The Continent & The Gulf
Africa & the Middle East
Golf in the morning, the Big Five by dusk.
On Africa & the Middle East
Nowhere else pairs championship golf with safari: the Garden Route's ocean-cliff courses, the Cape winelands, and the bush a short flight beyond. And on the way there or back, the Gulf's polished desert golf makes a stopover worth stretching.
This is the trip that converts the skeptics in the group.
From the notebook
No two journeys share an itinerary. These are the places we return to, and the ones we send people to when they trust us.
- Fancourt, LinksSouth AfricaGary Player's moonscape links, South Africa's finest test.
- Pinnacle PointSouth AfricaHoles strung along ocean cliffs. Screenshot golf, genuinely great.
- St Francis LinksSouth AfricaWind-whipped dunes above a surf village.
- HumewoodSouth AfricaSouth Africa's one true old links, salty and stern.
- ArabellaSouth AfricaLagoon-side beauty an hour from Cape Town.
- Pearl ValleySouth AfricaWinelands golf between the mountains and the vines.
- Yas LinksAbu DhabiAbu Dhabi's true links, improbably good and beautifully kept.
- Emirates, MajlisDubaiDubai's original grass, tournament pedigree under the skyline.
- Al MoujOmanMuscat's seaside surprise, Norman golf on the Gulf of Oman.
And more we argue about.
Off the course
- The drinkStellenbosch and Franschhoek tastings paired with serious kitchens, a sundowner gin as the bush goes quiet, and cardamom coffee in the Gulf.
- The waterWhales off Hermanus from June to November, penguins at Boulders Beach, and a dhow on the Musandam fjords out of Oman.
- The tableA braai done properly, Cape Malay curry in the Bo-Kaap, and a Middle Eastern feast eaten under desert stars.
- For the non-playersSafari needs no handicap. Add Table Mountain weather permitting, the souks and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and a dune drive at golden hour.
A week here, roughly
Cape Town and the winelands first: golf, tastings, and the mountain. The Garden Route's cliff-top courses next. Then north to the bush, where the phones go quiet and three safari nights make everyone forget the clubs. If the route runs through the Gulf, we stretch the stopover into two rounds and a desert evening. Ten days minimum. It earns every one.
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