstantiaBuitenverwachtingStellenboschRustenbergHermanus and Walker BayRiding at Pearly BeachThe Art of the BlendFranschhoekChapman’s PeakCape of Good HopeSnorkelling with SealsGreat White Shark DivingThe whales: the trailerTalk to me
john@visitorstoafrica.comWhatsApp