Two Rivers Trip with Toyota East Rand

[Lomies]

So we did the two Rivers trip near Giyani with Tony from Toyota East Rand and this is what my wife thought of it.

Taking on the 2 Rivers adventure

So hubby gets home one afternoon and says he is going on a boy’s weekend trip somewhere near Phalaborwa – they are driving up and down a dry river bed and I only listen with half an ear because all I heard was boy’s weekend away. A boy’s weekend means a girl’s weekend at home eating chocolates, watching girly movies and spending most of the time chilling on the coach. So yes by all means go drive in the dry river bed with your 4x4 and your mates.

But … there is always a deviation to the plans. One of the mates says his wife wants to go along and she would really like it if I went too. Okay, not a problem, I like camping let’s do this! The catch … “O, yes honey, by the way there is no camp site which also means no ablutions!”

Now I love the great outdoors and I’m a nature person but I have always drawn the line at not having a flush toilet – that is my comfort zone. So needless to say, I was very apprehensive about this trip.

Hubby is all exited and talks about the trip and getting some rooftop tents as we cannot take along our Conqueror Comfort 4x4 trailer (also much a part of my comfort zone) and he is extremely geared to do this. Me on the other hand cannot get past the no flush toilet thing and I’m starting to think that I should tell him that I really want to give this adventure a skip.

Then one morning it hits me … on my wall in my office I have a picture of a mountain climber in the ice and it reads “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”. So I decide to start life at the end of my comfort zone and give this adventure a chance. Once I made the decision, excitement stepped in and I get to Google everything I can find about the 2 Rivers Trip, plan meals and make lists of everything that we need to take along. I also get the promise from hubby that he will take along our “porta potty” – my comfort zone on the move.

Like always, when you look forward to something there seems to be so much time but before you know it the day of departure is knocking on your door and you are off into the great blue yonder. With two rooftop tents (one borrowed and one rented) on top of our 4x4 Hilux bakkie and food and clothes stowed away in crates on the back we hit the road to the North on Saturday morning. We leave our house with friends, think they decided to “fetch” us just in case we wanted to chicken out.

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We join up the rest of the vehicles at the Petroport on the N1 to Polokwane and meet the rest of the group. There is one other couple and the rest are all boys. Altogether we are nine vehicles and I can make a tick off my bucket list: driving in a relatively long convoy en-route on an African adventure!

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I don’t have to say much about our trip on the tar road as it is hugely boring compared to what was waiting for us in the dry river bed of the Klein Letaba and the Molototsi river. We arrive at Giyani around half past two the afternoon, stop at a fuel station and fill up on fuel and ice. O, and don’t forget: visit the porcelain throne one last time.

We arrive in the dry river bed of the Klein Letaba and an amazing adventure begins!

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Our first night’s camping spot is just out of the river bed a little bit elevated from where the river will be flowing in a couple of months and we start setting up camp, making fire and relaxing. African smells of fire and earth, a night sky filled with starts – this is the life.

Sunday morning, we leave our campsite and set off to the border line between civilization and the Kruger National Park – the only thing keeping them wild animals on their side – a huge net spanning the width of the river bed! It looks like a tennis quart net but on serious steroids. At the net we turn around and start our journey up the Klein Letaba river.

It is a day filled with travelling through the sand of the river and playing with our 4x4’s in the sand – getting stuck – getting unstuck – having so much fun. Away from civilization and the troubles and worries of adult life. We pass many donkeys and Nguni cattle that belong to the locals, sadly you can see that drought has reached here with its dry, brutal fingers and the cattle are very thin. Food for them is almost non-existent, we unfortunately also pass some carcasses of animals that just could not endure it any longer.

The second night’s camp site is open and beautiful and the sand reminds me of warm summer nights in Mozambique. The guys tow in huge drift wood tree stumps with their vehicles and we make a bonfire of note. Night one we were still very clean, compared to night two and the guys rigged a bush shower. You get in and quickly rinse yourself just so the soap wont’ stick to your skin and then you wash, wash, wash and just as quickly you rinse yourself off. Then you get dressed and go and sit by the campfire admiring the fact to you feel and smell so awesomely clean and fresh – ahhhhh!

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Waking up on Monday morning and unzipping the rooftop tent, a view of the landscape greets us and it is breath-taking. Just there and then I decide that this must be a Monday morning to keep close in the memory banks. To be used in case of emergencies when stuck in Monday morning traffic on the way to work – I can just remind myself of this one specific blissful Monday morning in the Klein Letaba river being greeted by the power of the sun.

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ay three of this epic adventure is filled with more extreme fun as we conquer steep sand hills, sticky mud holes and round river rocks. At some point we cross a section of the river with a bit of water in it and wait for all the vehicles to go through. I’m still sitting in the bakkie and my friend is standing by the window chatting. After a while we start wondering what might be taking so long as all the vehicles have come through the water. We walk back the last vehicle at the water’s edge and discover that these big rough 4x4 guys are saving baby fishes. As we drive through the water we create “tyre holes” filled with water and the little fishes gets moved involuntary to these “tyre holes” but soon the heat of the sun will drain the water from these holes and the little fishes will obviously die. Rescue Baby Fishes – done! All I have to say about that is: “You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals” – Paul McCartney.

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At the end of day three regrettably we have to enter the town of Giyani again. I feel out of sorts and out of place not because I am dirty or haven’t washed my hair in days but because I start realizing that I am missing out on time that I could rather have spent away from the hustle and bustle of shops and streets. We quickly stop at the shops for provisions that have run out like alcoholic beverages and we all meet up again at the same garage for ice, fuel and using the loo – although by now I am much more accustomed to veldties.

As we drive out of town (thank goodness) one of the guys comments over the radio that we should hurry up, he is missing the bush and Tony (East Rand Toyota) recons: “You see, only a couple of days and already it’s affecting you!” We enter the river bed of the Molototsi river and as Tony promised this is an entirely different landscape and hard to believe but also even prettier than the Klein Letaba.

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The fourth and last night of our adventure we camp at a five-star location under majestic big trees next to the Groot Letaba river. For the last time we make a huge camp fire and sit talking under the milky way stars.

Wednesday morning, I think we all woke up with heavy hearts and I cannot believe that this epic adventure has come to an end. We break up camp one last time and we head out of the river bed onto a gravel round winding through some thornbush trees.

You will notice that I did not mention much about the lack of my “comfort zone” as I have decided that: to join on an adventure like this and see things many people will either never make the time for or have the guts to do I will give up having a proper campsite with an ablution block in the wink of an eye.

We met some amazing people on this trip and each one in their own way made the days and nights special. Thank you to Neil (Thunder02), Chané and Willie (Changes) for asking us to go on this trip with you, if it wasn’t for you I would not have known that the 2 Rivers Trip existed. To the two young guys in the Jeep that got “locked out of their tent” thanx for all the laughs and the daily jokes, Wikus and Patricia that made us that very tasty, very deserving brunch on the last morning, you guys rock! Last but not the least to Tony from East Rand Toyota 4x4 and Events you are an epic tour guide full of valuable information. To say that we had so fun would be a huge understatement.

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Nobody should miss out on an experience like this. Leave your comfort zone in the city and just go for it. Living so close to nature, seeing all the beauty that our Creator left for us to enjoy is so worth it. From the small baby bloukopkoggelmander that the kids caught (and released) to the call of the jackals at night. Each and every moment of this adventure is worth retelling but then my story will become way too long.

[Lomies]

Here is a link to some more photos of the trip

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[Mud Dog]

Awesome! Another convert!

Glad you enjoyed it and wish you many more equally thrilling (or better) trips. Nice report and something novel / different from a wife's perspective!

[Thunder02]

Thanks for the great trip report.
We will shortly be arranging an trip for the Hilux members.

[Family_Dog]

Great report and very well-written! Glad you guys had a ball and saving the little fishies was a very nice gesture indeed.


-F_D

[Yo-Yo]

Stunning -- Great Trip Report

[FIRSTGEER]

Thanks for sharing a well written trip report