January 30, 2008

Africa & Mideast | South Africa, Cape Town

Town & Country

By Diane Vadino

Swank safari finally reaches the Western Cape, while a piece of history gets a new lease on the Cape Town waterfront.

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Stylish bush retreats are a dime a dozen in South Africa’s northern provinces. But you’d have been hard-pressed to find claw-foot tubs and Vichy showers in the wilderness of the Western Cape — until now. This month, Fynbos Camp opens inside the new Gondwana Game Reserve — the Western Cape’s first Big Five safari park. Rivaling South Africa’s plushest sanctuaries (Royal Malewane Lodge in Kruger National Park and Morukuru in the Madikwe Game Reserve), Fynbos offers 35 suites overlooking the Outeniqua Mountains (15 of those are dome-shaped cottages inspired by the native Khoisan style). From your viewing deck you might see the endangered Cape mountain zebra and other indigenous animals recently reintroduced to this region — which, by the way, is just 10 miles from Mossel Bay and has the world’s most moderate climate, after Hawaii.

Of course, the Western Cape is better known for upscale Cape Town boltholes, such as Kensington Place and Design Hotel’s Metropole. Next month, they are joined by the ultra-boutique Dock House with just six rooms set on the V&A Waterfront, near sister hotel Victoria & Alfred. The 19th-century residence of the city’s harbor engineer, Dock House is a Victorian gem, but it’s far from kitsch: You’ll find plasma TVs, (free) WiFi and modern furnishings in your room, plus an outdoor pool that looks on to Table Mountain. With a $640-per-night price tag, the hotel promises to be “exclusive” and “discreet” — and something far more valuable in Cape Town: “secure.”