After an overnight in suburban Johannesburg, we begin in the brilliantly conceived chalets of Kwessi Dunes in solitudinous NamibRand Nature Reserve, exemplar of the country’s epic sceneries, followed by a three-night stay at the imaginative Onguma the Fort, surrounded by the peacefulness of Etosha National Park’s dry, archetypally vast landscapes, and free-ranging animals. Then we’re off to the iconic One&Only in forever zesty Cape Town and the gorgeous Cape Winelands, a dissimilar but no less bedazzling experience.

We finish in Sir Richard Branson’s Safari Lodge or his nearby Rock Lodge, tucked into his private Ulusaba Game Reserve, part of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, a varietal land of acacia-dotted savannahs, riverine forests, and rocky bluffs, graced with 150 mammal species, 470 avians, and 300 tree species, ranging from monumental baobabs to winsome ilala palms.