Day 55 – Nelspruit to Johannesburg and Home

A Veld Fire between Witbank and Pretoria

Commercial Farming near Nelspruit, something you do not see a lot of in the rest of Africa

We had no intention of hurrying home although we had committed to being back by lunchtime as we had asked Michael and Elisma to prepare crayfish for lunch; he said they were thinking we should have salad as we need to go on a diet with all the talk on the blog about the food we had enjoyed.

We ended up staying at the Town Lodge instead of the Road Lodge as they only had smoker’s rooms, we had a fabulous breakfast and they certainly made no profit out of it as we had a lot and when I say a lit I mean a lot.

We went into Halls in Nelspruit and the Groen Stall on the way out to stock up on fruit, jams and avos. At Millie’s there was another stop for shopping, now we have a car full of coconuts, avocado pears, cashew nuts, marmalades and jams to name but a few.

We make home at around 01h00 and Elisma had prepared a seafood chowder, which was very nice, as well as having baked some delicious strawberry and chocolate muffins.

The stats of the trip are as follows:-

Kilometres Travelled: 12933kms

Off Road/Dirt Roads: +/- 4000km

Average Speed: 32kmph

Days: 55

Countries: 6 (Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique)

Lodgings: 30 (Self Catering, B&B, Hotels, Lodges and Resorts)

National Parks and Reserves: 10

Breakdowns: Zero

Punctures: Zero

Stuck: Twice (Thick sand)

Photos & Videos: Over 6000 photo’s and videos

Planning the trip: Nearly 2 years

Lessons Learnt: You can travel alone, people are great everywhere friendly and helpful, low average speeds so allow more time or less mileage, some accommodation web sites are photo shopped, take US $ in large denominations 100,50, & 20’s, know the exchange rates of each country.

Would we do it again?  most definitely, prior planning is critical with as many inputs as possible I used 4x4 Community web site and people were so helpful so we were well prepared and there were few surprises en route. You must take out a carnet de passage, very reasonable with the AA and definitely assists when crossing so many borders.

We hope you have enjoyed the Blog - Africa Safari 2013 at least you had some idea of how things were going and approximately where we were.

We had a great deal of fun and I have to commend Denise, Claudia for their resilience, patience and support and sharing all the chores including driving and above all Sinead who was fantastic in every possible way, I will not miss her screaming with excitement I am now more deaf in my left ear than before the trip, but I will miss her in so many other ways. All the nursery rhymes are coming back to me and I have learnt new ones, she taught me all the sounds of the animals including pigs, hippos, dogs, cows, sheep, goats, lions as well as what one should do if you see a crocodile – SCREAM!!! It is a pity she will not remember this trip, but there are lots of photos to show her in the course of time.

I have to thank my car Salama (Safe in Swahili) which performed so well in some hairy and difficult circumstances at times and gave us all a comfortable ride for nearly 13000kms with no hitches whatsoever, you will not go wrong with a Toyota Prado Landcruiser, which has been there done that and got the proverbial T Shirt.

We are feeling a bit lost right now, but we will come right once we start planning our next trip.

If you are thinking about getting away don’t procrastinate DO IT you will not regret it, for us there is still much of South Africa we have not seen or experienced and we will be doing it.

Bon Voyage