With the 2010 World Cup taking place in Africa, the world’s attention is focused on the continent, moving it one giant step closer to the mainstream of American consciousness. Africa is becoming increasingly accessible and familiar to Americans, and tour operators continue to find ever more inventive and attractive ways to package it.

New countries are coming onto the radar screen of Americans as viable travel destinations. The safari business has grown from Kenya to Tanzania; to post-Apartheid South Africa; and now to Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Uganda and Rwanda, as more regions develop strong inbound travel infrastructures.

Tour operators are competing to create packages that will make Africa appealing to various special interests, with adventure, wine, cuisine, ecotourism and spa as components offered in combination with safaris. The definition of “safari” is expanding to encompass many elements that were unheard of at the time of the original safaris, on which big-game hunters such as Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill went to Africa primarily to shoot animals. Today’s Africa travelers may go on game-viewing drives, but they may also visit wineries, go clubbing or museum-hopping in Johannesburg, swim, dive, go horseback riding, have a honeymoon stay on a beach, volunteer to help at a school or take a cooking lesson, to name just some of the activities that are popular among today’s travelers.

Vacation Agent talked to some of the top Africa safari operators about their most interesting new safari packages; following are some of their answers.