Modern Gent: Cape Town & Safari

Article by: Whisky Girl

Where Table Mountain Meets the Bush with Luca & Zara Mbeki

Some cities give you skyline or scenery. Cape Town gives you both—and then refuses to stop.

Table Mountain drops straight into the ocean. Vineyards roll out just beyond the suburbs. Big-game country waits a few hours’ drive away. Penguins waddle around boulders like they own the joint. Rooftops pour martinis with the mountain lit up behind them.

For Luca Mbeki, this isn’t a vacation. It’s a perfectly balanced equation:
half city, half safari.

One moment he’s in a rooftop bar with Table Mountain silhouetted behind him; the next he’s in an open vehicle, watching lions move through the grass as the sun drops. At his side, always, is Zara, his wife—floral dresses, Hermès scarf, turquoise catching the African sun like it was designed for her.

This is their Cape Town: where to stay, what to do, what to eat, and exactly what to wear if you want to move through it like a Modern Gent.

Arrival: Safari Meets the City

Late afternoon. Clear sky. Table Mountain cut sharp against the horizon.

Luca steps onto a terrace overlooking Cape Town in a sand-colored safari-inspired suit—unstructured jacket, open collar, soft scarf knotted at the neck. Aviators catch the light. Below, the city climbs around the base of the mountain; behind, an olive green Land Rover waits like a promise.

Zara leans on the terrace rail in a simple, body-skimming dress, scarf loose at her neck, taking in the scene with the quiet confidence of someone who already knows she’ll miss this place when she leaves.

His look bridges both halves of the trip:

• Tailored enough for a city lunch on Kloof Street.
• Rugged enough to look at home next to a Defender and a dirt road.

This is the thesis of the entire journey:

Luca doesn’t choose between safari and city—
he dresses for both, and lets Cape Town do the rest.

Where Luca & Zara Stay

Luca never throws a dart at a map when it comes to hotels. Every base has a purpose.

1. Bantry Bay – Cliffside Quiet & Ocean Light

When they want privacy and that “are we in a movie?” feeling, they head to Bantry Bay—quiet, wind-sheltered, and looking straight out over the Atlantic.

Their address of choice is a cliffside boutique hotel with:

• Terraces that hang over the ocean
• A pool terrace where sunsets feel staged
• Lion’s Head watching calmly from behind

Here, mornings go like this:

Luca, barefoot in linen trousers and a half-buttoned shirt, holds a small porcelain cup of espresso. Zara, still wrapped in a robe, steals his sunglasses and stares out at the water like it’s giving a private performance.

This is the “soft landing” base: jet lag, sea air, the city close enough but not insistent yet.

2. V&A Waterfront – Urban Headquarters

When they’re ready for energy and access, they move down to the V&A Waterfront.

Glass-fronted lobby, harbor views, the low murmur of people who flew in to do things that matter. From here, Luca can:

• Walk to harborside dinners and casual seafood
• Slip into a bar for a martini and a corner table
• Be in the CBD, Bree Street, or a ferry to Robben Island in minutes

Zara moves through the Waterfront the way other people move through runways.
A desert-tone dress flows with the evening wind, a silk scarf loose at her neck, heels clicking softly against the harbor stones.
It’s the kind of entrance that doesn’t ask for attention — it simply receives it.

This is their city HQ—perfect for Waterfront evenings, business meetings, and day trips that start at the harbor and end wherever the light is best.

3. The Design Perch – Loft in the Sky

For design-heavy, art-soaked trips, they choose a design-forward hotel above the Waterfront and Zeitz MOCAA.

Think:

• Faceted glass windows
• Sculptural light fixtures
• Serious art on the walls
• The harbor and city bowl laid out like a board game below

Here, Luca writes notes in a leather journal. Zara reads on a chaise near the window. Both pretend they didn’t match their outfits to the room—but they absolutely did.

This base is for days when the itinerary leans more gallery, photography, and slow dinners than adrenaline.

Mornings Above the City

Some things in Cape Town are optional. Table Mountain is not.

If the weather cooperates, Luca:

• Takes the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway for a graceful ascent, or
• Hikes one of the trails, earning his view and his espresso, then rides the cable car back down while tourists stare at his boots like they’ve climbed farther than he has.

From the top he orients everything:

• Atlantic seaboard to one side (Sea Point, Clifton, Camps Bay)
• City bowl and harbor below
• Peninsula tapering off toward Cape Point

On other mornings, he and Zara tackle Lion’s Head—shorter, steeper, and rewarded with 360° views that silence even the most talkative hikers. Zara’s scarf flutters in the breeze; Luca’s field jacket flaps open just enough to let you see the watch you’ve been trying not to stare at.

Style note: technical tee, slim hiking pants, lightweight shell, proper trail shoes. No floppy safari hat, no gym shorts. You are not on a school outing—you are in a Modern Gent city.

Afternoons in the Neighborhoods

Luca doesn’t treat Cape Town like a checklist. He treats it like a series of moods.

Bo-Kaap – Color & Spice

He starts in Bo-Kaap:

• Houses in impossible pastels
• Cobbled streets
• The smell of spices drifting from kitchen windows

Zara moves through it in a light wrap dress, scarf loosened, talking to shop owners, tasting something simmering in a pot, asking about recipes.

They might:

• Do a Cape Malay cooking class
• Join a walking tour
• Or simply wander, collecting colors and stories for later

V&A Waterfront – Harborside Ease

Later, the Waterfront pulls them back:

• Harborside strolling
• Two Oceans Aquarium if they’re in the mood
• Zeitz MOCAA when the architect inside Luca demands it

Sometimes they sit at a café table, watch the boats, and let the day decide what happens next.

Bree & Kloof Streets – Night Pulse

As the sun drops, they drift toward Bree and Kloof Streets.

This is where Cape Town feels intimate and alive:

• Cocktail bars tucked into old buildings
• Small restaurants with menus that change as often as the art on the walls
• Local fashion stores where Zara discovers a dress that somehow looks like it was designed for her before she arrived

For Luca, this is classic Modern Gent territory:
unstructured jacket, open-collar shirt, loafers, quiet watch.
For Zara: a slip dress, blazer, heels, the kind of lipstick that doesn’t apologize.

Day Trips: Peninsula & Penguins

On one of their days, Luca insists you leave the bowl of the city entirely and do the classic Cape loop.

• Chapman’s Peak Drive – The car curves along cliffs, Atlantic pounding far below. You stop at a lookout point, lean on the rail, and wonder if any photo you take will ever do this justice. (It won’t.)
• Cape Point & Cape of Good Hope – Dramatic cliffs, lighthouses, wind that doesn’t care about your hair. Zara’s scarf whips one way, her laughter another.
• Boulders Beach – African penguins waddling around like they’re on their own private holiday, blissfully unaware they’re on millions of postcards.

The day ends at a wine estate in Constantia—oak trees, whitewashed buildings, a glass of something bright and cold in your hand.

Style note: cream linen shirt, olive chinos, espadrilles or loafers, tortoiseshell sunglasses, lightweight field jacket in the back seat. You can step out for photos, lunch, or a tasting and never feel underdressed or overplayed.

Into the Bush: Elevated Game Drive

Cape Town is the opening act. Safari is the interlude that rewires your sense of scale.

Dawn in the savanna. Grass still cool, air tinted gold.

Luca and Zara sit in the second row of an open game vehicle:

• Luca: olive field shirt layered over a pale tee, chinos, leather boots, gold Rolex catching the first rays of light.
• Zara: an easy, neutral wrap dress or separates that move with the breeze, turquoise necklace adding a quietly electric note of color.

Out there, there are no engines revving in the next lane. No emails buzzing. Just lions, tails flicking lazily as they lie in the distance.

Nobody tells them to be quiet.
They just are.

The palette is dust, stone, khaki; the silhouettes are clean. No cargo-short cosplay, no brand-new “safari vests” with a hundred pockets and nowhere to go.

This is not about dressing like a ranger.
It’s about respecting the place enough to be the best version of yourself in it.

Lodge Life: Old English, Modern Edge

Later, back at the lodge, the wild stays close.

Canvas walls. Dark wood beams. A campaign desk with an old lantern on it. Through one window, giraffes step past acacia trees; through another, elephants drift slowly toward the horizon.

The décor is Old English safari—four-poster beds with mosquito netting, leather trunks, woven rugs—updated with enough restraint that it never tips into theme park.

Luca has changed into a soft green shirt and tailored trousers, sleeves rolled, Rolex still on his wrist. Zara now wears a curve-hugging floral dress straight out of a vintage Ralph Lauren lookbook—romantic, feminine, unapologetically pretty—with a neatly tied Hermès-style scarf at her neck.

They sit on the veranda with coffee or something stronger, watching the land change color. It’s the in-between time: not quite day, not yet night, where the only agenda is to sit still and let Africa move around them.

Back to the City: Table Mountain After Dark

By the time they return to Cape Town, the city feels different.

Once you’ve watched lions at eye level from an open vehicle, traffic lights lose some of their authority.

Night settles over the city. Table Mountain turns from stone to silhouette.

On a rooftop bar, the lights of the CBD spread out in every direction. Glass clinks. A band in the corner plays something cool and steady.

Luca is in a sharp black suit now—no tie, just an open white shirt and a martini glass held with easy confidence. Zara is in a cream slip dress, that turquoise necklace now singing as part of a deliberate color story instead of a souvenir from the bush.

They stand at the edge of the terrace, looking out over a city that somehow holds beaches, mountains, street art, wine farms, and wild game all within its orbit.

It feels less like a location and more like a hub—
a place where a Modern Gent like Luca Mbeki can run multiple lives at once.

Where They Eat & Drink

Luca treats Cape Town’s dining scene like a tasting menu in its own right.

Headliner Nights

These are the evenings that get a suit pressed and a martini rehearsed:

• Wine farm in Constantia – Elevated set-menu dinner with pairings, vineyard views, and a slow drive back to the city as the sky drains from gold to blue.
• City fine dining – Multi-course tasting menus that blend local ingredients with global technique. This is where the black suit, the cream dress, and the turquoise necklace go to work.

Zara orders dessert. Luca pretends to hesitate and then doesn’t.

Casual & Cocktails

Not every night is a showpiece.

In between, they keep it relaxed:

• Waterfront – Oysters, sushi, or simple seafood with harbor views and a glass of MCC (South African sparkling) to keep things crisp.
• Bree & Kloof Streets – Cocktails, tapas-style plates, and people-watching that could replace your streaming subscriptions.
• Winelands lunches – Long midday meals in the vineyards of Constantia, Stellenbosch, or Franschhoek. Tasting menus, wine pairings, conversations that stretch, and drives home with the windows cracked open and the music just right.

Luca’s drink order hardly changes:

• Martini in the city
• Local wine in the Winelands
• Gin and tonic in the bush

Always cold. Always intentional.

The Cape Town & Safari Capsule

You could overpack. Or you could do it the Modern Gent way and let Luca’s suitcase do the talking.

For Him – Luca’s Capsule

City & Waterfront

• Sand or stone unstructured suit
• One sharp black or deep navy suit for evenings
• 2–3 open-collar shirts (white, pale blue, olive)
• 1–2 knit polos for smart-casual days
• Lightweight scarf
• Loafers and sleek minimal sneakers

Safari & Lodge

• 1–2 field shirts in olive and khaki
• Light chinos or tailored safari trousers
• Soft, neutral knit tee
• Leather boots or chukkas
• Weather-ready jacket for cool mornings and drives

Finishing Touches

• A gold watch that pulls double duty with a tux and on the game drive
• Sunglasses that work at both the lodge and the rooftop bar
• One good belt, one good scarf, nothing extra

For Her – Zara’s Edit

Zara’s wardrobe is a masterclass in “one outfit, two worlds.”

• Slip dresses in cream and black
• Floral midis that move beautifully on a lodge deck and in a city breeze
• Wrap silhouettes that flatter under a linen blazer at the Waterfront and flow on a safari veranda
• All-white linen suit for the Waterfront and Winelands
• Hermès-style scarf that can live around her neck, in her hair, or on a bag
• Turquoise or gemstone accents (necklace, earrings) for that signature color pop

On her feet:

• Sandals for lodge decks
• Low heels for city nights
• Boots for game drives

She doesn’t need a walk-in closet. She needs a point of view.

How a Modern Gent Moves Through Cape Town

To experience Cape Town the way Luca does, it’s not just about what you see—it’s about how you move through it.

His rhythm looks like this:

• Morning: Move
  Climb Lion’s Head, ride the cable car up Table Mountain, or walk the Sea Point Promenade with a coffee in hand.
• Midday: Explore
  Bo-Kaap, museums, V&A Waterfront, or a coastal drive along Chapman’s Peak.
• Afternoon: Slow down
  Kirstenbosch gardens, a pool lounger overlooking the Atlantic, or a glass of wine under oak trees in Constantia.
• Evening: Dress and dine
  Tasting menus, rooftop drinks, or a low-key jazz bar with locals. Always with intention, never with hurry.

Style-wise, his capsule never blinks:

• In the city: unstructured suits, linen shirts, loafers, black suit for big nights.
• By the sea & in the Winelands: soft neutrals, breathable fabrics, sunglasses that serve main-character energy.
• On safari: olive and sand tones, field shirts, boots, a watch that isn’t afraid of dust.

The Modern Gent Takeaway

Cape Town proves you don’t have to choose between adventure and refinement.

You can start the day rolling through the savanna with lions in the distance and end it on a rooftop with a martini and Table Mountain lit by the city below.

The trick isn’t packing two wardrobes.
It’s curating one—like Luca and Zara Mbeki do—that can handle both without breaking a sweat.

Safari meets the city.
Land Rover meets skyline.
Canvas tent meets glass tower.

That’s Modern Gent: Cape Town & Safari.
And if you show up with the right attitude—and the right suitcase—the city will meet you exactly where you are. 🍸