The closest Big Five to Cape Town
It's the question almost every visitor asks: "Can I see the Big Five without leaving the Cape?" The answer is yes — at Aquila Private Game Reserve, a 10,000-hectare malaria-free reserve set in the wide, mountain-ringed Karoo near Touwsrivier, roughly two hours from Cape Town along the scenic Route 62 corridor.
Aquila is home to the Big Five — lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard — alongside hippo, giraffe, zebra, springbok and more, all against the huge, cinematic backdrop of the Karoo. For anyone whose Cape Town trip doesn't stretch to a Kruger add-on, this is the safari that makes it happen in a single day.
A lion on the move — the animal everyone hopes to see, and Aquila delivers.
What you'll see on a game drive
Open game vehicles head out with experienced rangers who know where the animals gather. On a good drive you might round a bend to find a rhino crossing the track right in front of you, with zebra grazing in the distance:
A rhino crossing right in front of the game vehicle — filmed on the drive.
Elsewhere on the reserve, hippos wallow in the waterholes and giraffes browse the acacias — the full cast of an African safari, an easy drive from the city.
Hippos out of the water and grazing — a rarer daytime sight.
Half day, full day, or stay the night
The beauty of Aquila is how it flexes to your trip. There are three ways to do it:
- Half day — an early start, a morning game drive and back in Cape Town by afternoon. The most time-efficient way to tick off the Big Five.
- Full day — a more relaxed pace with a game drive, lunch at the lodge and time by the pool, returning in the evening. Our most popular option.
- Overnight stay — the one to choose if you can. Stay over at the lodge and you get two game drives — the golden light of late afternoon and the magic of early morning, when the animals are most active — plus dinner under some of the darkest, most star-filled skies in the country.
The lodge and pool at Aquila — where the full-day and overnight guests unwind between drives.
Conservation with a conscience
Aquila is more than game drives. Its Animal Rescue & Conservation Centre rehabilitates rescued and injured wildlife, and the reserve runs a well-known rhino conservation and anti-poaching programme. Visiting directly supports that work — a safari that gives something back.
Doing it the easy way with Cheryl
Aquila runs its own transfers, but a private trip with Cheryl turns the travel into part of the experience. You get door-to-door pickup from your hotel, the scenic Route 62 drive there and back with a guide who knows the road, and the freedom to add stops — a farm-stall breakfast, a wine tasting, a Karoo dorpie — rather than sitting on a shared shuttle. For the overnight option especially, having your own guide handle the logistics makes the whole thing effortless.
Tell Cheryl whether you want the quick half-day hit, a full unhurried day, or the overnight-with-two-drives version, and she'll build it around you.
