Islands off the African coast Our flagship heads immediately for the sunshine and Madeira, which rises from the Atlantic like a lush garden. To appreciate its mountainous beauty, an excellent starting point is to ascend by cable car up to Monte and its verdant gardens. The route down might be even more dramatic. That’s if you choose the wicker toboggan ride through the steep streets, guided and steered by the ‘gondoliers’. There’s always time to shop for the island specialities: the wine, the cake, the lace and the wicker goods. A few hundred miles due south is Tenerife. Its scenery is arguably more impressive, as Spain’s highest peak stands at the island’s centre, its summit often dusted with snow. If history is your thing, Santa Cruz is the site of Admiral Nelson’s only defeat. Then there’s mysterious Guimar, whose six stepped pyramids built from volcanic rock remain an enigma.
Beautiful African panoramas Having followed the length of Africa, you touch shore at two of its most southerly countries. In Namibia, let Walvis Bay and its surrounds astound you. From the squawking cacophony of tens of thousands of flamingoes in its wetlands, to the silence of the Namib Desert’s empty dunes that creep slowly along. Cape Town is your passport
into South Africa, where your first glimpse of its wondrous scenery is the emblematic Table Mountain around which the ‘Mother City’ sweeps. You could acquaint yourself with the Victoria and Albert Waterfront – a haven of shops – or venture across to Robben Island which formerly housed a number of high-profile political prisoners. Further away but just as enticing, see the penguins on Boulder Beach, admire the dramatic cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope or taste the acclaimed wines produced around the pleasant university town of Stellenbosch.
Spanning the Indian Ocean Three contrasting calls lure you east from Africa to Australia. First up is Durban. Those who look beyond the beachfront known as
‘Golden Mile’ may discover the bustling India District, where the Juma Mosque and Victoria Street Market provide points of interest. Further inland, you could pass through the evocatively named Valley of a Thousand Hills before watching Zulu drummers and craftsmen at work, or scan the savannah for wildlife at a game reserve. Soon you bid Africa farewell, crossing the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. The famed home of the extinct dodo, as the souvenir shops remind you, this is today an isle of giant tortoises and the giant water lilies of Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens; it’s also the third day of Chinese New Year, likely to be illuminated by lanterns and fireworks. Continuing west, you touch shore at historic Fremantle near Perth in western Australia.
Botanical Gardens, Mauritius
Flamingos, Walvis Bay, Namibia
The Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa
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