Nature And Outdoors in Cape Town

Cape Town is convenient because almost everything worth seeing sits within a single day's drive. Table Mountain rises straight above the centre, and beyond it the Cape Peninsula runs down to the Cape of Good Hope and a penguin colony — that day takes seven hours and costs 212 dollars. Further inland lie the Ceres and Bainskloof passes, reached on full-day trike tours.

The reserves start two hours out. Aquila runs game drives three times a day: five hours early in the morning, four and a half after lunch, three at sunset, from 63 dollars. A full Big Five safari leaving the city is built for seven and a half hours at 140 dollars. Great whites are met from a cage — eight hours, 270 dollars. Many of these departures collect guests straight from the hotel.

The sea is its own chapter: a private run to Hermanus for shore-based whale watching lasts ten hours. Calmer formats exist too — the wine valleys of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, and a car with a driver for eleven hours if you would rather build the route yourself. GetExperience lists 19 outdoor programmes in Cape Town, from 63 to 879 dollars; pages state the transfer, the meals and the stops.