Madikwe, Johannesburg and Madagascar

Twelve nights that move from the game drives of Madikwe and the history of Johannesburg to a beach lodge on the Anjajavy Peninsula. Mauritius or Zanzibar can take the place of Madagascar for the final week.

Length: 12 nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: Safari, history, island, beach
Route: Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa to Johannesburg, South Africa to The Anjajavy Peninsula, Madagascar

Madikwe Game Reserve, South AfricaFour nights
Johannesburg, South AfricaOne night
The Anjajavy Peninsula, MadagascarSeven nights

Giraffes gathered at a waterhole in Madikwe. — Photo: Patrick Fish / Unsplash

Days 1 to 5 · four nights

Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

Four nights in a private part of Madikwe Game Reserve, with game drives in an open vehicle twice a day, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, each with a guide, a tracker and a pause for coffee or a sundowner. Children of every age are welcome on the drives. A stay of four nights opens the full conservation programme: helping to track and tag rhinos and big cats, meeting the researchers and visiting a school in the nearby village of Molatedi. A flight of about an hour then leads to Johannesburg.

Where you stay

Morukuru Family Madikwe

Morukuru Family Madikwe occupies a private section of Madikwe Game Reserve, with three houses, each taken by one party, two of them on the Marico River. The villas come with their own staff and suit families.

The infinity pool at dusk, a parasol and loungers on a deck among the trees. — Photo: Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa

Days 5 to 6 · one night

Johannesburg, South Africa

One night in Johannesburg, given to the city's recent history: the Apartheid Museum, which opened in 2001, and Constitution Hill, home of the Constitutional Court since 2004 and the site of a former prison that held Nelson and Winnie Mandela and Gandhi. Nelson Mandela's house is another possible visit. A flight of about four hours then crosses to the Indian Ocean.

Where you stay

Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa

The Saxon stands behind a high wall in Sandhurst, a leafy suburb of Johannesburg, on ten acres of gardens. It began as a private house, and Nelson Mandela worked on his autobiography here after his release. Suites in the main building and villa suites open onto private patios over the garden and pool, and a butler is on call around the clock.

A view over the ocean from a green hilltop. — Photo: David Bruyndonckx / Unsplash

Days 6 to 13 · seven nights

The Anjajavy Peninsula, Madagascar

The last week is spent on the Anjajavy Peninsula in north-western Madagascar. Marked trails lead from the lodge through coves, caves and the sharp limestone formations known as tsingy, and the forest is home to lemurs, among them brown lemurs and sifakas. The rest of the time is for the beaches and the sea.

Where you stay

Anjajavy le Lodge

Anjajavy le Lodge is an ecolodge on the Anjajavy Peninsula, within a nature reserve, with sandy beaches, quiet coves and private villas with patios. It has a swimming pool and a restaurant, and stays are all-inclusive.

Ways to make it yours

Mauritius in place of Madagascar for the final week: La Maison 20 Degrés Sud at Pointe aux Canonniers, with diving and snorkelling off the west and south coasts.
Zanzibar in place of Madagascar for the final week: a beach villa hotel at Paje, with Darajani Market in Stone Town and snorkelling at Chumbe Island.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.