11-Nights Southern Africa Odyssey from $4,279

The town of Victoria Falls is a pleasant place, created for visitors. There are hiking routes and rental bicycles. There are also trinket shops, selling everything from cheap T-shirts to antique African musical instruments. Carvings of masks and animals are a tradition around the area (as is the bargaining required to purchase them for a reasonable price). The Victoria Falls Hotel, a short walk from the falls, still operates in full colonial splendor and should be seen even by those not staying there. Visit Crocodile Ranch and Craft Village - a fascinating glimpse into Zimbabwean culture. Visit Livingstone, just across the border in Zambia— more than just a tourist town and more character than Victoria Falls. Another appealing side trip is to Chobe National Park, in neighboring Botswana. Chobe is one of the finest game parks in the world.

Johannesburg's contrasts are some of the most extreme in the world; poverty-stricken and overcrowded Alexandra is surrounded by some of the richest suburbs in South Africa, and downtown hundreds of homeless struggle to survive around the Stock Exchange. The contrast between suburb and township is mirrored nationwide, but is more extreme here because of the intense wealth of many of the suburbs, and the sheer size of the townships and their satellite squatter camps. Yet the city as a whole continues to suck in people and skills from all over the country, making it the financial, commercial and cultural powerhouse of South Africa.

Cape Town is southern Africa's most beautiful, most romantic and most-visited city. Few urban centers anywhere can match its setting along the Cape Peninsula spine, which slides like the mighty tail of the continent into the Atlantic Ocean. By far the most striking - and famous - of its sights is Table Mountain, frequently mantled by clouds, and rearing up from the middle of the city to provide a constantly changing vista to the suburbs below. Table Mountain is the city's solid core which divides the city into distinct zones with public gardens, wilderness, forests, hiking routes, vineyards and desirable residential areas trailing down it's lower slopes.