Road trip in a bright yellow Volkswagon beetle
Sunday 21 December
Heathrow to Las Palma. We were shocked to find it was a jumbo jet. Got off at 6.30pm and landed about 10:30pm.
Monday 22 December
Left Las Palma about midnight. About 6am we were given breakfast and shortly after we were over land. The sky cleared and we had a good view of the Kalahari.
Began to cloud over as we arrived near Johannesburg and we were off the plane at 11am into a steamy heat.
We picked up the car. I had to ask quite a few times before we were on the road to Heidelberg and from there on it was easy.
At Villiers we stopped to see if there was a camp and our luck was in. It looked like thunder as we put up our tent.
Tuesday 23 December 460 miles
On the road by 7am and we headed south to Harrismith and then onto the Olivers Hawk Pass.
Around here the scenery was attractive and then it became even more attractive as we neared the Royal Natal Park where we saw lots of lovely flowers of all kinds.
When we got to the Park we found that the camp was full but we were told to just make sure. We walked up the side of the beautiful river to the campsite office which was closed. We returned at 2pm and told we could stay one night.
As soon as we put up the tent, we set out to walk to the Tiger Falls. It was quite a strenuous climb taking 1.5 hours and it began thundering and lightning as we got there so we hurried down. T
The rain continued in torrents all evening and all night. We took it for granted the carol-singing would be cancelled but it was not. We just got there in time for the last carol but luckily some others had missed them too so we carried on singing carols under a sun shade in the pouring rain.
Wednesday 24 December
We went up to the Mont aux Source and carried on to Bergville where we got another lot of supplies so that we had enough to last over Christmas.
We went on to Winterton and then turned onto an unsurfaced road to the Cathedral Peak.
We walked up a path marked to Doreen Falls. It was a beautiful walk. The highest hills were covered with mist and we followed a fast flowing stream. On the way we saw about 5 Blubuck. We arrived at the Falls just in time for dinner and it was the most perfect picnic spot I have ever known. The Falls made a lovely glade and it was pleasantly sunny and hot.
We turned around and took the Mushroom Rock path and passed close to a very large herd of Blubuck. We had a lovely view from the top and got back to the car about 3.
We took an unsurfaced road to Estcourt and carried on to Mooi river but there was no camp there, but we saw that Kamberg park was only 29 kilometres away with a campsite which turned out to be privately owned.
We just got the tent up when it started to rain and it continued most of the night.
Thursday 25 December
A lovely sunny morning so we decided to stay on another day and go back to see the Giants Castle.
We wanted to see the main cave but the bridge was down so we had to go on the main cave forest path which took us by the side of the river and through very high deep grass. The thought of snakes made us give this one up.
We went back to have a picnic and saw a weaverbird at work and also a honeyeater. It began to rain so we decided to return to camp before the road got flooded.
In camp, the people in the caravan next to us said we were to have a cup of coffee and then a BBQ meal with them. We had a very long talk.
Friday 26 December
We were off quite early before most people were up. We tried to go down to the Kamberg nature reserve but the road was muddy and narrow.
We carried on towards Loteni park and on the way saw some Wildebeests. The scenery was quite spectacular over Carters Neck and then we turned up to Loteni park which was yet another river valley but with lots of beautiful waterfalls.
We pushed on to Hillville where we filled with petrol and got the attendant to replace 3 bolts which had come out of the back bumper bar.
After dinner we went through rolling country similar to the Lake District albeit with no lakes.
We were now in Cape Province and the scenery was completely different as there were thousands of rondavels and all the trees had been removed with not even a bush left. There were no white people in this area.
It was getting late by the time we arrived at Umtata and the petrol stations were all closed. I went to the police station and asked if there was a campsite and was told we could camp there at the police station. We soon had the tent up and a meal cooking and went straight to bed.
Saturday 27 December
We went to see if the petrol station was open and were able to use their toilet.
We set off down the road to port Saint John and finally came to a very tropical area by a large muddy river.
We were quite glad to reach Port Edward because of the state of the roads. I asked someone whether there was a campsite and she said we could stay on her banana farm.
Sunday 28 December
We keep being told that this is the wettest summer they have had in South Africa since 1914. Just our luck!
We headed up to Leisure Bay and were lucky to find a spot with some shade. The sea was really too rough for swimming so we just got wet.
When we got back to camp. we were invited by the owner to have a drink. We had not been there many minutes when a terrific storm broke. We were given Christmas cake at tea-time and then mince pie. They have a witch doctor on the banana plantation.
Monday 29 December
We headed north along the coast and the first part was most interesting and beautiful as we were going through banana and sugar plantations and tropical vegetation.
We stopped to buy three small pineapples, and then about 20 miles from Durban it was solidly built up.
We went wrong as we entered the city so I asked a young lad at a bus stop and he said he would guide us through the city. This was very good and we were able to sail straight through the main street. There were lovely Christmas decorations all the way along and even the traffic lights had slaves and reindeers.
We dropped our guide outside an army barracks and went about 20 miles further along the coast and found a beach where we could have a picnic.
We did not see a single camping site until nearly Richards Bay where we landed up in a camp in a tropical forest with access to the beach. The facilities were rather poor with not many of them for a very large area and no hot water but we were able to get wet in the sea again before having a meal and we even saw a monkey in the camp.
There was thunder and lightning all evening and night. Most people use their cars for going to the toilet.
Tuesday 30 December
The scenery varied from woods at first and then some real savanna and then we went through large areas of planted cactus.
After the Mkuzi park we were heading inland and we had a cup of tea by the Pongola River which was quite impressive.
We went through sugar cane areas again until we reached Piet-relief where we bought some more pineapples.
Next, we went over some lovely hilly areas with lovely flowers and stopped for our midday meal among woods just 10 kilometres from Ermelo.
We then went through rolling country to Carolina, which was a beautiful town with posh houses and gardens.
We suddenly ran into beautiful hilly scenery and then went through some really beautiful, almost mountainous areas which went all the way to Nelsprint.
We were almost giving up hope of a camp when we saw a small notice saying caravan park. It was not quite finished and she apologised for charging rands but explained we could use the swimming pool. We were glad and put up the tent and then had a lovely cool off in a very nice little pool before having a meal.
Again we had thunder and lightning much of the night but no rain.
Wednesday 31 December
Underway about 6:30am and on to the Kruger park.
We had to sign in and then we took an unsurfaced road near Pretonuskop camp.
We took a path towards the north and managed to spot Impala which were hidden in the undergrowth.
On the second track we began to see quite a lot of Impala and then two magnificent Kudu stags, and then we were lucky enough to see a Zebra and two Giraffe before we got back to a surfaced road.
We then went straight to Skukuza camp, put up our tent and had a hot bath and felt very refreshed for it.
After our evening meal we had another good wash and went to the open-air cinema where we watched two films on African wildlife.
At midnight we heard a lot of shouting and banging coming from the direction of the workers quarters where there was a Warthog and family in the camp and also a few Impala.
Thursday 1 January
Got up at 5am and had breakfast before setting out for a day trip.
We headed towards the Santana rest camp and as we crossed the river we stopped to see some weaver birds and just the head of a Hippo.
A few miles further on we saw a whole group of Baboons and then down the road was great excitement as on one side of the road were two baby Cheetahs and on the other side were about 5 Lions sunning themselves. A bit further on we saw Waterbuck and the whole way we kept seeing herds of Impala.
We stopped at some tea rooms to ‘see a friend’ and saw a hornbill and blue starlings.
Two kilometres from the tearoom we turned onto a track and came across a herd of Wildebeest with their babies and some Zebra. We saw a lone Elephant and quite a lot of Giraffe and a little Steenbok. The little River at that point was virtually the border with Mozambique.
We had a picnic at Oliphants and went into another picnic spot and made more tea which we never drank for soon after we realised we had over 100 kilometres to do in 2.25 hours. We had to break the speed limit. We had Wildebeest in the middle of the road and all the swallows seemed to fly across us, being used to the slow speed of 40 kilometres an hour.
We got into the camp at 6:30pm feeling very tired indeed.
Friday 2 January
Got up early as usual but had breakfast before going out.
We went to the tearoom again and to the herd of Wildebeest, and on the way we saw a pack of Wild Dogs near the camp.
We saw Giraffe, Zebra and Impala and female Kudu, a large iguana, and a Sable Antelope on the rocks at Pretonsukop.
We were going to go back along the main road and have an early meal but had gone less than 1km when the car stopped dead. Nothing electrical worked: no lights, no horn, no flickers, no engine. A car came by and said he would go to Pretunoskop and send for the AA.
15 minutes later a Ranger came by and said he would bring an expert on Volkswagens, who did indeed come, fiddled with a few wires and off we went.
We were barely out of sight when the car stopped again and we got out to fiddle with wires but nothing happened. We heard a Baboon getting very agitated and 15 minutes later another Ranger came by. He was very worried and told us to stay in the car while he fetched help.
A man came and tried for quite a while, but nothing happened. We were then told that there was a Leopard in the area and that was what was upsetting the Baboon.
We got the car going once more but it stopped after a few yards. They told us to go with them and leave the car so we went to Petonuskop where a garage man from Hazyview come out to us. It seemed a never-ending wait.
When he arrived, he drove us both back to the car. We did not like to tell him that there was a Leopard about whilst he was attaching the car to be towed to Hazyview
Once there, he parked us at the back of the garage and we made do with bread and jam for the meal and then tried to settle down to sleep in the car. There were lights in the garage so we had no problems in seeing but not very good for sleeping. The real problem was mosquitoes – I’ve never heard so many at once. With windows closed we suffocated, but with windows open we were bitten to death. It was a nightmare of a night.
Saturday 3 Jan
At 8am the mechanic suddenly appeared and in less than 15 minutes the car was fixed. A wire had come off! We were given a cup of tea and then we hurried back to Kruger.
We took our track back to Skukuza and had just passed the rocks where we’d seen the Sable when we saw Kudu with a baby which could hardly walk it was so young.
Then just around the corner only about 10 foot from the road was the most enormous Rhino imaginable. It spotted us as we spotted it and it came towards us so Annette accelerated past it. When we did stop the thing had disappeared into the bushes.
We saw quite a few Impala, Giraffe and Zebra and arrived back in the camp about 10:30am. We went to the shop and bought a tablecloth for mum.
For the afternoon we were going on a fairly short circular tour but found the path closed so we went along the Sable River and saw a little Bushbuck along the way and I saw the rear view of a Hippo. We also saw lots of monkeys and it was very pleasant by the river, but it was a very hot afternoon.
We were woken up during the night by the howling of Wild Dogs.
Sunday 4 January
We took our favourite road out and saw a lovely lot of Zebra, Impala, Wildebeest and a couple of hornbills mating. We also saw large numbers of Baboons and monkeys. We bought a bird book and Annette saw a Black Mamba.
We arrived at Nelsprint camp in time for the midday meal and had a fire, so Annette made some of her lovely bread in which she put the last of the cheese.
We sorted out some clothes and then started on the evening meal which was vegetable soup, spam omelette and tinned pineapple. We had a very enjoyable evening.
Monday 5 January
Got up at 4:45 AM and made bread for breakfast. The first part of the journey is far as Matchedodorp was through beautiful mountainous scenery, much of it with still its natural vegetation.
Suddenly the scenery changed to a monotonous plain and we stopped at Middlesberg to ‘see a friend’ and bought milk. We arrived at the airport at 1:30pm. We were on the plane at 5:15pm, landed at Salisbury at 8pm, and it was 10pm before we left
Tuesday 6 January
At 3pm we landed in the Cape Verde Islands and changed into winter clothes; there was no shop and nothing to do. We got back on board at 5pm, landed at Heathrow at 10pm, and back home about 3am and the chickens were very glad to see us.