Elite Traveler January-February 2019

SAFARIS AND GREENS IN SOUTH AFRICA Twenty years ago, AndrewWhitelaw founded Premier Africa to provide discerning travelers with seamless journeys through his native continent, designing excursions that allowed those travelers to experience, as Whitelaw says, “the magic and beauty of Africa.” More recently, Whitelaw partnered with fellow South African Ernie Els to create a collection of immersive golf getaways through their home country, the most exceptional of which is a 16-day journey appropriately named Jewel of South Africa. Among the excursion’s six destinations, you will spend two nights in Cape Town, two nights aboard the luxurious Rovos Rail, two nights in the Cape Winelands and three nights in MalaMala, South Africa’s oldest and most historic private game reserve. According to Whitelaw, you’re likely to experience a round of golf unlike any other when playing Leopard Creek, a course that shares a border with Kruger National Park. “When you’re on the green on the par-5 13th, Leopard Creek’s signature hole, you have a clear view into the park,” he says. “I’ve seen elephants and hippos, even a couple of rhinos, while I’ve been putting. Players might get lucky enough to see a hippo in the water hazard or a giraffe walking down the fairway.” The partnership with Ernie Els is significant, not so much for Premier Africa’s access to the courses and golf clubs that make up the trip’s itinerary, but for the quality and the extent of that access. Els is an honorary member at The Links at Fancourt Estate, for example, so Premier Africa travelers can enjoy preferred tee times. “Everyone in South Africa wants to be involved in what Ernie does,” Whitelaw explains. “He’s a legend and a hero, and he’s such a likeable guy. Now my connections and contacts jump twice as high as they used to jump just for me.” From $19,550 per person, contact Kayleigh Woodman, partnerships and product manager, kayleigh@premierafrica.com, +1 866 598 8484, premierafrica.com

From top Leopard Creek; Steenberg, Cape Town