We visited South Africa briefly at the end of our trip through Southern Africa last year and loved the country instantly. We vowed there and then to go back someday soon.
Well this time we wanted to explore a lot more and decided to hire a car for the whole 6 weeks and really get out and about. The plan was to fly into Johannesburg, pick up the car and head south to the coast in the Eastern Cape. Most people had warned us against visiting South Africa in the southern hemisphere winter, so we didn’t make any detailed plans and we would let the weather and our whims take us wherever we went.
The first part of the trip was not so carefree; 2 hours to go the short 38km to the airport in Entebbe, 30mins flight to Kigali, followed by 30mins flying round and round, a short stop in Kigali before the flight to Jo’burg. We didn’t arrive until late but the Airport Inn shuttle bus came to pick us up and the hotel was fine for the stopover. We dined on crisps and beer (our usual diet then!) as the restaurant was shut.
Up early the next morning for a hearty brekkie (well we had had no tea) and then back to the airport to pick up the car and the long journey south.
Jo’burg to Colesburg
We headed out of the megalopolis of Jo’burg in our small hire car trying to navigate the numerous highways and road signs offering up to 20 arrows on them pointing this way and that. Luckily the traffic was light as it was Sunday morning and amazingly we finally hit the N1 and the cityscapes subsided. The main roads in South Africa are super highways and the drive was a breeze, however the scenery was a little flat and boring. We just pushed on as far as we could until we pulled up in Colesburg just before dusk.
Colesburg looked like an ok type of town for a feed and a night’s kip. However, it being Sunday, it was shut up. Luckily we found a bed in an old cottage called Karoo Huise and we had the whole place to ourselves – several bedrooms, living room, kitchen etc. It was however freezing, didn’t people warn us against SA in winter! One shining light, the Horse and Mill pub was open and we managed to get some scran before an early night after a long long drive.
Mountain Zebra National Park
We were up and at ’em the next morning for the 200km trip further south to Mountain Zebra National Park. The scenery improved dramatically and we were enjoying the ride. We spotted ostrich, baboon, ground squirrels and a yellow mongoose even before we had entered the park.
The park has a stunning setting with a mixture of plains, scrub, escarpments and watering holes for the animals. We pitched our tent in the lovely campsite with great facilities except for anywhere to sit! South Africans tend to bring everything and the kitchen sink with them; we however, had to stand up and eat out food in the camp kitchen!
The roads within the park are better than most main roads in Uganda and we could comfortably do a self-game drive in our little rental car. We spotted the rare Mountain zebra for which the park is named, gemsbok, blesbok, black wildebeest, red hartebeest and greater kudu, so not a bad haul for a lesser park! In fact there are too many wildebeest and hartebeest for the park to accommodate so the rangers were trying to round some up with a helicopter in order to relocate them to another park.
We had decided to purchase a South Africa National Parks ‘Wild Card’, a pass that entitles you to unlimited entry into all national parks and reserves. It cost £250 for a foreign couple which seemed like great value and we were determined to get our money’s worth!
