In July-August 2024 my 14-year-old daughter and I travelled to South Africa with StievieWonderTours for our second time. This time we wanted something a bit more adventurous, yet well-organised: The idea was to explore the north-east of the country, which in the local winter is still comfortably warm, in a three-week road trip of more than 2000 km, followed by one week in Cape Town.

StievieWonderTours planned for us a mix of “cultural heritage” visits in Pretoria and around, some amazing views along the panorama route, visits to Kruger Park with self-drive and a bush walk where we saw almost the full range of South African wildlife. From here we moved south, direction Durban, and along that route visited a number of game reserves in changing landscapes offering a variety of touristic concepts. Our success formula was drive one day – stay one day. We did early morning and evening game drives, we went animal spotting by boat and adapted our rhythm to nature which is so much more present here compared to Europe. Even my daughter did not complain or feel a desire to turn on the TV a single time... We ended our first three weeks with magnificent views of the Drakensbergen before driving back to Johannesburg and flying to Cape Town. There we stayed in a perfectly located apartment for a good week (except the two nights when we went whale watching). Here we had no pre-booked programme, we felt familiar with the city and its surroundings, (re)visiting places and also discovering something new every day.

On top of these planned elements with in-built challenges (for me no snakes please, no car trouble and no malaria) came the little unexpected adventures that made everything so memorable: When our hotel in Johannesburg got evacuated – it turned out a false alarm. When we had taken a turn too early and ended up in a small village, needed to check how to get back, and immediately got such lovely support from a local ex-ranger. When we had police controls twice on the road, close to Swaziland, yet in a super polite manner. When I twisted my ankle with still 150 km to drive that day. When our room turned out to be double-booked by mistake and StievieWonderTours organised an alternative within the shortest time. Or when we once got lost hours away from our target due to a failing google maps connection, and StievieWonderTours staff guided us safely to where we had to be via mobile phone and despite zero visibility - “potholes” has a new meaning for us since that pitch black evening. Unforgettable also our surreal whale-watching excursion with half the people on board throwing up and the stoic boat staff both cleaning and handing out paper bags, drinks & chips in parallel – hilarious, afterwards!

StievieWonderTours understood perfectly what we wanted, gave us the right mix of structure and freedom, was available anytime (including off-office hours) when we needed support and clearly watched over us from a distance making sure that everything would be ok. Next time we go to Africa, no doubt it will be with them again!