Piet Retief – 28 March 2024

The campsite in Polokwane was mediocre, actually just bad but we were tired and then the choice becomes easy. We slept fine because it was nice and cool especially at night. I booked two places in the Kruger Park.

We were on the road for 100 km when the left tire blew. I had already seen a damage but didn’t think about it, but it was quite serious. Fortunately, we had a bit of an emergency lane and the road went uphill so we were safe but then the wheel had to be changed. The Hilux has two spare wheels, one under the car and one under our sleeping place. We decided to take the latter out because there was also the tools, we thought…..

In the end, we spent 45 minutes looking for the jack and especially the accessories. The place where the jack had to be placed was also not known, but luckily there is still an instruction booklet. Changing was simple. Lisa just wanted to leave the old wheel but that didn’t seem like a good plan to me. The fender had completely loosened so we took it off so that I could put it back later after buying some bolts and nuts.

After that, the ride went well through a beautiful tropical landscape with rain.

We drove 50 km through the Kruger Park and saw elephants and bucks. On arrival I secured the fender. I’m curious if it holds. 

We went out for dinner at the restaurant here which is beautifully located overlooking the river. There was an elephant walking…oh well. It started raining pretty quickly and we arrived wet at the safari tent (rented) after first getting lost in the pitch dark.

Lisa watches Midsomer Murders and I read a book. We are quite proud of ourselves!

Slept very badly last night. There are all kinds of problems with the construction of Tamara’s house that kept me busy and yesterday was also quite exhilling. Fortunately, we don’t have to drive far and just look out for animals.

The monkeys are very cheeky here. Yesterday they picked our tortillas.

Tuesday, March 26, we drove through the park from north to south or actually from halfway to the exit of the park a distance of almost 200 km. Kruger is big, just as big as Belgium. It is much more accessible and better landscaped than parks in Botswana or Namibia. For example, you can drive almost all roads with a normal car and the main roads are asphalted. Animals are there but concentrated in certain places probably due to the availability of water. Of course we saw many animals again, but sometimes nothing for half an hour. We drank coffee in Elephants Rest Camp and that is beautifully located with views over Mozambique.

For South Africans, access is subsidized (by us…) and a camping spot is also not expensive (ZAR 450) so that you can see families wandering around the park during this Easter holiday.

Tomorrow we are going to Swaziland. I’m busy finding a new spare wheel; the fender repair is holding up well.

This morning I looked at the left front wheel and there I saw cracks in the side of the tyre. Because a blowout is not really fun, we drove to the local Kwik-Fit in Komatiepoort where they quickly changed the wheel. Unfortunately they didn’t have the tyres we needed and to drive without spare wheels at all now which is not recommended here. We decided to drive to Nelspruit, 100 km to the west because there was a bit more choice in tyre shops here. In the end we found 1 that had the right size of another brand and could install this morning.

We are now at a campsite 13 km south of Nelspruit. At the campsite is a large conference and team building center but today we were the only guest for ZAR 100 per night. It also has a fine restaurant and an unimaginably beautiful view over the hills. When we walked back to the camper there was a herd of deer that ran away with a lot of noise. Impressive and we laughed quite a bit at our shock and surprise. It’s much cooler here (13 degrees) so we’re now in the camper reading and watching Midsomer Murders.

Tomorrow have a nice breakfast in the restaurant and then see what we are going to do.

Breakfast was delicious just like the coffee. Lisa is a bit in love with the manager and I peste her a lot with this. It is indeed a handsome guy!

We left and were called just after ten by the tyre store that they were ready for us. For it I now have two new tyres; behind the two spare tyres and the two ‘old’ tyres are now spare tyres. It didn’t really have to align and the bolts were stuck so we left it nice. Now go shopping and then drive a few hours towards the coast

We didn’t feel like dirt roads and so we had to detour a bit but we both thought that was OK. The N4 is the connection between Maputo and Johannesburg so very busy with trucks. Fortunately, we were able to get off after 50 km and took the R33 towards the southeast. We drove through a town called Carolina and both thought this was the biggest mess we had ever seen this holiday. Meat on the street, people, animals and unimaginably dirty. We took the R33 further through a wooded but wet (rain) area towards Amsterdam. Pfff, an even bigger way down this town. Finally we came to Piet Retief and did half an hour over the last kilometer to the lodge where we took a room because of the rain and emotions. Just before the lodge we were hit from behind. It was terribly bad weather and a terrible mess so everything went dead slow. The man behind me was hit and drove into my car. I stood still and so he drove against me. Against the towbar….

The damage of those poor men was huge and I couldn’t discover anything although that right rear light had been strange for a while! The mess got even bigger now and the police sent us away. I gave my number to the first driver so I can write down a statement. I just emailed my insurance.

We’re experiencing something here. Tomorrow to the coast