Review: Abercrombie & Kent’s Southern Africa Safari & Rail Adventure

I had just put my key card in the door of my room when I heard a roar from somewhere behind the trees. 

"You hear that?” the guide called from the pathway. “That’s a big male lion.” 

She puffed her cheeks out for emphasis. 

Night had fallen at Botswana’s Chobe Game Lodge, and the guide escorted me back to my room from dinner — a requirement of the lodge after dark. 

"The electric fence only keeps the giraffes and elephants off property,” she had explained earlier during the day. 

The lodge’s staff are trained to sense when animals are lurking in the shadows and how to deal with them — usually by knowing what type of noise or gesture will scare them off. 

I was on the back half of Abercrombie & Kent’s Southern Africa Safari & Rail Adventure, a 13-day tour that traverses much of Southern Africa. The tour begins in Cape Town with a few days of touring, then guests depart on the Rovos Rail luxury train for three nights en route to Johannesburg. There are overnights in Johannesburg and Victoria Falls before traveling overland to Botswana’s Chobe National Park and Okavango Delta.

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The Pre-Safari Tour

In Cape Town, all the top hits are included: the Table Mountain cable car; the Bo-Kaap neighborhood, where a local guide walks guests through Cape Malay culture and cooking; and the District Six Museum, where a guide relates the history of this Cape Town neighborhood, where all the residents were evicted and relocated during apartheid. 

The following day, we set off to the Cape of Good Hope, winding along the scenic coastline to take in the views and spot wildlife; we also stopped at Boulders Beach to see some African penguins. On the third morning, we ventured out to a winery before boarding the train in the afternoon. 

Mount Nelson, a Belmond Hotel was our Cape Town base. We were greeted in our gorgeous rooms with a bottle of the hotel’s signature pink gin, and we gathered in the historic lobby for our daily tours, taking in the neatly manicured gardens and the hotel’s blush-colored facade — it was painted pink in 1918 to celebrate peace at the end of World War I. 

Then, we were off for our multiday Rovos Rail train ride to Johannesburg, watching the grassy landscape slide by the windows of our deluxe suites in between three gourmet meals served in the dining car with a lavish setting of fine porcelain, crystal and silver. 

The train stops for touring in Matjiesfontein, a preserved Victorian village, and the Kimberley mine museum. The overnight at Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa in Johannesburg after touring Soweto felt more logistical than anything, but was still lovely.

The following morning, we flew to Victoria Falls, with optional activities at The Palm River Hotel on the banks of the Zambezi River before touring the falls early the next morning. Next, it was onto neighboring Botswana for the beginning of our safari. 

Safari Thrills on Land and Water

Chobe Game Lodge is the only safari lodge inside Chobe National Park, and it’s directly on the Chobe River, which allowed us to do some of our game viewing by boat. Chugging up and down the waterway, we saw herds of elephants coming to drink alongside baboons, impala and spiral-horned kudu. They all scattered at warning calls from the alpha baboons, warning of a lioness in the neighborhood. 

The next morning we were up before dawn — the best time of day to see nocturnal animals like lions, and we weren’t disappointed. On the grassy savannah near the river, just yards from the border with Namibia, we spotted a cluster of juvenile male lions with the first tufts of mane starting to sprout taking in the sunrise, their chops still stained crimson with the spoils of their overnight hunt. We spent our days finding clusters of giraffes, hippos, monkeys, Cape buffalo, warthogs and even the African Fish Eagle — a close relative of the American bald eagle.

After two days of safari at Chobe, with its charming all-woman troupe of game guides, we flew to the Okavango Delta by small plane, arriving at Sanctuary Chief’s Camp to stay in luxury bush pavilions — a fitting crown jewel to our sojourn. The lodge’s main lobby sits right in front of a watering hole that attracts elephants, warthogs, impalas and even lions throughout the day. 

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The luxury pavilions are well-stocked, with soaking tubs, outdoor plunge pools and lounge space, outdoor private showers and mosquito netting over the beds, plus electric blankets to warm up on cold nights.

The Okavango Delta alternates between desert and river delta between seasonal floods. During our visit, the waters had not yet come, so our safaris took place in luxury six-person vehicles across the dusty savannah. The big cats are the prizes here, and on our game drives, we were rewarded with several encounters with a mature male lion sporting a luxurious black-and-gold mane. We also saw zebras, a leopard, a cheetah, ostriches and endangered wild dogs. 

Value and Inclusions

The value of the accommodations and airfare alone makes it worth it to book this journey with A&K, but there are also the wonderful hotel workers, tour guides and safari guides who enhance the trip. The cost of the journey also includes baggage handling and gratuities for all workers (the only tip not included was for our wonderful resident tour director, Carol, a South African with years of experience guiding tours). 

There was also free laundry service available on Rovos Rail and at the game lodges, which came in handy, since the baggage restrictions on the bush flights were tight. A&K even provides each client on the tour with a duffel that meets all the myriad bag restrictions. Meals at the lodges were included — a mix of buffet and table service, depending on what was more convenient for game drive timings. A handful of dinners in Cape Town and Johannesburg were on our own. 

"Unforgettable” isn’t a word I’m prone to use for most travel experiences. But as I watched the sun set over the Okavango Delta after a satisfying safari, sipping a gin and tonic from a crystal glass on a table that flipped down from the front of our safari truck, I thought: “If this isn’t unforgettable, what possibly could be?”