A river that never reaches the sea instead spills across the Kalahari, braiding into a maze of channels, lily lagoons and palm islands thick with wildlife.

Elephants by the hundreds come to drink where the river meets the Kalahari sands. Cruise at sunset and the herd will stroll straight past your boat.

A vast reserve of red dunes and grass plains where black-maned lions patrol and the horizon never stops. Remote, silent and extraordinary.

Dunes the colour of embers rise hundreds of metres. At sunrise the sand blazes red, and the dead trees of Deadvlei stand like a painting.

A seaside town where desert and Atlantic collide. Wide dunes, foggy mornings and an old-world German feel make it a quirky pause on the Skeleton Coast.

Ancient bushveld stretches to the horizon in a park the size of a small country. Sunrise drives and sundowners are punctuated by lions, leopards and elephants.

Unfenced private reserves famed for the finest leopard viewing in Africa. Open vehicles, close sightings and a guide who knows each cat by name.

A city at the edge of a continent, beneath a flat-topped mountain. Two oceans, wine valleys and penguin beaches sit within an hour of each other.

Mokoro glide

Pole silently through reeds in a dugout canoe at eye level with the water.

Island walking safari

Follow your guide on foot across palm islands, tracking elephant and buffalo.

Scenic flight

Look down on the delta's pattern of channels and herds from a small plane.