Who hasn’t dreamed of having an Out of Africa moment, like Meryl Streep but without the cheating husband and syphilis?
Africa is an experience unlike any other on the planet, and seeing lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, giraffes and other amazing animals in the wild is truly a bucket list event.
But people have a lot of misconceptions about Africa; so this blog will help you understand what it’s like to travel there, offer tips for your trip (whether you’re going with us or otherwise), and tell you all about Brand g’s version of an Africa vacation.
Components of a Brand g Trip
We’re gonna deal strictly with our South Africa trips, which is a trip Brand g has done a dozen times. We’ll occasionally do one to Kenya or Tanzania, as well, but we do one or two South Africa trips every year.
There are three basic components to our South Africa Safari trips:
- The safari
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe
Now, the order of those components can shift from year to year, and it doesn’t matter at all what order they’re done in – it’s purely a function of hotel and safari camp availability.
Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe probably sounds really third world-y and possibly off-putting, but Victoria Falls is a beautiful place, and very safe and tourist-driven. But Zimbabwe is, nonetheless, one of the many reasons we recommend you only do an Africa trip with a luxury company, be it Brand g or a mainstream tour company.
Most people want and need a lot of hand holding on a trip to Africa. In Zimbabwe, Brand g personally escorts our guests through the immigration process. Now, as the author of this blog, I suspect (although I don’t know this for a fact) that some money may change hands. It’s just part of the process there, but it’s not something most people would want to have to handle on their own. Things just seem a little confusing and abnormal there. But Brand g has it completely under control. (With that said, the people of Zimbabwe are LOVELY and extremely welcoming. Tourism is very important to them.)
At Victoria Falls, we stay at the 5-star Victoria Falls hotel, which is a huge English Colonial resort with large, lovely, modern rooms. But what makes the resort cool are the acres of manicured grounds, where cheeky little monkeys run freely around.
A tip: don’t leave your windows open here. The monkeys will come in and rifle through your things, and you’ll find one wandering around the property wearing your Prada eyeglasses.
The Victoria Falls Hotel borders the falls – you can literally see them from various points around the resort, and you can walk to them using a private path from the gardens. The whole place just feels very African Gilded Age.
Now, the falls border Zimbabwe and Zambia, and if it’s not a drought year, they’re really impressive. Here you’ll have a chance to get in Devil’s Pool, which is not for the faint of heart – you’re sitting on a low rock lip on the edge of the falls, where you could just slip right over the edge. So get your affairs in order beforehand. (Kidding – when you lay in Devil’s Pool, a guide holds your feet so you don’t wash over the rim.)
Here, we also do a 25-minute helicopter flight over Victoria Falls, where you’ll not only get a great bird’s-eye view of the falls, but you’ll see migrating herds of animals and the like. It’s a totally unique experience.
Another really lovely thing we do here is take a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. But this isn’t your typical booze cruise, because there are hippos in the water, and crocodiles sunning themselves onshore. So maybe don’t have that 5th Mai Tai – this is not the place to fall into the water.
Now, let’s talk about the portion of the trip that people have the most questions about.
The Safari
First, let’s be clear: if you’re taking the Brand g Africa trip, this is a 5-star trip. Luxury top to bottom, everywhere we go in Africa. The safari camps that we take over, for example, are top-of-the-line. This is not a ‘sleeping in tents’ situation – every accommodation is a villa. They might be designed to look tented, but they have walls and air conditioning and every modern amenity.
And they’re large – generally 800 square feet or larger. Every suite (they’re all suites) has things like an outdoor shower and a deck. Some also have plunge pools and such. They’re just beautifully luxurious.
Every camp has a swimming pool, a spa, outdoor and indoor dining, a bar, etc. The one thing you generally WON’T find in these safari camps is a TV. They want you to disconnect. They do, of course, have wifi, but generally speaking, the wifi is fine for surfing, but it’s often not good enough for streaming or downloading shows. You’re in the middle of vast African plains.
Tip: download movies/shows onto your iPad or phone before you leave for the safari portion.
Now, the safari camps Brand g uses are on private reserves. This doesn’t mean the safari experience is somehow orchestrated, like Disney’s Animal Kingdom or like a zoo that’s fenced and the animals are fed and cared for. Not at all. It’s all open territory and the animals come and go and live and die, and the only intervention from man is to stop poachers.
But when you’re on a reserve, it’s an extraordinarily private and unique experience. The majority of the time it’s just your jeep out there. Now and then your guide will radio to another jeep, or vice versa, and you’ll both meet to watch a pride of lions or a tower of giraffes, but it’s really exclusive, in the best sense of the word. You’re having an experience that few other people on the PLANET are having.
We’ve all seen those ads for bargain safaris, and there are many cheaper options, to be sure. But with those, you’re typically just one of scores of jeeps snaking down a paved road. I mean no disrespect to that experience. We all go on the kind of vacation that our wallets will allow. And you’ll still get to see some wildlife even on that version of a safari. But if you have the wherewithal, take a luxury safari. It will provide you with incredible moments among the animals that you will never, ever get on a bargain safari.
Dining at the Safari Camps
Dining, is, believe it or not, another highlight of these safari camps. All your meals and drinks are included, of course, and you will NOT walk away hungry. People often think that because you’re out in the middle of nowhere, the food must suck. Exactly the opposite. It’s gourmet.
You can, of course, try all kinds of exotic meats, like antelope and buffalo and crocodile and the like, but if you’re not so adventurous, then they have plenty of fish and steak and chicken and vegetarian options. The chefs at these 5-star camps are very skilled – and many have trained under major chefs around the world.
There are also minibars in the rooms that are constantly replenished with wines and booze. We’ve heard tales of guests who liked the South African wines so much they were sticking the bottles in their suitcases so that housekeeping would replenish them every day.
Hey, you do you.
Now, you’ll generally have the same guide for your game drives for the entire time you’re there; and one of the lovely things the camps do is to have the guides join you for dinner one night. Most people spend so much time talking about the animals and the wildlife experience while they’re out on the game drives that this dinner gives them a chance to get to know their guide as a person, and bond even more.
Game Drives
These are, of course, the highlight of a safari. You’ll go on two of these each day, one in the early morning and one in the early evening.
Tip: Relax. The animals don’t look at your jeep like it’s a giant rolling buffet.
First of all, you have a guide AND a tracker in each jeep. Two people. And there’s a rifle in every jeep. But that’s not why you can relax. The animals look at the jeeps – and the people in them – as a single entity, and a nonthreatening one at that, since no one in the jeeps has ever tried to hurt them.
So, yes, it can still make you tingle when a lion or leopard or some other apex predator walks right past your jeep, but there’s really nothing to be afraid of. During my safari, our guide, Charlotte, had been working at the camp for 5 years and had never had to fire her rifle.
With that said, I don’t think that I would want to take a game drive with the janitor and an intern. There are minor risks. But at these 5-star camps, you’re with the most highly trained guides and trackers in the world.
How A Safari Camp Day is Broken Down
- Early morning – light breakfast (coffee, pastries and such)
- Morning game drive
- Full, proper breakfast upon your return
- Mid-morning to midafternoon: hit the pool or spa, take a nap, etc
- Lunch
- Late afternoon game drive (this goes into the early evening)
- Dinner
Game drives last about 3 hours each. This probably sounds like a lot, but trust me, you never get bored. There’s always a new experience to be had, a different animal or herd to see.
Now, let’s address another misconception about safaris, and that’s that it’s dusty and dirty.
It’s true that the roads in safari camps are generally made of dirt. Can things be a little dusty?
Sometimes. But when you’re on game drives, there’s a lot of brush that keeps the dirt to a minimum. And regardless, you’ll have a big, fabulous shower to clean up in after a game drive. Everything about the camps is so luxurious, it more than makes up for a little dust.
Now, one of the most popular features of the evening game drives is what is known as “Sundowners”.
Sometime around 5:00 or 6:00 pm, your guide and tracker will find a lovely spot as the sun is setting, and they’ll park the jeep and set up cocktails and light snacks. So, there you are, out on the savannah, sipping wine or a cocktail, munching treats and marveling at your ridiculous good fortune. It’s an incredibly memorable moment.
Cape Town
If you haven’t been to Cape Town, you may have an image of it as some kind of chaotic, third-world type of city. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cape Town is a world-class, highly cosmopolitan city with fantastic hotels and restaurants and sights. And outside the city is a virtual wonderland of nature. You can easily spend 4 or 5 days here.
Brand g knows this, which is why our Africa trips feature four nights in Cape Town, at – for 2026 and 2027 – the Belmond, a fabulous 5-star property. (If you’ve never stayed at a Belmond, you’ve probably still heard the name. They’re known for fabulous hotels around the world as well as their luxury trains that rival the Orient Express.)
Sightseeing in Cape Town
There are many sights to see here, including:
- Table Mountain
- Robben Island
- The Cape of Good Hope
- The Cape Winelands
- Phenomenal shops and restaurants
First let’s address the in-town sightseeing.
The city is bordered on three sides by water, and on the fourth side by Table Mountain. You can take a cable car up to the top, and the views are spectacular.
A lot of those mountaintop viewing spots around the world can be a bit “meh”, but this one is renowned because of the variety of views you get up there. (The only one I’ve personally seen that was comparable was in Rio de Janeiro.)
Tip: The temperature change can feel considerable, between the altitude and the wind. Bring a light jacket, especially if it’s nearing sunset.
Another tour option just off the coast is Robben Island, which is the island that houses the prison where Nelson Mandela was held. Just a short 20-minute ferry ride from the harbor, it’s a really sobering experience. You can visit all the different parts of the prison, including the tiny cell where Mandela was held for 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned.
Another thing that adds an emotional wallop to the experience is the fact that the tour guides are former prisoners.
Now, as mentioned, Cape Town has great restaurants and shopping, and one of the best places to check out is the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront – the V&A, as it’s known locally. It’s a beautiful waterfront outdoor mall of shops and restaurants in a spectacular setting.
Now, let’s move on to the nature aspects of this brilliant city.
Our Brand g trip includes a full day tour to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve at the southern tip of the Cape peninsula. You’ll see baboons and ostriches just randomly around, and you can take a funicular ride to the summit for some really beautiful views of the southernmost point of Africa.
And then, for a big finish, we go to Boulders Beach, where there’s a colony of very friendly penguins – more than 2,000 of them. There are wooden walkways running across the beach, and you can get up close and personal to them.
This is followed by yet another kind of nature that will really have you buzzing: vineyards!
We’ll spend another day heading west to the twin areas of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, the two famous South African wine regions. It’s a gorgeous area – some of these wineries will slap you across the face, they’re so scenic.
We do wine tastings and I believe an olive oil tasting, as well; and you’ll enjoy the most glamorous picnic box lunch you’ve ever had at Boschendal Estate.
Even if you don’t drink, this is such a beautiful day just for the splendor of some of these winery properties.
As you can see, there’s a lot to do in southern Africa, and it’s an extraordinary experience. But again: whether you go with us or otherwise, go with a group. And if it’s within your budget, take a luxury tour. The experience will not only be far more memorable, but you’ll feel safe and very, very well taken care of. All you have to do is show up and enjoy the magnificence of the experience.
