Family Kruger & Benguerra Island

Your adventure begins at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, where you will be met by a representative and transferred to your charter flight to the Kruger National Park.

On landing, you will be met by your guide and taken on a game drive to Jock Safari Lodge. Set in a private concession within two million hectares of the Kruger National Park, you will be astonished by the number of game that you encounter on the short drive to the lodge.

The lodge is set overlooking the confluence of two rivers, the Biyamiti and Mitomeni, offering stunning views over the water and the bushveld beyond. Set apart from the main lodge, you discover Fitzpatrick’s Lodge, which will be your home for the coming days. Set within its own garden with a delightful pool area, the lodge boasts three suites and two lounges that are stylish and elegantly furnished.

After settling in, your guide will be ready to take you for your afternoon game drive. Renowned for its high density of game and its resident lion prides, anything can happen in the clear, sharp air as the sun slowly sinks toward the golden hour of sunset. Colours seem clearer, the air sweeter, your senses enhanced by the rawness and purity of your surroundings. As the sun dips toward the horizon, your guide will seek out a sundowner spot to admire the view. With glass in hand and surrounded by the living, breathing magic of the African bush, few moments can compare to your first day on safari. Return to the lodge by a night drive illuminated with a spotlight as you search for the nocturnal animals emerging from their lairs: honey badgers, civets and genets are among the lesser-seen creatures you may encounter.

Settle into rhythms of life as old as time itself, where you rise with the sun, eager with the anticipation of what action the morning’s game drive will bring. Dewdrops sparkle in the cool air and the animals are active, their spoor on the ground telling the tale of the night before. Your experienced guide reveals the secrets of the bush, pointing out what might be easily missed; the twitch of an ear in the thick bush or the lazy flick of a tail suddenly throwing a pride of lions into stark contrast where before there was nothing but vegetation. Along with spectacular scenery and abundant birdlife, encounter the Big 5 in their own habitat, on their own terms, in an untrammelled wilderness.

Return to the lodge from your early drive to be greeted by a sumptuous breakfast, then work it off with a guided bush walk or simply relax by the pool as the heat of the day sets in.

The midday hours in the African bush are a time when activity slows as animals seek out shade and cicadas thrum hypnotically in the trees. After a few hours of rest, reading or relaxation, however, the lowering sun once again tempts you to venture out again, to witness first hand what nature has in store.

Evenings are spent reliving the day’s events – the anecdotes and insights gained from your experiences are all the more fulfilling as you share them around the fire, glass in hand, stars twinkling above. Meals are suitably sumptuous, with the emphasis on fine dining coupled with the offerings from the wine cellar. Round off the evenings around the fire, gazing at the stars or sipping your favourite drink, before slipping between the covers and drifting off to the sound of lions roaring in the distance.

After your final morning game drive, you depart for the airstrip to catch your flight back to Johannesburg. A representative will meet you and transfer you to The Peech Hotel where you spend the night.

Your flight to Vilanculos leaves Johannesburg in the morning, delivering you to this sleepy Indian Ocean town a few hours later. A representative will meet you at the airport and take you to your waiting helicopter for the short flight to Azura on Benguerra Island, which is nothing short of spectacular – the azure Indian Ocean, dotted with sailing dhows, laps the mainland as you head east towards the Bazaruto Archipelago that glimmers in the distance.

Touching down, you are immediately enveloped in a castaway world where there is a freedom to breathe, stretch out and encompass the beauty and tranquillity of your surroundings. With only 16 romantic villas strung along a perfect beach, each with its own patch of private ocean paradise, you will find Azura as relaxing or as invigorating as you choose.

Here the emphasis is on luxury without the excesses, a rarefied form of exclusive island life, a paradise of which Robinson Crusoe himself would approve.

Settle into the gentle rhythms of island life in any way you choose: immerse yourself in the holistic spa treatments, practice yoga or simply soak in the rays of the sun alongside your private pool, tempered by a gentle ocean breeze. Explore the island on long, blissful walks or take to the sea for deserted island picnics, where your only companions are the seabirds and the gentle crash of the waves.

Should you feel the need for something more active, all the ingredients are there for what adventures the ocean may throw at you. Diving is world-class, the game fishing even more so. Closer to land, kayaking, sailing and snorkelling are on offer or take a drive with the resident guide to discover the island’s animals and birds while learning about the conservation programs on the island.

Meals are focused on surf-fresh cuisine; evenings are glamorous with a castaway twist- formal dining or a barbeque under the Milky Way. As you sip cocktails listening to the susurration of the ocean, you will agree there is no place as romantic or unique as Azura.

After a delightful final breakfast, the helicopter appears to return you to the mainland. Boarding your flight back to Johannesburg, you sit back and allow memories to flood your mind. You take with you the impressions and photographs of your experience in Africa, and the magic it has revealed. You recall the reverberating sound of a lion’s roar, echoing through the African night and the tapestry of colour that a bushveld sunset invokes. The myriad hues of pristine coral reefs, impossibly bright fish darting in between, the taste of seafood pulled from the sea only moments before. The depths of the Milky Way above, the glowing beacon of the Southern Cross; all these you take with you, and the promise to return.