Recap on a (too short) South Africa trip.
Life is all about compromises and choices.
The next step for us in our round-the-world trip is to drive our Troopie across Africa, from Cape Town to Europe. This has been a dream for me since I worked in West Africa 9 years ago. But for the moment, a very exciting contract in San Francisco (for me) and full time grad school (for Persephone) makes it impossible to leave for several months.
So the next best thing was to squeeze a few weeks of traveling to help us wait until the moment arrives. Furthermore, there is so much to do and see in Southern Africa that during my last trip there I realized it would be a shame to drive across solely for the sake of saying we’ve done it.
Financially it also helps to break down the trip and make some money to make necessary upgrades to our aging companion - but more on this on a separate thread.
So here’s a quick overview of our trip with some more pictures:
Part 1
Johannesburg:
First we flew into Johannesburg. As you know this city is considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world, and looking at the barbwires, gated communities and newspapers you certainly feel this vibe.
However I never had any bad experience and I do not dislike this city. We spent Christmas Eve with Rob and his family. Rob lives in San Francisco and his family emigrated from Zimbabwe following all the troubles over there.
I really think a trip to the Apartheid Museum is a must if you want to really dig into the South African history. The Apartheid era is much more complex than I had realized and it would be hard to understand the and appreciate S.A. if you don’t have an understanding of the history and various ethnic groups that have molded this country.
The next day we were off to Pretoria to meet our friend Jan and take possession of our Troopie! I had sent it over to N1 4x4 to make some repairs and I was anxious to see the results.
Unfortunately the honeymoon was short lived as I quickly discovered a major oil leak – so big in fact that it would have been crazy to hit the road with the truck. Luckily we were able to contact N1 4x4 and they managed to get someone (back from his vacation!) to get the truck and fix the leak – which turned out to be a gasket seal.
Kruger National Park
While the truck was back at their shop, Jan gladly offered that we use his VW Jetta. We had bookings at Kruger and since everything was full we did not want to loose our reservations so we accepted the offer and hit the road. Kruger is about 5 hours drive from Pretoria on a really good road.
You don’t really need a 4x4 to access Kruger and drive through the park as most roads are paved and even the gravel roads are in excellent condition.
There is however a 4x4 road the goes through the entire length of the park (from South to North) that I would love to do one day. They only allow one group of 4-6(?) vehicles at the time, twice a week, so bookings is essential.
Kruger was fantastic. We were a bit out of season to see the Big Five but we got lucky and managed to see tons of zebra, elephants, lions, etc, etc.
We stayed at 3 different camps where we also had 3 very different experiences…
Pretoriusskop: It was the more luxurious of the 3 as we got a very nice roundavel (hut) but the scenery was not the best
Balule/Olifants: Balule is a very rustic fenced camp with only showers and no other facilities. We used our tent and camp there for a night. Close to Balule is Olifants, one of the major camp and also one the most spectacular view I have seen. On the way out from Olifant we had the chance to see an entire family of lions – the male, females and 3 babies!
Lower Sabie: At Lower Sabie we managed to get the last place available - a small hut witn only one single bed. So I slept on the floor that night…
Lower Sabie is just alongside a gorgeous river, and this whole area is one of the best place to see all the animal.
Then it was time to go back to Pretoria to finally get the truck. At this point our initial plan to drive up to Botswana was starting to change, as going back to Pretoria was putting us back to the starting point….but 4 days later...
Life is all about compromises and choices.
The next step for us in our round-the-world trip is to drive our Troopie across Africa, from Cape Town to Europe. This has been a dream for me since I worked in West Africa 9 years ago. But for the moment, a very exciting contract in San Francisco (for me) and full time grad school (for Persephone) makes it impossible to leave for several months.
So the next best thing was to squeeze a few weeks of traveling to help us wait until the moment arrives. Furthermore, there is so much to do and see in Southern Africa that during my last trip there I realized it would be a shame to drive across solely for the sake of saying we’ve done it.
Financially it also helps to break down the trip and make some money to make necessary upgrades to our aging companion - but more on this on a separate thread.
So here’s a quick overview of our trip with some more pictures:
Part 1
Johannesburg:
First we flew into Johannesburg. As you know this city is considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world, and looking at the barbwires, gated communities and newspapers you certainly feel this vibe.
However I never had any bad experience and I do not dislike this city. We spent Christmas Eve with Rob and his family. Rob lives in San Francisco and his family emigrated from Zimbabwe following all the troubles over there.
I really think a trip to the Apartheid Museum is a must if you want to really dig into the South African history. The Apartheid era is much more complex than I had realized and it would be hard to understand the and appreciate S.A. if you don’t have an understanding of the history and various ethnic groups that have molded this country.
The next day we were off to Pretoria to meet our friend Jan and take possession of our Troopie! I had sent it over to N1 4x4 to make some repairs and I was anxious to see the results.
Unfortunately the honeymoon was short lived as I quickly discovered a major oil leak – so big in fact that it would have been crazy to hit the road with the truck. Luckily we were able to contact N1 4x4 and they managed to get someone (back from his vacation!) to get the truck and fix the leak – which turned out to be a gasket seal.
Kruger National Park
While the truck was back at their shop, Jan gladly offered that we use his VW Jetta. We had bookings at Kruger and since everything was full we did not want to loose our reservations so we accepted the offer and hit the road. Kruger is about 5 hours drive from Pretoria on a really good road.
You don’t really need a 4x4 to access Kruger and drive through the park as most roads are paved and even the gravel roads are in excellent condition.
There is however a 4x4 road the goes through the entire length of the park (from South to North) that I would love to do one day. They only allow one group of 4-6(?) vehicles at the time, twice a week, so bookings is essential.
Kruger was fantastic. We were a bit out of season to see the Big Five but we got lucky and managed to see tons of zebra, elephants, lions, etc, etc.
We stayed at 3 different camps where we also had 3 very different experiences…
Pretoriusskop: It was the more luxurious of the 3 as we got a very nice roundavel (hut) but the scenery was not the best
Balule/Olifants: Balule is a very rustic fenced camp with only showers and no other facilities. We used our tent and camp there for a night. Close to Balule is Olifants, one of the major camp and also one the most spectacular view I have seen. On the way out from Olifant we had the chance to see an entire family of lions – the male, females and 3 babies!
Lower Sabie: At Lower Sabie we managed to get the last place available - a small hut witn only one single bed. So I slept on the floor that night…
Lower Sabie is just alongside a gorgeous river, and this whole area is one of the best place to see all the animal.
Then it was time to go back to Pretoria to finally get the truck. At this point our initial plan to drive up to Botswana was starting to change, as going back to Pretoria was putting us back to the starting point….but 4 days later...
