I thought I knew South Africa, until I did it in a new way

I’ve been to South Africa before and thought I knew it. Such is the conceit of the occasional visitor.

In fact, what I knew didn’t stray beyond the usual tourist experiences of safaris, the Drakensberg Mountains, Cape Town and the Garden Route.

I hadn’t been to its big cities, only scurried out of Johannesburg and skirted around Port Elizabeth (now known as Gqeberha) and Durban. After all, these places don’t supply the tourist stereotypes and come with warnings about public safety.

But could I claim I’d really “done” South Africa if I’d never had an urban experience?

I love South Africa. It’s one of the world’s most beautiful countries, and South Africans are jolly people. I had no doubt I could enjoy it again, but I wanted to do something new. Something that scratched beneath its tourist skin.

Would a cruise deliver? I thought so. There’d be few wildlife distractions and a string of port towns. There’d be safety and comfort in between.

South Africa is increasingly on cruise itineraries, especially since early 2024, when cruise ships were rerouted from the Red Sea around Africa instead.

And so I’m boarding Seven Seas Splendor on Cape Town’s trendy V&A Waterfront. Capetonians surge along its promenades and sit on restaurant terraces. In the background, a blanket of cloud roils over the lip of Table Mountain.

Our first destination isn’t in South Africa but Namibia. Walvis Bay emerges on a low bone-brown coastline. Closer, the claws of harbour cranes loom and container ships loiter in the bay.

This is Namibia’s only port, and busy: the background hum and groan of machines is a pleasing theme tune to my hopes that I’ll be seeing a new side of this region.

Disembarkation is simple. Coaches wait at the end of the wharf amid shunting trains and locals spruiking last-minute tours. I’m off on a Regent excursion into the desert, past the enormous Dune 7 and a hydrogen power plant.

Then nothing but flatness and more dunes, curvaceous and streaked with iron ore. Past Swakopmund, a dusty uranium mining town where, according to our guide Benjamin, nothing ever happens after 10 at night, or on a Sunday.

There isn’t much happening in Walvis Bay either, but so what? I want ordinary life and here I have it: dusty streets, a posh waterfront, flamingos bent like pink question marks in the bay.

Distances between port cities are relatively long. That means a South Africa itinerary inevitably has days at sea but, on a Regent Seven Seas ship, that’s hardly something to complain about.

Seven Seas Splendor has packed ways to pass the time: bridge and samba lessons, wine tastings and blackjack tournaments, lectures on South African heritage and history. Team trivia merges into afternoon tea, and suddenly it’s time for pre-dinner cocktails.

Any dinner is an event on this ship, but for me Chartreuse is the most outstanding restaurant. No complaints about an evening spent over lobster bisque, beef tenderloin Rossini, and the most elegant ile flottante I’ve ever seen, topped by silvery tuile.

The sail into Durban is wonderful. White high-rises and the cyclops eye of the soccer stadium rise behind a vast beach. Early-morning holidaymakers are out on paddleboards or roosting beneath parasols.

The main harbour, busy with container ships, is entered through a narrow channel – industrial wharfs close to the port side, chic apartment complexes to starboard. The diminutive cruise terminal, capped with a brown tiled roof, looks like folded origami paper.

Thanks to missing out on Port Elizabeth, owing to adverse weather, we spend an extra day in Durban. I book two different city-overview tours: guests can do as many inclusive excursions as they like.

Wendy is my first white guide. Wendy grew up in Cape Town and Durban and, when asked, is happy to talk about her personal experience of the fall of apartheid. Now her sister lives in Australia, her son in South Korea, but for Wendy, Durban will always be home.

Victoria Embankment, the Botanical Gardens, Moses Mabhida Stadium and faded colonial-era buildings give me a feel for the city. Its centre is cluttered with street stalls, taxi-buses and noisy with shoppers.

We stop at Victoria Street Market, Durban’s oldest public market, colourful with African artwork and textiles and perfumed with Indian spices.

I slip out into the streets for a walk. Everyone warns that central Durban is dangerous but I simply find it raucous and dishevelled, so full of people going about their business it’s hard to see how anyone could be mugged in broad daylight.

In South Africa you should be alert to safety, but not overly timid. On this cruise I have the security of tours that allow me a reconnaissance, but nothing I’ve seen in Durban gives me reason to fret. Warnings are stock stories here, like Australians terrifying visitors over shark attacks and poisonous spiders.

Later, I’m off on my own to Durban’s posh outer seaside suburb Umhlanga Rocks. I was in Umhlanga once, long ago, and am gratified to find all races now mingling in this chic getaway. Its lively bars are the place to nurse a drink and tune in to local conversations.

Some ports in South Africa have little cruise infrastructure, but who needs endless walks through soulless cruise terminals? In Richards Bay, Seven Seas Splendor ties up at a wharf looking over rusting tin sheds and machinery.

In two minutes, guests are off on safaris, to Cape Vidal for snorkelling, or to visit a pineapple farm. I’m on the shuttle into town, past a river where hippos snort.

I look out the coach window at suburban housing and a university campus and am dropped outside Boardwalk Inkwazi Shopping Centre, a retreat from the humidity and an insight into everyday local life.

I’m not much of a shopper, but I like haunting shops. They tell you far more about local costs, living standards and habits than traditional tourist sights. One thing that strikes me about this mall is that it isn’t same-same. International names are scarce, but who needs another Starbucks or Zara? Instead of Just Jeans, there’s Just Undies and other brands I’ve never heard of.

Yes, there’s a Woolworths, but it sells biltong and boerewors and a pre-made dish alarmingly called bunny chow.

Back on board, I have my favourite spots on Seven Seas Splendour. The back corner of the pool deck has armchairs piled with cushions and, on cooler days, overhead heaters where I can bask like a hamster.

The library is hushed, and I can lose myself for an hour in its superb coffee-table books. The Observation Lounge has the requisite grand views but for me is best after dark, with its starry low lighting and clink of drinks.

In Mossel Bay a couple of days later, guests are tendered off to a game reserve, gin tastings and the St Blaize hiking trail. For once, I’m tempted out of town to find out about the ostrich heritage of Oudtshoorn, a highly scenic drive across the modest Outeniqua Mountains.

In the early 20th century, Oudtshoorn was booming as a supplier of feathers for the world’s hats, fans and dress fringes. Now most ostrich feathers are used for feather dusters and South American carnival costumes.

Farmers no longer live in ostentatious “ostrich palaces”, but we visit a fifth-generation family-owned farm for an entertaining and informative look at the business of farming these peculiar animals.

I’ve learnt quite a lot on this cruise, and now I know about the size of an ostrich’s brain – smaller than its eye – and location of its knees, which aren’t where you might think.

True, I haven’t seen an elephant, but it doesn’t matter. I feel I know South Africa a little bit better, and that’s a wonderful thing.

THE DETAILS

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CRUISE
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 14-night Lagoons, Safaris and Dunes cruise, return from Cape Town, departs January 13, 2026 and visits Walvis Bay, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), East London, Durban and Mossel Bay. From $13,390 a person including all dining, speciality restaurants, beverages, Wi-Fi, gratuities, laundry service and shore excursions. See rssc.com

The writer was a guest of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

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