The South Africa roadtrip 2009 - Knysna

Waking up to a hearty breakfast was the order of the day and something which the Victorian Villa did well. It set us up for much of the day and kept me happy during the drive from Port Elizabeth to Knysna.

The journey was easy, as the roads are of a much higher standard and what I was used to driving when living in South Africa. We stopped off at Jeffrey’s Bay to have a look at the sweeping bay, something which I may have taken for granted, as it’s not something you see regularly living inside the M25.  The air was hot and the sea breeze cooled the skin which was being given a beating from the African sun, which burns the skin without any effort.

We stopped off at île de païn for a quick bite to eat and a flat white before making our way to the log cabin.  Making a stop along the way, I took Mike to see the Belvedere church, which is a lovely chapel built in 1855 for a relative of George Rex.  We also carried on the road towards Brenton-on-Sea, which is a lovely beach with views towards Buffelsbaai. 

I decided to take a different route to the cabin than suggested by cutting through the Phantom Pass and found the entrance to Phantom River View Estate and Ukuthula.  It was quite a steep drive up and even gave the X-Trail a test going up.  The cabin was beyond all expectations and comes with the highest recommendation to anyone who would like to spend some time out in the area.  The views from every window were breathtaking.  That evening before going to bed we took the opportunity to soak up the stars, which one never sees in its full beauty like you're able to under the African sky.  I pointed out Orion, Taurus, Aries, Saturn and the Southern Cross amongst all the other constellations.  The Milky Way is also another treat which you never see living in a city.

The rain woke me up rather early in the morning and it looked as though it was settling in for the day, however by the time I was up and we had breakfast it had stopped, however remained overcast.  I decided it would be better to venture inland a little and make the most of the day by going to the Cango Caves.  The weather cleared as we travelled inland and by the time we reached Oudtshoorn the skies had cleared completely and the temperature was a balmy 38 degrees.

I convinced Mike that the adventure tour of the Cango Caves would be relatively easy and not too much effort would be involved.  By the time we had reached the second last section of caving/potholing Mike was under no illusion that there was some effort involved in this exercise and couldn't quite figure out how to get up the Devil's Chimney, which is only 45cm wide and a 3 metre climb, or slide through the Devil's Post Box, only being 27cm high.  By the end of it we had worked up quite a sweat and leaving the caves I could feel the light breeze cooling me down.

The South Africa Road Trip 2009 - Extreme Travel

Friday morning saw us leaving Ballito and waving goodbye to Durban.  We were packed and on the road by 09:00, ready for a journey equivalent to the distance from Land’s End to John o’Groats.

It should have been relatively painless and taken somewhere between 7 and 10 hours, however, to anyone who knows the Eastern Cape coastal route through the old Transkei, this journey took considerably longer than anticipated.  It was over 12 hours and by the time we reached our destination it was closer to 14 hours on the road! It’s not something I’d do often, considering that the flying time to Port Elizabeth from Durban is little over 1 hour, if at all.

The majority of valuable driving time was taken up early on with the Transkei roads, which are not always the best and even then, you need to watch for stray cattle and bad driving.  At times there is complete disregard for the law and some comfort was given when two vehicles decided to overtake our convoy of 10 vehicles, stuck behind a 22 wheeler struggling up one of the hills, on a blind rise and corner on a double solid line.  They were quickly chased and pulled over by the traffic police who regularly monitor the roads for law breakers in KwaZulu-Natal, who have a zero tolerance attitude to law breakers on the road.

I had forgotten the sheer beauty of the countryside between Durban and Port Elizabeth, even though the last section of driving from (Mtata) King William’s Town through Grahamstown to PE was after dark, the sense of visual stimulation changed to a feeling of complete freedom on an open road where you felt you were on your own, without any lights showing the way. City scapes changed to coastal towns which were left behind by rolling hills which kept on climbing to where another life exists.

Up in these mountains, which were the former homelands of a past life, small towns are a hive of activity.  Much of this would be missed, if it weren’t for the N2 national road passing though them.  These towns, which time forgot, with the exception of a bank, have an intricate system of organised chaos, where cars have no priority.  Market traders line the street, where you can even buy chickens and goats, and happily coexist with other shops.  One may have expected to experience a sense of uneasiness being in such an environment, however you only feel that you’re an intrusion into their daily life.

Some people look at this life and feel a sense of responsibility to the simple way of life.  Whilst I agree that there is poverty in certain instances, our western way of life which we’ve dictated to the world can sometimes cloud our judgement as to our beliefs and values as opposed to their way of life.  If you look at it from a different perspective, their sense of freedom far outweighs the rigid lifestyle to which we conform

By late afternoon the mountains had made way for rolling hills, a change of crop from sugar cane to maize and rivers coloured iron meandering towards the ocean.  Villages disappeared but the odd houses still dotted the landscape

After dusk it was time for urban legends about driving on the open road in South Africa.  I recalled some of the stories which were told when I was younger about cars which would appear and then mysteriously disappear from the nightscape, without trace.  Others which I remembered was a time warp which people experienced on the R63 road somewhere around the Robertson area.  That could be explained by the town being isolated and not yet having running water.  Seriously though, we were in hysterics when the urban legend came up as I flashed my brights to make out a car ahead with no rear lights.  There was no reason to hang around and wait to see if there was any truth to be found!

Several calls later to Fiona at the Victorian Villa, we had decided that we’d ruined her evening and let our vivd imaginations run wild, much to our amusement.  A few times I was in fits of stitches and even crying with laughter.  To the songs that were sung, lyrics which were changed and loves of dreams;  there are too many to remember but will be remembered with fondness.

We arrived at the Victorian Villa Guest Manor in Port Elizabeth some time after 22:00 - or 23:00, where Fiona was thankfully waiting for us.  We checked in quickly, showered and fell into bed.  I don’t even recall touching the pillow, only that I was swaying on my feet before climbing under the sheets.

The South Africa roadtrip 2009 - Hluhluwe

Monday started off as a cooler day, with prospects of light rain.  It was not looking too good when we left Ballito, so I decided that a trip to the Valley of 1000 Hills would be a good option, as it's always pleasant there no matter what the weather.

We were in the 1000 Hills area relatively early which gave me an opportunity to take some pictures of the old Botha's Hill station which is now derelict.  It's signs of the times and is unfortunate that it looks as though it's quickly entering a state of disrepair.  What an opportunity for a conversion into a home!

Onwards we went to the Pot and Kettle, which has been in business for many years now.  It is in the fortunate position of undoubtedly having the best views of the valley.  It's the perfect vantage point, so we stayed for an early lunch and the obligatory scones with jam and cream.  We walked around the little market, looking for anything which caught the eye.  As we left, the sun had burnt through the cloud and started making quite a significant change to the weather.  Taking the back roads to Shongweni and Cato Ridge the temperature had risen by several degrees, so much so, that when it reached 35 degrees, we were in agreement that the remainder of the afternoon would be best spent in the sun by the pool.

On Tuesday we made an early start to the day but eventually only left for Hluhluwe at noon.  The Drive up took a neat two hours and another half an hour to wander around the local market minutes before the Hluhluwe exit.  We checked into Zululand Forest Lodge within the Ubizane Wildlife Reserve.  We went out on an evening game drive, stopping for sundowners overlooking the undulating hills.  It was followed by a wholesome dinner and finished off with some malva pudding, which I've not had for quite some time.  As it was going to be an early rise at 04:15 we both had an early night.

The wake up call on Wednesday had me staggering in the dark trying to find where the telephone was.  One of those moments when you can't hit snooze!  Up and out the door for coffee and heading off early to the Hluhluwe-Infolozi Game Reserve to catch the animals whilst they're still active before settling in for the day.  It wasn't a chilly drive, as is usually expected; a sign of the day ahead.  Game that we spotted included nyala, kudu, impala, springbok, white rhino, wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, hyaena, elephant, crocodile, vulture, eagle, guinea fowl, francolin and loerie, to name the ones which I remember.

Making our way back to Ballito from Hluhluwe and The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, the temperature kept on rising, passing the 40 degree mark.  We decided to take a break at Zinkwazi, which was an excellent idea, as I don't recall going to the beach there and the baking sun from the drive was leaving me in need of rejuvenation.  It must be one of the most impressive unspoiled stretches of coastline I have seen for quite some time.  It was an endless beach with untouched dunes and coastal forest, something which you don't see everyday along the coastline.

As it wasn't particularly safe to swim in the sea there, even though there were lifeguards on duty, we carried on the remaining 10 minutes to Ballito to the apartment.  As I felt cheated not being able to swim in the sea, I dragged Mike down to one of the Durban beaches where I went body surfing, remembering how angry the sea can be at times.

This evening we had another braai, although this time we opted to only have chicken sosaties, as both of our red meat consumption has skyrocketed since arriving in South Africa.  Oh what we'd give to be able to find some fresh fish to braai.  It's still quite warm on the outdoor lounge, with temperatures hovering around the mid thirties.  Needless to say, it's an evening where air-conditioning is necessary for some peaceful sleep.

The South Africa roadtrip 2009

We left on London on Friday bound for Johannesburg.  The 11 hour flight was relatively pain free, with hardly any of the usual turbulence on the route across Africa.  Traveling with BA was quite a change from the poor customer service and meals which have been provided by SAA of late.

Arriving as Johannesburg 'OR Thambo', the aircraft docked at the new international area.  Walking to terminal A1 took forever, worse than the rabbit warren that is Gatwick!  My trip through passport control was painless, however Mike's was another story.  I waited 45 minutes for him to get through.  There's absolutely no reason for processing passengers taking so long.

After we collected our luggage from the baggage reclaim area, we headed off to collect our rental vehicle from Europcar.  We were assigned a Nissan X-Trail, something I'm not happy about, after the cost of the rental and what we were expecting to receive - something to battle out with holidayautos.co.uk.  After leaving the rental depot and taking the car on the open road, we both noticed that it wasn't clean, being covered in a thick layer of dust internally, and the leather covering the gearbox area had come loose.  A matter to be addressed later!

The trip from Johannesburg to Durban was anticipated to take 5 hours, however it ended up being 8, after taking it easy through all the roadworks and not aiming to be another road statistic.  I think I did pretty well with all that driving after the flight, considering I watched 3 movies en route too!  After collecting the keys to the apartment (23ilala.com), we made our way to the local shopping mall, after taking a drive through the eco-estate, to stock up on some provisions.

Before having a braai that evening, we headed down to the pool and did a few lengths.  It had been quite a hot day with temperatures reaching 35 at times.

Sunday turned out to be a pretty relaxing day, I didn't get up particularly early, with Mike popping his head in around 9 to see if I was awake.  We had a leisurely breakfast, followed by me trying to fathom out what is customer service at Europcar in SA.  We made our way out to exchange the X-Trail for another and then took a drive around Durban.  The stadium for the 2010 World Cup is quite impressive and dominates the skyline of Kings Park.  The drive was followed by a late lunch at Spiga and a trip to Gateway.  Unfortunately I seem to always forget that things shut pretty early and Sunday hours meant that we weren't able to make the most of time available to us.

Mike wasn't feeling so good in the evening and lay down for a bit whilst I made dinner.  I decided today that I would start blogging again, not having done so for quite a while.  Piggybacking on a weak connection to an unsecured network in the vicinity has meant that I'm able to post this blog.