Gateway to some of the Eastern Cape’s most luxurious Big Five game reserves, the city of Grahamstown – or Makhanda as it’s now known – is an easy two-hour drive from Port Elizabeth airport. The town’s characterful Victorian architecture and many church steeples that earned it the nickname ‘City of Saints’ but it’s also home to the vibrant Rhodes University. Every winter, it comes alive with the National Arts Festival, a perfect opportunity to combine a few nights of theatre with a safari in the malaria-free bushveld nearby.