KENYA
"Local fishermen bring fresh fish to your back door… Hippos emerge during the evening to graze around your house… Crocodiles often bask on the lawn." These are not your average holiday brochure comments - but then Home from Home, a Kenyan house-letting agency, is not your typical holiday company. Hilary Atkins reports.

[IMAGE1] Established four years ago by local resident Heather Lawrence, Home from Home allows you to choose your itinerary, taking in locations that stretch from the coast to Mount Kenya and beyond (including the Masai Mara). Sleeping between two and 16 people, the properties are located in prime positions, are fully furnished and, best of all, come with staff who cook, clean and give you invaluable local advice.

You could start at Lake Naivasha, two hours' drive north-west of Nairobi, where the Kennaway family has a lakeside property full of dogs, cats, donkeys, rabbits and horses. Ol Joto, a rustic two-bedroom cottage, stands next door and comes with a large verandah that you may have to share with Snof, the Kennaways' golden Labrador. The larder will be ready stocked and Simon, the cook and houseman, will ensure you never go without.

From here, take day trips to nearby Hell's Gate NP, climb Mt Longonot (a dormant volcano) or take an hour's drive to Lake Nakuru, where thousands of flamingos fringe the water like pink icing. Return to Ol Joto in time for a late afternoon walk on the lakeshore, spotting fish eagles, impala, giraffe and hippos. You may well notice the hippos later that night (from the safety of Ol Joto) as they graze nearby.

Three hours up the road, Lake Baringo is favoured by Kenya residents who dare to waterski even as crocodiles and hippo roam the shores. While tour parties choose the lakeside hotel, Home from Home clients enjoy Hammerkop Roost, a two-bedroom Robinson Crusoe-style home with views across the lake. As the house name suggests, Baringo is excellent for birds, from hammerkops, hornbills and turacos to the rare Verraux's eagle.

Move on upcountry to another house, or drive back to Nairobi and fly to the coast, where the company offers properties both north and south of Mombasa. Kikapu Cottages in Watamu consists of four charming reed, wood and thatch cottages, each sleeping two people. There is a cool, open-sided central lounge and dining room and a shared swimming pool. Like all Home from Home coastal properties, Kikapu Cottages has direct beach access.

Five miles down Watamu's long sands, Garland House couldn't be more different. Built in the style of a plantation homestead, with wrap-around balconies giving amazing views over Mida Creek, this house comfortably sleeps eight. It is pure 21st century, with satellite TV, an emergency generator and a large swimming pool. Jimmy, the houseman and cook, has been here since it was built seven years ago and is incredibly sociable.

SOUTH AFRICA
The Cape Grace
If Africa is the continent of the unexpected, Cape Town must rank high on the list of surprises. To some visitors it hardly seems African at all - a mellow, oak-avenued fragment of old Europe grafted onto the southernmost tip.

Famously the most "English" of South African cities, its distinctive style also reflects Dutch, French and German traditions, now lapped by the advancing waves of shanty towns that line the road from the airport.

Among the surprises of the city is the Cape Grace hotel, www.capegrace.com. It is well named. Graciousness is what they do; it's what you get for your $300-700 per night. The building and the manner of everything that happens inside it seem to have been conceived as an answer to the problem: how do you create a hotel that is at once traditionally Cape and seductively modern, catering for a wealthy international elite with all the bars and business suites that such people expect, while retaining the homeliness and intimacy of a small family concern?

The result is an elegant building, chastely classical, on a narrow promontory connecting the city to the lively V&A Waterfront. It looks directly onto a real working dock, complete with (daytime) chugging and humming dock noises to satisfy the most ardent deep-sea romantic. Behind is a glorious view of the mountain, over a modest harbour newly gentrified into a glittering marina.

Arriving in the smartly appointed foyer, you are greeted with warm friendliness, another surprise after some of the grander European establishments. Indeed the entire (and remarkably youthful) workforce will treat you as their personal guest. The carpark attendant stops you for a chat. The laundry maid gives you a honeyed smile. The doorman is neither surly nor obsequious - he seems genuinely happy to help. No casual wish is too small to be attended to instantly. Of course it's the company style; of course these people have been selected for personality type and rigorously trained… and yet you are charmed - even as you hand over the handsome tip that has so clearly been earned. The bright young manager who presides at the wine tasting reappears to wait on you at dinner. And you think: well, perhaps this too is part of the new South Africa, where barriers of race and class and snobbery are at last coming down… it's a pleasant thought.

The rooms graduate upwards from the stylish and elegant to the coolly palatial. All are exquisitely furnished and hung with traditional framed prints. There is a large, cosy library. The cellar is a museum of great world whiskies and outstanding local wines. The food is as good as you will find anywhere (the breakfasts are tropically magnificent) and very modestly priced for the quality. There are even special fun events laid on for children.

Part of the prestigious Meikles group, the Cape Grace was recently voted "Best hotel in the world" (Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice 2000). That too might be unexpected, but after a day or so it no longer seems surprising. Len Rix

Reader Review: Elephant Plains Lodge
Having recently spent eight nights at the Elephant Plains Lodge, www.elephantplains.co.za, in Sabi Sands Game Reserve, I have to say it is one of the best-value lodges I've ever stayed in. For just £80 per night, my room had three beds, a bath, shower, toilet and two wash basins. There was also a swimming pool to cool off in between game drives. Food was varied and delicious. During game drives, our vehicle had a driver and a tracker. We were lucky enough to get within feet of leopard, lion, white rhino, elephant and wild dog. The lodge, which overlooks a waterhole, enabled us to watch animals without even leaving camp. Sean Kell