my solo adventure through South Africa

I had flown to Cape Town five days earlier to begin G Adventures’ latest tour of South Africa and this safari is the halfway point of my adventure.

The route begins in Cape Town, ends in Johannesburg and includes a safari stay in Kruger National Park. It’s my first time in South Africa, so I’m glad the trip extends beyond the wildlife (a factor that persuaded most of our group to book).

This tour is one of the operator’s collection of group trips created exclusively for solo travellers, to “help travellers travel for themselves, not by themselves”. There are 13 destinations on offer, including India, Peru and Costa Rica.

• Explore our full guide to South Africa

To ensure each individual is in the same boat (or, in this case, the same 4×4), multiple bookings aren’t allowed. With no couples or gangs of friends, no one “feels like a third wheel”, as my fellow traveller Petra Warrior, a 59-year-old accountant from Canada, puts it.

Hannah Gravett (centre) with her group in South Africa

We’re a small group — six of us from the UK, US, Canada, Germany and Australia, a mix of men and women aged between 28 and 69.

We meet up in Cape Town for the first time at Cresta Grande, a simple hotel near the V&A Waterfront. Our first activity is an ice-breaker in the form of a cooking class, in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood on the eastern edge of Signal Hill, where steep streets are full of pastel homes with walls graffitied by local artists. Gamidah Jacobs from Lekka Kombuis Kitchen teaches us how to make delicious traditional Cape Malay dishes, including chilli puffs, crispy roti, vegetable samosas and irresistible koesisters (a South African doughnut-style dessert).

• 17 of the best safaris in South Africa

The next day we ride the steep cable car up to the peak of Table Mountain and are rewarded by a glorious view of Cape Town and cute little rodent-like dassies that hang around the rocks. The clear blue skies and a light breeze leave us feeling smug — just a couple of days earlier the mountain had been closed to visitors because of strong winds and rain. For lunch we drive over to the urban neighbourhood of Rocklands, southeast of the city, to tour the Seed Project, where staff at a community garden grow organic produce and teach self-sufficiency to people who live locally. After getting our hands dirty shovelling compost and harvesting spring unions, we dine garden-to-plate on tasty, fresh homegrown salad, potatoes, aubergine and squash, followed by sugar-free apple and cinnamon muffins.

Bo-Kaap on the eastern edge of Signal Hill

GETTY IMAGED

In search of African penguins

The next day is jam-packed, beginning with an hour’s drive to Boulders Beach, with pitstops at St James and Kalk Bay for short wanders on the beach. At Boulders we watch the protected colony of 3,000 African penguins as we bob up and down in sea kayaks. There’s a photo op at Cape Point, at the southwestern tip of the African continent, roadside sightings of baboons and ostriches, and a sweaty 30-minute hike to Old Cape Point Lighthouse.

• Explore our full guide to Cape Town

Our picturesque hour-and-a-half drive across Chapman’s Peak toll road is another highlight. We stop for roadside G&Ts, supplied by our driver Craig, at a viewpoint as the sun sets over the clifftops. Dinner of upmarket braai at Veldt in Hout Bay is a total indulgence. We sip local sauvignon blanc and munch on flavour-packed braaibroodjies (grilled cheese sandwiches), brisket buns and pesto green beans (mains from £5.50; veldtdbe.co.za).

Hannah sea kayaking alongside penguins

Our final day in Cape Town is our own. While some head off to the vineyards around the city, I join Kirsti for a walk around the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden before taking the opportunity to enjoy a peaceful stroll around the Sea Point area. I stop for a solo lunch at Our Local, a cosy, plant-packed restaurant serving colourful salads, shakshuka and schnitzels on trendy Kloof Street (mains from £3; ourlocal.co.za).

• 15 of the best beaches in South Africa

The next morning we have a two-and-a half-hour flight to Kruger National Park, and we haven’t even left the grounds of the airport before we spot a herd of kudus. Our drive to Kruger Gate passes through fields filled with flashes of bright orange from the mandarin plantations. As we pull up to Skukuza Safari Lodge, our hotel for the next two nights, we’re welcomed by a triple sighting of monkeys, giraffes and a warthog.

The wildlife appearances continue on the first safari drive, where we spot zebras, impalas, buffaloes and then hippos soaking in the shallows with crocodiles lurking eerily in the background (thank you, bush!).

The protected colony of penguins at Boulders

GETTY IMAGES

Locking eyes with leopards

We rise early the next morning for a 7am start to our safari drive around Lower Sabie on the southeastern stretch of the national park. We spend the first couple of hours bundled up in blankets — layers are a must for mornings in Kruger. Barely an hour into our drive, we lock eyes with a leopard poised in the high grass of the roadside. It sits for a moment, staring back up at us before racing off into the thick of the bush. Already giddy from our close encounter with such an elusive animal, we don’t expect to see another, let alone more later that day.

After a lunch of roosterkoek (grilled bread) sandwiches and between sightings of baby elephants, hyena cubs and even lionesses lounging on rocks, we’re spoilt with the sight of another two leopards. Kirsti is ecstatic too — despite years of touring, she has never seen three in one day in Kruger. Our chorus of thank yous is full-hearted. By day two we’ve seen four of the big five.

A leopard in the South African bush

GETTY IMAGES

Now halfway through our time in Kruger, we’re bound for Buffalo Rock, a three to four-hour game drive away, near to the park’s Numbi Gate for two nights of fireside glamping. I opt for an Africology massage at Skukuza Safari Lodge’s on-site spa before we set off, followed by an en route snooze where I’m intermittently jerked awake to the sight of elephants or giraffes. We’re welcomed by the team at Buffalo Rock with cold, refreshing towels before another safari drive where we see black-backed jackals and hyenas. We stop for amarula (cream) liqueur, trail mix and mango juice as the night takes over the sky.

A safari walk marks our last full day in Kruger. We tread carefully and quietly through the high grass and are rewarded by hippos soaking up the sun and elephants padding through trees in the distance.

After some mid-morning free time spent playing games and enjoying a lunch of homemade curry and salad, our custard tart dessert is interrupted by a large, surprisingly stealthy elephant wandering into our camp. It weaves through our tents and stares at us before meandering on its way — an unforgettable moment. We are still talking about it well into our fireside braai that evening over kudu sausages (sorry, bush).

Our final safari drives are led by “King” Richard, an electric and animated guide with a raucous sense of humour. He leads us to our fourth leopard, which we watch stalking a herd of impalas while a hyena cheekily follows close by.

We leave the park for Johannesburg still one short of a full Big Five flush, only to come across a handful of rhinos in the field overlooking the Alzu Petroport service station. We thank the bush one final time, even if our encounter is technically roadside.

Onomo Johannesburg Sandton hotel is the last stop of the tour, mere metres from Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, the city’s northern financial district. We say heartfelt goodbyes over dinner at Cilantros, a seafood grill restaurant (mains from £5; cilantros.co.za). I think we’re all a little surprised by and thankful for how much we’ve enjoyed each other’s company given our varied ages and backgrounds.

As Nadia Toia, a 28-year-old sonographer from Australia, puts it, “It’s not the crowd that I was expecting — but we’ve all gotten along really well and found that we’re all like-minded individuals.” As I travel home solo, I quietly continue our mantra of thanking the bush, not only for all the animal encounters, but also for bringing our mismatched crew together.
Hannah Gravett was a guest of G Adventures, which has nine nights’ B&B from £1,959pp, including transport, guiding and excursions (gadventures.com). Fly to Cape Town