Cities and safaris in South Africa

I’m waiting to receive the key to my hotel room at The Taj Cape Town when the transcendent sound of an acapella choir draws me out to the street.

South African choral singers form a half circle inside a public archway dedicated to the late anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate archbishop, Desmond Tutu. Their warm, uplifting harmonies and rhythmic chanting stop passersby in their tracks.

A young man wearing a suit leads the group, swaying in time, clapping his hands and pulling together the invisible threads of this street performance like a concert hall conductor. A dozen-or-more young women in white dresses, their hair tied in bows and braids, move like pendulums in the morning sun. They’re singing in a language I can’t understand, yet their voices speak to me.

“Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity,” reads a plaque set into the footpath at my feet. As I watch this scene and contemplate the quote from South Africa’s 1996 constitution, it strikes me as a message for the world right now.

I’ve arrived in Cape Town as the first stop on a nine-day safari adventure with World Journeys.

Shortly I’ll head northeast to Kruger National Park, before overnighting at The Peech Hotel in Johannesburg and finishing my trip at Madikwe Game Reserve near the border of Botswana. Meanwhile, I’m keen to explore Cape Town.

“We’re off to the Paarl region – the pearl of the Western Cape province in the Cape Winelands area,” local guide Naz January tells me and my tour buddies, when we set off in a minivan the next day.

At Fairview, founded in 1693, we taste six Paarl wines, including the three varietals South Africa is best known for – chenin blanc, pinotage and cabernet sauvignon – while sampling handmade cheeses. My favourite combo is the rich, spicy shiraz and a black pepper and paprika chevin made from Fairview goat milk.

By the time I’m dipping my toes in the pool at Cape Cadogan Boutique Hotel it’s 6.30pm and time to relax. I’ve dined at Tokara Wine Estate, shopped in historic Franschhoek and perused the contemporary art of Delaire Graff Estate.

Between Paarl and Franschhoek, we took a side trip to Drakenstein Correctional Centre to see the life-sized bronze statue of Nelson Mandela with his fist upraised.

“It was here, in a house on this property, that Mandela spent the last 14 months of his 27-year imprisonment,” says Naz, of South Africa’s first black head of state.

The next morning it takes about five minutes by cable car to reach the top of Table Mountain, Cape Town’s most recognised landmark. Good visibility means I see the entire city below, all the way out to the UNESCO world heritage site of Robben Island in one direction, and to the Cape of Good Hope in the other.

Later, we stroll the streets of Bo-Kaap, before spending our last afternoon at District Six and Slave Lodge museums.

Each stop reveals more of South Africa’s troubled past, while providing insight into the challenges and aspirations that shape the nation today.

‘All eyes on Rafah’ are words of protest artfully graffitied on a home in Bo-Kaap, a predominantly Islamic neighbourhood known for its colourful heritage buildings. ‘Free Palestine’ is painted in red text on another.

“The residents of Bo-Kaap stand with Palestine and South Africa’s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice over its military operations in Gaza” Naz explains. “Their hope is that tourists will take photos and share their messages with the world.”

A plane and shuttle bus commute the following morning takes my group more than 1,500 kilometres northeast to Ngala Private Game Reserve within Kruger National Park. The lush subtropical woodland, together with the soft drizzle of the rainy season, feels a world away from the arid busyness of Cape Town.

By late afternoon I’ve settled into my private cottage, eaten a delicious lunch and hopped into a safari jeep – alongside four excited companions – ready for adventure.

Within minutes, I see impala, a bull elephant, a rare white lioness and four honey-coloured female cubs. Over the next few hours, my wildlife count rapidly rises. Added to the list is a rhino and calf, lions, elephants and several giraffes.

Ranger, Dyke Khosa, stops in a dry riverbed to wait for the rest of our party then we gather for amarula – a South African cream liqueur – and coffee cocktails as daylight runs out.

By 8pm, we’re comparing game drive notes over a candlelit dinner back at the lodge. As meals arrive and wine is poured, talk shifts to our personal highlights of the day. Mine? The white lioness, and spotting a hyena slink into the bush, sprung by tracker Sunday Chauke’s torchlight.

The terrain is noticeably different at Madikwe Game Reserve in North West Province. We arrive at Lelapa Lodge, our home for two nights. The luxury lodge is a kind of Africa-meets-Bali tree house tucked into the base of a craggy hill. My room, a few minutes’ walk from the main lounge, is a cosy nook with a deck overlooking reserve land and its own plunge pool.

Over the course of three game drives, we see lions, zebras, rhino, giraffe, jackals and hippopotamus, as well as impalas, warthogs and wildebeest.

It’s an impressive range given the area was mostly farmland until 1992. Since then, a wildlife repatriation programme has brought back breeding herds of elephant, as well as African buffalo, black and white rhinos, lions, cheetahss and endangered wild dog.

In warm rain, on our final day, we pass a large elephant herd as we make our way to a stone outcrop favoured by baboons. Two primates scamper off the road, up a steep rock face, revealing their home base. We sit in silence watching fluffy youngsters tumble down the cliff like dice in constant play.

South Africa has been thrilling and transformative. The sheer diversity of life here leaves me feeling hopeful for the future.