Cape Town to Mahe

Sprawling across endless, staggeringly blue coastline, and watched over by the iconic plane of Table Mountain, Cape Town is without doubt one of the world’s most beautiful cities. A blend of spectacular mountain scenery, multiculturalism and relaxed ocean charm awaits in the Mother City, where you can venture out to rolling vineyards, dine in laid back sea suburbs, or spend days exploring cool urban culture. Cape Town’s natural splendour fully reveals itself as the cable car rears sharply to the top of Table Mountain. From the summit, 3,500 feet above sea level, you can let the scale of the panoramic vistas of the city rolling down towards the ocean wash over you. Another heavenly perspective waits at the top of Lion’s Head’s tapering peak. A sharp hike and an early start is required, but the views of the morning sun painting Table Mountain honey-gold are some of Cape Town’s finest. Cape Town’s glorious sunshine and inviting blue rollers can be a little deceiving – these oceans are anything but warm at times, with nothing between the peninsula’s end and Antarctica’s icy chill. This cool water has upsides though, bringing a colony of adorably cute African penguins to Boulders Beach. Boarded walkways offer the perfect vantage point to see the cute creatures dipping into the sea and lounging in the sun. Nearby, journey to the end of Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, where you can stand at the bottom of this mighty continent, watching out over the merging waves of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Cape Town’s beauty is counterpointed by the ominous island form, which sits four miles offshore from the bustling restaurants and lazy seals of the lively V&A Waterfront. A living history lesson, you can sail in the ships that transported prisoners out to Robben Island, before a former prisoner tells of the traumas of life on this offshore prison. Your guide will show you the cramped cells, and render Mandela’s long walk to freedom in heartbreaking, visceral clarity.

Sprawling across endless, staggeringly blue coastline, and watched over by the iconic plane of Table Mountain, Cape Town is without doubt one of the world’s most beautiful cities. A blend of spectacular mountain scenery, multiculturalism and relaxed ocean charm awaits in the Mother City, where you can venture out to rolling vineyards, dine in laid back sea suburbs, or spend days exploring cool urban culture. Cape Town’s natural splendour fully reveals itself as the cable car rears sharply to the top of Table Mountain. From the summit, 3,500 feet above sea level, you can let the scale of the panoramic vistas of the city rolling down towards the ocean wash over you. Another heavenly perspective waits at the top of Lion’s Head’s tapering peak. A sharp hike and an early start is required, but the views of the morning sun painting Table Mountain honey-gold are some of Cape Town’s finest. Cape Town’s glorious sunshine and inviting blue rollers can be a little deceiving – these oceans are anything but warm at times, with nothing between the peninsula’s end and Antarctica’s icy chill. This cool water has upsides though, bringing a colony of adorably cute African penguins to Boulders Beach. Boarded walkways offer the perfect vantage point to see the cute creatures dipping into the sea and lounging in the sun. Nearby, journey to the end of Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, where you can stand at the bottom of this mighty continent, watching out over the merging waves of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Cape Town’s beauty is counterpointed by the ominous island form, which sits four miles offshore from the bustling restaurants and lazy seals of the lively V&A Waterfront. A living history lesson, you can sail in the ships that transported prisoners out to Robben Island, before a former prisoner tells of the traumas of life on this offshore prison. Your guide will show you the cramped cells, and render Mandela’s long walk to freedom in heartbreaking, visceral clarity.

Mossel Bay, located at the western-most end of the Garden Route, is known as the site of the 1488 landing of the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias. From then on, many ships stopped here to get fresh water or barter with the Khoikhoi tribe. However, Mossel Bay remained pretty much a fishing and whaling backwater until its discovery as a holiday resort in the 1930s because of its beautiful beach.

Maputo is not known for being the capital of Mozambique, but also for the buzzing vitality that is unfound elsewhere in Africa. The end of 15 years of civil war in 1992 saw an economic uprising and visitors to Maputo today are just as likely to come for the busy bars and restaurants as they are to enjoy colonial architecture worthy of the Mediterranean. Maputo is different from other cities in the region. It’s magical.

Trips into the lush countryside may include a ride up to Mt. Passot. At 950 feet, this is the highest point on the island. The view from the top offers an extensive panorama of crater lakes nestled between verdant hills. Most visitors make the boat trip to Nosy Komba. The tiny island is known for its lemur reserve. These arboreal primates, with their large eyes, soft fur and long curling tails, have lived unharmed for centuries in the forest behind Ampangorina village. The lemurs are a popular tourist attraction and a profitable source of income to the small local community.

Trips into the lush countryside may include a ride up to Mt. Passot. At 950 feet, this is the highest point on the island. The view from the top offers an extensive panorama of crater lakes nestled between verdant hills. Most visitors make the boat trip to Nosy Komba. The tiny island is known for its lemur reserve. These arboreal primates, with their large eyes, soft fur and long curling tails, have lived unharmed for centuries in the forest behind Ampangorina village. The lemurs are a popular tourist attraction and a profitable source of income to the small local community.

Antsiranana, also known as Diego Suarez, is a port city in northern Madagascar. It sits on Antsiranana Bay, a vast natural harbor made up of several smaller bays. Offshore, conical Nosy Lonja, or Sugar Loaf Island, is considered sacred by locals. Long, sandy Ramena Beach lies to the northeast. The city’s French colonial architecture is highlighted by the old covered market and the ruins of the Hôtel de la Marine.

This tropical Eden covers 14.5 square miles and lies a mere 28 miles from the island of Mahé. In addition to glorious beaches and fantastic marine life, Praslin is best known for the Vallée de Mai World Heritage Site where the botanical rarity, the coco de mer, grows wild. In fact, this incredible palm forest earned the island its original name of “Isle de Palme,” accorded by the French navigator Lazare Picault who had to carve his way through the tangled undergrowth of the inland hills. In 1768 Marion Dufresne led an expedition to the island and renamed it Praslin. He placed a Deed of Possession in a bottle which he buried in the sands of the northern coast. In the early 1800s the total population of the island amounted to ten families. Nothing noteworthy happened through most of the century, except for the arrival of General Charles Gordon in 1881. The hero of Khartoum thought he had found the biblical Garden of Eden and pronounced that the coco de mer was the biblical tree of knowledge

This small island, no more than four square miles in size, is Praslin’s beautiful neighbor and presents a picture of peaceful seclusion. Apart from a few minivans, the only other means of transport here are ox carts or bicycles. The island has two centers, La Passe where you come ashore via the ship’s tender and, just half a mile to the south, La Réunion. Both are on the island’s west coast and neither has more than a handful of dwellings, a few shops, bicycle and oxcart rentals. A perfect place to explore on one’s own, some of the beaches near La Passe are within easy walking distance. To venture further you may want to hire an oxcart or a bicycle. There is good diving practically anywhere in the waters around La Digue, as well as excellent snorkeling at Anse Patates and Anse La Réunion. Protected on all but its southeast shores by a magnificent encircling coral reef, La Digue retains all the fascination of an untouched world. The road leading south from La Passe takes you past the charming La Digue Island Lodge and continues to L’Union Estate. The grounds feature a copra factory and an impressive tumble of granite rocks, at the foot of which live several giant tortoises. (There is a fee to enter L’Union Estate.) Further along the beach at Source d’Argent, a dirt path winds around heaps of giant granite boulders which present a popular subject for photo buffs.

Like jade-colored jewels in the Indian Ocean, the more than 100 Seychelles Islands are often regarded as the Garden of Eden. Lying just four degrees south of the equator, the Seychelles are some 1,000 miles from the nearest mainland Africa. Little more than 200 years ago, all 115 islands were uninhabited.Then in 1742 a French ship dispatched from Mauritius sailed into one of the small bays. Captain Lazare Picault was the first to explore these unnamed islands. He encountered breathtaking vistas of rugged mountains, lagoons, coral atolls, splendid beaches and secluded coves. After Picault sailed away, the islands remained untouched for the next 14 years. Then France took possession of the seven islands in the Mahé group. During an expedition Captain Morphey named them the Sechelles, in honor of Vicomte Moreau de Sechelles.This name was later anglicized to Seychelles. The first settlers arrived at St. Anne’s Island in 1770; 15 years later the population of Mahé consisted of seven Europeans and 123 slaves. Today there are about 80,000 Seychellois, the majority of whom live on Mahé; the rest are scattered in small communities throughout the archipelago.The people are a fusion of three continents — Africa, Asia and Europe.This has created a unique culture and the use of three languages — Creole, French and English. Mahé is the largest island in the archipelago and the location of the capital,Victoria. Ringed by steep, magnificent mountains, few capitals can claim a more beautiful backdrop.The town features a mixture of modern and indigenous architecture; it is the center of business and commerce thanks to the extensive port facilities. Noteworthy sites in Victoria are the museum, cathedral, government house, clock tower, botanical gardens and an open-air market.