Every trip I take I am reminded of why I love to travel. It’s the opportunity to see things from another perspective. The people you meet, the observations they share, and how it all comes together to form an experience that enriches my understanding of life.
My final day consisted of driving back to Johannesburg, once I refilled the air in the tires for pavement and highway speeds again. If you remove some air for the sand tracks of the bush, you have a little better traction and also the tires endure rocks and branches better.
Bush camping equipped vehicles usually come with these pumps. Make sure you get one, and that it works before heading out.
I called Britz, to make sure someone from management would be there upon my return, as we were clearly going to be having a discussion about the things that went wrong, and how their inspection processes could have missed them.
I won’t go through the entire list of things that failed or were broken here, because I want to maintain a positive tone to this blog. But, the most critical were the improper oil leak fix, and the broken springs, either of which could have been catastrophic in the wrong circumstances.
Donnay Landman, National Operations Manager of Tourism Holdings Rental SA (Pty) Ltd. which is a dealer for Britz, Maui, and KEA brands. Ms. Landman, was very apologetic, and genuine in her concern about my experience, I could tell, she was sincerely upset and empathetic.
After some long discussion, I was issued a partial refund, along with the promise of a free rental the next time I come to South Africa, and when I had the billing details for my mobile phone charges a refund of those as well. I did get the refund, but the reimbursement for my cell phone charges for calling Britz from Botswana never did materialize. If I do take another self-drive safari, I’ll be sure to update this page with the result of promise that as well.
Another part of the amends offered by Ms. Landman was a car and driver so I could see Pretoria, which I wanted to do on my way, back but needed to get the vehicle returned and meet with her first. It was nice to not have to drive myself around for tour of Pretoria. And I took the driver to a late lunch, but he was so shy he refused to order anything, so I ordered extra and then said, look I’m full, do you want the rest? Which, he was then happy to take.
Pretoria the capital of South Africa is on one hand beautiful with parks, and greenery, and on another hand run down, and showing neglect. The following pictures, show some of what I found there. The statue of Nelson Mandela is inspiring, and I tried to capture and respect that, but the sun was in the background, and made it impossible to do justice to the likeness of the father of modern South Africa.
Burgers Park is the oldest park in Pretoria, and perhaps South Africa. It was founded in the 1870’s and is named for Thomas François Burgers. Today, it’s a popular place to picnic and enjoy a daytime nap.
While I’ve been in South Africa for a night already, and already had my experience with the lunatic with the machete, I was counting this as day one.
My first night was to be spent at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary located near Serowe, Botswana, a drive of 593 km (368 miles) and it was now far later, than I really wanted to be hitting the road, I was just hoping upon hope that the border formalities crossing into Botswana wouldn’t take too long.
Cruising north, I progress though Pretoria without much drama, even with the evening traffic, I’m feeling good about making time, on highway N1 it’s a multi-lane expressway, where I can pretty much go as fast as the Land Cruiser will comfortably go without pushing it so hard it consumes vast quantities of fuel. Which given this is a normally aspirated three liter, six-cylinder diesel engine with a 5-speed manual transmission that has the aerodynamics of a brick wall isn’t much over the speed limit of 120 kph (75 mph).
After 340 km (211 miles) I lost my fast road, and began on the R33 a two lane road with occasional passing lanes, not making the same speeds, but on the plus side, also not consuming fuel at such an alarming rate either. After about 75 km on this road, I come upon a line of stationary vehicles, at first I think it’s just a bottle neck as we approach a town, but then after we don’t move for 5 minutes, and I see people getting out of the vehicles I know it’s not that simple. It turns out there was a very bad accident up ahead, and a helicopter came in, landed on the road, and evacuated the injured. I remember trying to think be glad it’s not me, and I’ve only suffered an hour delay, those poor people are suffering far more.
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Helicopter evacuates the injured, after landing on the highway.
The sun was setting as I approached the Botswana border, it was around 6 pm, and I’m now accepting I’ll be driving in the dark for about 200 km (124 miles), something I was hoping to avoid. And the border crossing is NOT quick or simple. Very confusing in fact, as there are no “start here” signs and series of buildings in no particular order of where to begin. The longest line appears to be passport control and immigration, so I start there, and it’s about an hour to get through. Finally with my Botswana stamp in my passport, I go to the exit, only to be turned back around and told I need to register the vehicle for entry. This is a multi-step process, where you also must buy liability insurance, fortunately they take credit cards. As I leave, South Africa the road suddenly disappears. A major construction project has me rerouted on a dirt road with potholes large enough to swallow a small animal, and dust so thick it’s hard to see where you are going, I turned off the headlights, and at least that helped.
Reunited with the paved road again, after 40 km (25 miles) of slow dusty driving, I begin to notice another hazard, cows and donkeys on the road! It’s slow going, and a more stressful drive as a result, but finally, I see up ahead the lights of the town of Serowe and know my destination isn’t far now (if they are still open).
I pull up to the gate, which is closed, but, it opens up and a nice older man comes out bundled up like an Eskimo. It is chilly, but I’d not call it cold, I sign in and am told which camp site I’ve been assigned to, and head in, wondering if I’ll see a Rhino right way (boy was I naïve).
I get into camp and am somewhat nervous stepping out of my vehicle, I have no idea what is around me or what animals might be lurking or slithering. I pop up the roof top, which contains my bed, and I snack on some trail mix, which I chase with a couple of cans of beer, all by light of my flash light as I can’t figure out why the camper lights won’t turn on, then I crawl into bed for my first night’s sleep in the bush “lite” of Botswana.
When I told my family and friends I was going to South Africa and Botswana, renting a four-wheel drive vehicle and heading on a self-drive safari alone they looked at me with wide-eyed expressions that clearly, this time they thought I might have passed adventurous and headed on to crazy.
I’ve driven in a lot of countries, and taken a good many solo trips all over the world, but safari alone does seem a bit daring and admittedly a little daft as well. I don’t recommend the solo aspect of this kind of adventure, for a couple of reasons; if you are to break down or get stuck, you’ll be alone in getting going again, not such a big deal, unless you are out there with animals that would like to eat you. Also, when you are alone it’s very hard to drive and also do an effective job of animal sighting.
On the positive side, I met some great people. Doing this alone, I had no trouble in each camp connecting with other people (except for the couple of nights, when I was in a camp alone), who were gracious, and bewildered I was out there alone. Responses ranged from Walter and his wife from Germany, who seemed envious and invited me over for beer or wine after I’d had my dinner, to another couple from Germany, who seemed to think I was stupid and couldn’t be bothered to say much more than, “nice fire” which they shouted from their camp site some 200-feet away.
Getting there
First of all, you’ll mostly find European visitors on safari in Southern Africa. From Europe it’s a relatively easy 10-12 hour flight, without much of a time change. Though you are swapping seasons, summer to winter, fall to spring…etc.
From the United States, especially the west coast, this isn’t an easy journey. Using Delta SkyMiles, I flew from Los Angeles to London on Delta with their new “Delta One” business class service and product. On this flight, I wasn’t too impressed with either the service or the product. While the seats do lay flat to make a bed, they have some uncomfortable bulges that don’t make it a terribly comfortable bed. Also, in the seated position, there’s very little storage for personal items, and the space feels confined. I found the leather seat covers don’t breathe which for sleeping only works if you keep the cabin pretty cool. The flight attendants were aloof, and actually a bit snobbish, finding “service” a bit below their perceived station in life.
The Delta flight arrived an hour late into Heathrow, shrinking my layover to four hours from five. Four hours though is still plenty of time to totally enjoy Virgin Atlantic’s amazing Club House lounge at Heathrow. I got a haircut, had a nice cooked-to-order meal that would have done many restaurants proud, a couple great English beers, a shower, and mini massage…this place is heaven inside an airport!
The Virgin Atlantic Club House in terminal 3. It was stunning when new, and has held up well as one of my lounge “benchmarks”.
Virgin Atlantic’s Club House lounge at terminal 3 in Heathrow, isn’t even new, but it’s held up well, and remains one of my lounge “benchmarks.”
I flew from London to Johannesburg on Virgin Atlantic, in their Upper Class cabin, which was very nice! Their clever seat flips and tumbles so you sleep on surface other than the one you sit on, it’s comfortable and cozy. Virgin also provides pajamas so you’re not in your clothes as you sleep, a very nice touch usually reserved for First Class, but Virgin’s Upper Class is a business class hybrid that does combine a lot of First Class amenities, if not the exclusivity. The meals and wine choices are top-notch, and the flight attendants on this flight were friendly, and seemed to want to make your experience and flight wonderful.
Arrival at Johannesburg, pro-travelers know you never want to hear your name announced in the baggage area; I heard my name being called, which can mean only one thing: somehow four hours wasn’t long enough to get bags transferred from my Delta flight to the Virgin flight in London, ugh. This is why I loathe checking luggage. But with this kind of trip, I didn’t see much option; I wanted to bring things like pocket knives and liquids greater than three ounces that aren’t allowed in carryon luggage. In the end my bag didn’t make it for another day, because it seems, that Delta somehow sent my bag to Atlanta instead of with me to London, D’OH!
For convenience I’d booked a room at the Aviator OR Tambo Hotel because there was a free airport shuttle, and it was also near the location of the rental company I was using for the safari vehicle. It’s a nice enough hotel with a good restaurant and friendly service, and works great for the location. Protips: The WiFi service is a bit spotty, and try to get a room that’s not located on the street side if you can.
Google maps indicated that the location of the rental place was only 1.6 miles (2.6 km) from the hotel, so I figured it’d be an easy walk to go over and get the preliminaries handled, so once my luggage showed up the next day, I could get on the road to Botswana quicker. Big mistake! Johannesburg is not a strolling down the street kind of city. Walking down one street I saw a lot of people gathered around cars in various states of disrepair parked along the side of the street so I decided to cross the street and walk down the other side, where there were no parked cars and an open park area rather than tenement buildings. It was about then, I noticed people spreading, and moving up the street, while looking behind them on occasion. I look down the street in the direction the people are running from, and see a very fit, muscular, man with an open green shirt his brown skin shiny with a film of sweat despite the cool day making threatening gestures, with exaggeratedly angry facial expressions, and hollering something in a language I don’t understand. But, the scariest part was the machete swinging from his right hand!!! Had I not been so jet lagged, I probably would have peed my pants. Without making any quick moves, I widened my arch and crossed through the park, only to find the park was fenced on the other side, as there was a gated community on the other side.
Fortunately, I found an opening in the fence with a gate, and a seated security guard, who let me pass into the community, when I told him I was just cutting through. Needless to say, I accepted the ride back to the hotel that was offered by the rental agency.
The Vehicle
I reserved a pop-top Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4. I chose this because it seemed the easiest to handle alone, in terms of being self contained and easy to set up for sleep each night, while having something capable to explore with by day. I used Drive South Africa to make the booking as it seemed the easiest, and finding direct hire contacts is not easy. I wouldn’t do it again though, they are a broker basically, and refer your booking to an actual rental agency, meaning if you have problems, you have two companies pointing fingers at each other.
During my visit to handle the paperwork, I was strongly encouraged to purchase the ultimate insurance protection. I was warned that if anything should happen with the vehicle I could be liable for thousands of dollars as these vehicles have expensive parts and repairs. I explained I would call my credit card company to confirm if I was covered, and let them know when I pick up the vehicle. In the end I declined all the “extra” coverage, though from listening in on many other presentations, noticed many people do buy this.
The cozy living room inspired Britz office where you conduct the paperwork part of your rental.
I was hoping to go over the familiarization run down of the vehicle and equipment that day, but apparently the vehicle I was to take hadn’t been prepared yet. Allow two hours to do this! Have the company show you the operation of everything, if for no other reason to confirm that everything they send you out with is in working order. You don’t want to get out there, and discover the air compressor they have sent you out with doesn’t work, or the interior lights of your camper…etc.
By the time Virgin Atlantic finally provided my luggage the next day, and I got to the rental agency to pick up the vehicle, it was well after noon, which was when I was hoping to hit the road…as always, best laid plans don’t always work out in the real world, and there is something called “Africa Time” where, things seem to happen according to another clock.
The familiarization run down was rushed through, and when the representative was having trouble getting the vehicle into 4×4 mode, I did become a little concerned. I loaded up my bags, and headed to the grocery store to load up on food, water, toilet paper, and other more vital necessities such as wine. On my way there I noticed there was no power to the cigarette lighter. While I don’t smoke, I did have a GPS I very much intended to keep charged up. I also noticed the fiberglass, roof on the Land Cruiser was making horrible popping, creaking and snapping noises. So, I headed back to the rental agency, where the fuses were checked, and replaced, and I was told the noises were “normal”. While I was relieved to have the lighter fixed, I was disappointed; I’d have to deal with the noise.
