EPIC EPICUREAN SAFARI ADVENTURES
Just because you may love sleeping in a tent, rolling through the mud, and hanging with some beasts, doesn’t mean you don’t want to dine well. Micato Safaris offers food centric adventures in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana, that make sure your dining experience is almost as thrilling as your Big Five sightings.
Known as the “Rolls Royce of safaris,” Micato has won numerous awards for its total package, from its accommodations, to its game experiences, to its food and wine offerings. It is a 9-time winner of Travel + Leisure's “World’s Best Safari Outfitter.” And Saveur Magazine named it the “World’s Best Culinary Tour Operator.”
Whether you’re eating al fresco in the middle of the savannah, as giraffes graze right in front of you, or savoring a tasting at nearby vineyards, the food and wine tastes better on these adventures both on safari, in South Africa’s wine regions, and in the cities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban.
The cuisine is a mix of African, Indian, and Dutch cultures. Fishing off the vast coastline, top notch farming and viticulture, along with world class winemaking and cooking deliver the goods.
Micato excels in both bespoke and curated adventures. Their 12-day Wilderness & Winelands trip, for example, begins at Sir Richard Branson’s Ulusaba Safari Lodge in the sprawling Sabi Sands reserve. Branson’s Mont Rochelle, in the heart of the Winelands comes next, followed by a stint in Cape Town at the luxe One&Only, named Africa’s number one hotel in a recent Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice poll.
The Winelands portion of the adventure includes tours of the Dutch colonial towns of Stellenbosch, Paarl, and Franschhoek, and their surrounds, where you’ll find tantalizing treats, from family-owned cheese farms and world class vineyards, to the poshest of restaurants.
Wine and cheese tastings are followed by bread and chocolate samplings. Cap off with local brandies or some Cap Classique, a sparkling Methode Champenoise.
Check out Paarl’s Spice Route, a brilliantly curated series of shops and culinary artisan showcases to sample some take home sumptuaries.
In addition to its creation and/or curation of wonderful meals and wine in the most spectacular settings, Micato’s bespoke adventures offer you a choice of any restaurants available at each the destination location at no extra charge, with no limits on the menu.
You might dine Bushmans Kloof, nestled in the foothills of the Cederberg Mountains, or at Harbor House Restaurant, overlooking Boulders Bay, in the Cape Floristic Region, where the landscapes and seascapes are filled with flowers and penguins, respectively. You’ll get a straight up view at the 6,500 feet-high Du Toits Peak. Then take the aerial cableway to Table Mountain’s summit.
Another wonderful food adventure experience woven into Micato trips are meals-in-homes.
One highlight of note is an intimate dinner in the Nairobi home of Micato founders Jane and Felix Pinto, featuring the East African and Goan dishes of their ancestry. Guests dine on nyama choma, Swahili for "roast meat," made with savannah-raised beef, as well as Malindi oysters from the Kenyan coast and Nile perch from Lake Victoria.
Beyond the wonderful flavors of the food offered, guides and chefs share their knowledge, heritage and history of regional agriculture and cuisine via excursions to farms, tea estates, and cattle ranches. Kenyan cooking classes, and culinary tours of cities within each itinerary add even more layers of experience.
Food is important to community too, of course. Micato offers a chance to spend time with Rosie’s Kitchen, in Khayelitsha Township, on the western Cape, which feeds locals and children in need.
Micato also offers fabulous adventures in India, where, from Royal Bengal tiger sightings to tours of Jaipur’s most magnificent palaces, your experience is enhanced by the love of good local food.
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