Distance: 747 Km
So Friday morning at Sparrows fart we got up and set off for Thabazimbi, then Rankin’s pass, my nemesis, Its just like I still remembered it, seriously thick sand in places, bollie sand roads, just like the Trusty Hilux loves it.
After visiting the site of my accident and seeing that the road is still the same and bollie (I don’t recommend Rankin’s pass for bikes), we moved on, past Marken, and headed to Pontdrif, the northern most point of South Africa.
Some of the roads were really bad, like this one. If I didn’t drive a Hilux with big wheels I would be repairing rims now.
Had to make a stop in Tolwe, a one horse town consisting of a fuel station, a Hunters lodge and Bottle store, I can’t imagine much goes on there.
Their fuel isn’t cheap though
The locals save on Diesel though
I discovered that we must have a road to Zanzibar from up there too :)
We also past Cairo and London, those were farms with those names
On seeing our first semi decent sized Baobabs we stopped and had to get a picture
And we pushed on north to Pontdrif, the roads weren’t too bad, lots of wildlife, we saw quite a few jackal, it’s not often you see them out in the day time. But we finally made it to Pontdrif
From there we headed back, but only a few Km, and turned left into what I thought was Mapungubwe National Park, this little bad sand road ran parallel to the Limpopo river for a while and we saw our first big wildlife
And yes this is the obligatory self-photo
We eventually reached what looked like a gate, with a cattle gate and where I thought we would have to pay to enter the park, well we drove through and there was no paying, strange, but we drove on, thinking someone will make us pay somewhere.
A very bad corrugated sand road, that’s seems to be a through road for trucks from Botswana. Not that we saw any other vehicles on this road but we saw the odd occasional tomato on the road which I suspect was either Hansel and Grettle that came through there or a Tomato truck that had lost along the way on that bad road.
Then we spotted it, Elephants, first one in the distant bush, then a small herd consisting of a baby too, they were all small ellies though.
We were pretty chuffed, we aren’t even in the park and we have Elephants walking past the trusty Hilux. Where else do you get this kind of thing happen? :)
We moved on and didn’t see any more animals, but lots of Elephant Nr2 all over the road, we eventually crossed the Cattle gate on the other side and got back onto the road to Musina, and we still didn’t have to pay, nothing wrong
One thing we did note up there was the badly damaged bush, I suspect there are too many elephants up there and they are really tearing the place apart. But I am no ranger, I don’t know.
We started spotting a lot more Baobabs, this is after all Baobab country
And this one had a lot of rubbish just left around its base, do people have no pride? There was a bin right there.
We got to Musina and found a Guesthouse to spend the night, my first time in Musina and all I can say about it is that’s its a shit hole, a dirty ugly looking town. I honestly don’t think I will go back there again.
But it was now beer time so we headed to the spur for some cold ones and food
The next morning we headed out, and also noticed that there is a huge China mall there, the Chinese are everywhere. One in every town as I was later told.
And still the Baobabs dotted around town, that I DID like about Musina
Day 2 would end in Phalaborwa
Distance: 393 Km
We headed to the Baobab reserve, hoping to see a collection of massive Baobabs
Well we got there, saw the entrance and that was it, not sure if it’s a sight to see, we just saw a fenced off area.
We turned back and moved south, we had to take a small section of the N1, which I wasn’t happy about but it was a little section so not too bad, till I got to it and realised that I got on just before the Tropic of Capricorn Toll plaza, bollie en betaal, I wasn’t happy but it seems to be the way SA works these days. Someone else seemed to pay more than toll at this point, he even left his Lux there
Next stop, The Hendrik Verwoerd Tunnels, I am surprised these haven’t been renamed yet.
I planned to go through Venda, so the GPS had the route selected and I followed.
We really do have a gorgeous country
Well it seems Venda doesn’t really have much tar roads, which made me smile
They do however have lots of animals all over the place, including the roads, goats, cows, Donkeys....
But we were definitely in Rural Venda, bad sand roads and probably the only Whities for Miles, but so nice to see, we travelled for a good few Kilometres through Village after Village but really nice to see.
The last bit of this road brought us to Daviesville, what seems like a Ghost "town" it has 2 deserted buildings which used to be shops, it was pretty creepy
Onward we went and some of the Stop and go's started on the way to Tzaneen, one of my favourite SA Towns.
Yes Mr NND118GP is a litterbug, while we waited there the rubbish on the left of him came flying out the window.
Do people really not care??
Next stop: The worlds widest Tree, the Sunland Baobab bar.
Estimated to be around 6000 years old, its impressive in size. And we all know bigger is better. Featuring a hollow trunk, which has a bar built into it, and a second "room".
I wouldn't mind one of those in my garden
Tzaneen was our next waypoint, and we started seeing forests
Driving my Trusty Hilux always makes me smile
We made Tzaneen and went to the Dam, a beautiful town in my opinion. I could honestly live there.
So I decided that climbing to the top of the dam wall would be a good idea, it’s not that high, I thought, apparently it doesn’t look as high when you looking from the bottom, you realise different when you are halfway up
I gave up halfway
Phalaborwa wasn’t far now, on the way there my reserve light came on, not too serious, we had less than 50km to go I would definitely make it.
At Gravelot we spotted a sign indicating a Giant Baobab, by now we are Baobab junkies and will go look at any big one around.
So we made a detour.
This one is around 2000 years old, but certainly not the biggest as they indicate it is. A senior gentleman argued with me that this was the biggest in the world, and I assured him that it wasn’t as we had been to the Baobab Bar earlier and it was way bigger, he still didn’t seem to believe me so I just told him to go have a look and decide for himself. Why argue? I was there I saw, I know
This one featured a hollow trunk too, with a biggish "room"
They also had a ladder stuck to it to get up there. I had a lot less fear climbing trees when I was a little boy.
Not too far down the road was Phalaborwa, another one of my favourite Lowveld towns. A friend of mine lives there and we were staying with him for the night.
We needed that fuel, so I went and filled up with the towns expensive Diesel
*cough cough*
So off we went to Jamie’s, and as the friendly folk in Phalaborwa do, he rounded up some family and friends and we had a braai and the obligatory beer, but only after we had a little tour of Phallies, from the top of the mine dumps.
A bit of an eyesore seeing those mines and the destruction they cause. That quarry is over a km deep, I have never seen one as big as this.
But its SA's only copper mine. Still impressive
In Phalagat, hulle vatti kakie
Day 3 would end in White river
Distance: 300km
We headed south towards Mpumalanga, stopping occasionally for some nice photies
The Hilux wasn’t looking all that clean anymore
Tash has the worst luck when taking moving photos
These guys were doing their washing in this Petrol stations Fountain
A warning to poachers
More impressive views
Then the Strydom Tunnel, another surprise that its not been renamed
I am a sucker for caves and touristy things so Echo caves was the next stop
Yes that looks like a boob
And with our Guide
I want one of these trees
A quick stop at a Blyde River view point
And then Berlin Falls
Then the highest falls in South Africa
Lisbon Falls
Gods window next, I won’t go back in a rush, seems the whole world wanted to go there too, at the same time as us, I hate crowds
Then after a quick stop in Graskop for some food, where we tried to go for Harries pancakes, but after seeing the long queue outside to get some food we decided to eat somewhere else, we headed to Hazyview.
Then via Sabie to Long Tom Pass.
That’s a big.... er..... Cannon
Then back to Sabie and then white river where we stayed with another friend for the night. She lives on an estate, gorgeous place where wildlife runs freely all over the property, even your own back garden
We didn’t see the giraffe, but there are some
Day 4 should have seen us staying in Dullstroom, but we decided we were now tired and a days rest at home before work on Wednesday wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.
Distance: 502 Km
Today took us through Nelspruit and to the Boulders park, can’t remember its official name, but it’s a mountain reserve, didn’t know mountains needed reserving
From there to Barberton where I needed to replenish my propellant
Musina could learn from Barberton on how to make your town look a little attractive
Then off the beaten track again to Kaapschehoop, I love the sand roads
At Kaapschehoop we grabbed a bite to eat and had a quick look at the little "town"
From there the plan was to still avoid as much highway as possible and go via Dullstroom, I have never been there and wanted to see the little town, part of the Route would take us through the Sappi forests and we got to a boom at one of the little roads at Caledon South (I think), the guard said I needed a permit, Pity cos that road looked really cool, I would have loved to go through there. Anyone know how to get permits?
So we headed back to the N4 and the first chance we got we were off road again
I was really tired by now and after going through Belfast, we decided that Dullstroom would be the same as Belfast and that didn’t warrant going there.
So back on the highway and straight home, I must say, that last stretch home on the highway was the worst part, I so much prefer the smaller roads.
Total distance, just over 2000km
