Ultimate Golf Vacation at Africa's Best Courses & Safari

Teeing off at the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington's East course is not the easiest place to start your golfing safari, but it may be the most beautiful. Measuring some 7,592 yards from the farthest tees, this course requires good drives onto the dramatically undulating fairways. Getting it right and playing par on this course is a wonderful feeling, for most of the holes are long, tight and tough. There is also a sublime scenic beauty to the round, as the holes wind in different directions through the parkland. You will quickly see why the world's best return each year for the Joburg Open. While challenging, the course is also a great introduction to the diversity of South African courses, with each hole testing another piece of your golfing armory. Your round will be in the early afternoon, giving you some more time to relax in the morning.

It's a two-hour drive to Sun City and your afternoon round at one of Africa's most unusual courses. Sun City is the revered home of the Gary Player Golf Course, the country's classic golfing challenge. But that's for tomorrow as for today the Lost City Golf Course will bring you something unusual and quirky. The par three 13th is the signature, its tight green guarded by a crocodile pit. Many raised tees have you driving over dramatic ravines, and the course mixes the ruggedness of the desert with a lush human-made oasis, notably at holes nine and 18 as you play back towards the clubhouse. Finish the round, and your hotel is less than a two-minute walk away, offering excellent views back over the course you've just played.

For many years, golf's biggest ever purse was awarded at the Gary Player Country Club. While it no longer holds that accolade, the course continues to offer one of the world's most inspiring golf challenges. The par fives really excite with their risk and reward; hold your nerve, and you will gain shots here, but get it wrong, and you may be lucky to escape with a double bogey. Slick and fast greens require a fine touch, and there are some cunning water hazards to avoid. This course deserves its reputation as South Africa's most famous, and there are few more iconic climaxes than the iron over the water to the 18th. You will play an early round here before the heat of the day kicks in, leaving plenty of time to lounge in the magnificent clubhouse.

A direct flight will take you from the glitz of Sun City to the wilderness of the Sabi Sands, one of South Africa's premier safari destinations. Access to wildlife is easy here, with elephants regularly drinking from your private plunge pool and zebra herds passing by at all hours of the day. Your transfer to the lodge is a game drive, providing rich first impressions of many different mammals. Giraffe rise above the trees, springbok skip across the vast grasslands, and the sight of a large buffalo herd is enough to get your hairs standing on end. Sabi Sands is part of the Greater Kruger ecosystem, and wildlife migrates for miles to enjoy the bounty of the Sabie and Sand rivers. By sticking close to the water, you will be surrounded by a magnificent cast of mammals while settling into your luxury lodge that overlooks the river.

The next day, you will enjoy an afternoon game drive before spending a relaxed evening at the lodge. Even after dark, you will continue to see animals as a hippo may wander beneath the moonlight or a baboon troop may shout from the nearby trees. The day is flexible, and you can choose your morning and afternoon safari activity, opting to explore on four wheels or two legs. Sabi Sands is the evocative home of the Big Five and two days should bring encounters with each of Africa's most famous. Lions are easily spotted, lounging on the plains, along with elephants and buffalo. The wider ecosystem is home to most of the world's rhinos, so you are likely to see a few of these usually shy creatures. And for leopard encounters, there are few better places in Africa than the trees along these rivers. Look forward to active morning and evenings, with leisurely afternoons to pass the heat of the day as you lounge on your verandah to watch the wildlife roll by.

Every golf course makes a claim at being unique but few can justify it as well as Leopard Creek can. Zebra and springbok skip across the fairways, hippos fill the water hazards, and the occasional tee shot is interrupted by the distant roar of a lion. Bordering Kruger National Park, this course is on the European Pro Tour, and the back nine will be lodged in your memory for decades to come. As you play back towards the clubhouse, there is an incredible mix of variety, risk, and challenge alongside the jaw-dropping backdrop of the Kruger. Wildlife scampers around and some of the greens are menacingly perched on islands surrounded by crocodiles and hippos. You will probably score well here, particularly after the challenging courses played earlier in the week. So take your time, admire how the magnificence of the Kruger is evoked in golfing form, and savor the all or nothing feeling of the approach shots across the water. After your round, you will return to the Sabi Sands where the wildlife encounters will continue from your verandah and plunge pool.

The exclusive Fancourt Estate is the home of golf in contemporary South Africa. Winding along the coast near George, on the Garden Route, Fancourt is home to three exceptional courses. You will fly here via Johannesburg and land in time for a late-afternoon round at Fancourt Outeniqua, a parkland course bounded by white-walled thatch villas and a halfway hut that will keep you stocked with drinks after the ninth. The Outeniqua is the least demanding and the shortest of Fancourt's three courses, although the final five holes require absolute accuracy as you negotiate a complex of lakes. For these three nights, you will stay at the hotel on the estate to enjoy access to the prestigious clubhouse and some of the stunning views over the Links course.

Tee off the next morning between the mystical mountains and the waters of the Indian Ocean. The setting is remarkable, combining the challenge of the mountains' lower slopes and the strong coastal breeze. The courses will impresses from the first hole to last, then onwards through the afternoon as you sit in the clubhouse and gaze out over the island green of the par five 18th. Like Fancourt's other courses, the course is not usually opened to the public, but on this golfing safari, you will have exclusive opportunities to play all three of the courses as a guest.

Fancourt's Links course is named by many pros as South Africa's finest course. The course played host to the 2003 Presidents Cup and golfers from Tiger Woods to Ernie Els have returned to play a leisurely round. The Outeniqua Mountains line one side of the course, a majestic backdrop to enormous sand dunes and a demanding 18 holes. Think dog-legs, vast changes in elevation, pin-point greens, and blind drives onto swashbuckling fairways. The steep pot bunkers are best avoided and another example of the exquisite design. Architecturally, this course is a true gem and the highlight of any amateur or pro golfers' career. You will not be the first person to spend the whole of the afternoon in the clubhouse debating your favorite hole.

Good flight connections mean it would be senseless not to spend a day in Durban at the Durban Country Club. From George, you will need to connect planes in order to reach Mauritius and Durban is directly on your route. The Durban Country Club offers a bewitching seaside round as one of Africa's oldest and most prestigious clubs, playing host to the South Africa Open a record 17 times since 1922.  The course has been featured in Golf Magazine's Top 100 Courses every year since 1985 and the first few holes will really capture your imagination. The daunting 400-yard par four first is followed by a short par three along the Indian Ocean, where you will approach a tight green guarded by white sand. Play down the coast into a valley of dunes on the par five third, which convinces most to play conservatively. Rollicking fairways and fairytale bunkers line the rest of the course, with many elevated tees offer sublime views of the Indian Ocean. After your round, you can stay on the coast at one of Durban's five-star hotels.

South Africa's golf courses are for golfing purists, and these uniquely challenging courses have hosted the majority of the world's leading pros. The courses in Mauritius are shorter and easier, so you should be coming in under par after 11 days that would test the very best. After your flight from Durban, you will be escorted to Poste de Flacq and a luxurious resort on the island's eastern coast. Your suite will overlook the waves, and you will be quickly immersed into the tropical island serenity. Mauritius is new to the golfing scene, and the atmosphere is certainly different to South Africa and geared towards those intent on mixing languid hours on the beach with a daily round amidst the tropical tones.

Belle Mare Plage is recommended as your first course as the opening tee is just a few hundred meters from your suite. Earnie Els's Anahita increases the challenge the next day as you move in and out of the trees. The final three fairways hug the coastline and evoke all the dreamy images of a Mauritius golfing vacation. Ile aux Cerfs is a fitting climax to your golfing safari, set on its own private island and only accessible by boat. The course is not long, but it is tight, especially on the short par threes that are skirted by white sandy beaches. Over the 18 holes, you will journey through lush mangroves, tidal pools, and volcanic lava outcrops as you skirt the island's coastline with the Indian Ocean waves as your accompaniment. At times, it will be hard to put away your camera to take your next shot as this golf course will arouse your senses, and you will likely want to spend the rest of your afternoon at the ocean-fronted clubhouse.

Spend your day relaxing at the resort with access to all of the facilities before your evening departure. You will be transferred to the airport in plenty of time for your international departure.