On Our Radar
What has opened, what has changed, and what is worth knowing before you go.
The region in brief
04
South Africa
The Swartland Is Making the Best Wine in the Cape
Ask the international critics where South African wine is being pushed forward and the answer keeps coming back to the same stretch of dry, wind-scoured country north of Cape Town. In James Suckling's latest South Africa report, Swartland producers led the country's highest scores, with Sadie Family Wines at the top of the list and Eben Sadie declaring 2025 "the best vintage in my last 25 years". Platter's Wine Guide has named Sadie Family its Top Performing Winery of the Year five times, a record no other producer matches, and the wider Swartland generation around him, from Mullineux to Rall, Alheit and David and Nadia, continues to collect five-star ratings with a consistency that has redefined the Cape's hierarchy. If you are travelling through the winelands, the Swartland is worth a day of your time.
23 Sept 2026
Cape Town
Africa's First Marriott EDITION Opens in Cape Town
The Cape Town EDITION opens at the V&A Waterfront in October 2026, marking the luxury brand's debut on the African continent. The 142-room property, designed by Shanghai-based studio Neri and Hu with Cape Town's StudioMAS, anchors the new Quay 7 superyacht marina precinct and will offer views of Table Mountain, Lion's Head and the Atlantic, with a rooftop bar and pool, spa and destination dining.
23 Sept 2026
South Africa
The African Penguin Is Critically Endangered
The African penguin was listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN in 2024, following decades of population collapse linked to collapsing sardine stocks off the Southern African coast. The species breeds only along the southern and southwestern coasts of South Africa and Namibia. Colonies at Boulders Beach and Betty's Bay remain open to visitors. Conservation teams are hand-rearing chicks and enforcing fishing exclusion zones around breeding sites, but whether it is enough remains genuinely uncertain.
23 Sept 2026
South Africa
South Africa Now Requires a Digital Traveller Declaration
Since 1st July 2026, everyone entering or leaving South Africa by air, land, sea or rail must complete an online traveller declaration before starting their journey, submitted no more than 24 hours before departure. The requirement is part of the South African Traveller Management System, piloted since 2022 and now mandatory at all ports of entry. Travellers carrying cash or goods above R100,000 must declare them through the same system. It is a five-minute task, but an unfamiliar one, and it is catching travellers out at check-in. Complete it the day before you fly, keep a digital and printed copy of the confirmation, and build it into your routine for every crossing, including overland borders on multi-country itineraries. South Africa's arrivals are running nearly thirteen per cent up on last year. The paperwork has simply gone digital to match.
23 Sept 2026
Five worth knowing
03
South Africa
Singita Lebombo, Kruger National Park
Thirteen contemporary glass-walled suites suspended above the N'wanetsi River, each inspired by the eagles' nests built into the cliff face of the riverbank, open onto elevated wooden decks where guests may sleep under nothing but a mosquito net and the stars. The 33,000-acre private concession in the southeastern reaches of the Kruger traverses four distinct eco-zones, giving the wildlife here a diversity that single-habitat reserves cannot match. The architecture is precise and quietly radical. This is among the most compelling rooms in Africa.
23 Sept 2026
Cape Town
FYN, Cape Town
FYN was named Restaurant of the Year at the 2026 Eat Out Awards, with judges describing it as a world-class dining experience defined by precision, creativity and balance. Chef Peter Tempelhoff and culinary director Ashley Moss have built the restaurant around a single demanding idea: South African ingredients expressed through a Japanese lens. Not fusion, but a sustained dialogue between two culinary traditions, conducted on the fifth floor of a City Bowl building with Table Mountain visible through floor-to-ceiling glass. It is the only restaurant on the African continent to hold a three-star Food Made Good rating and has appeared on the World's 50 Best extended list for five consecutive years. Book before you land.
23 Sept 2026
South Africa
Luke Dale Roberts at Tswalu, Northern Cape
Chef Luke Dale Roberts has announced plans to open a destination restaurant at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in late 2026, describing it as the most ambitious project of his career since launching The Test Kitchen in 2010. The Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is already one of the most compelling conservation stories in Southern Africa, spanning 118,000 hectares of rewilded Kalahari desert where the Oppenheimer family has spent decades restoring native species to former farmland. A world-class kitchen inside that landscape, focused on sustainability and local ingredients and built with full creative intent, is the kind of thing this region has been ready for. Watch this space. Book Tswalu now while the restaurant announcement is still quieter than it should be.
23 Sept 2026