SWAZILAND & PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

• The most challenging road I have ever driven: check (Swaziland)
• Kilometres driven from Durban to Jo'burg: 1412km
• New food tried: biltong (a type of dried meat)
• Highest point visited: 2,387m

It is time to end our mega journey, with our last stop being Pretoria, northern South Africa. What a journey it has been. We really cannot believe it is over, it was just yesterday when we packed our bags and hailed Santa Cruz in Bolivia, our first stop! However, it also feels nice to go back home, to get settled, start working on our upcoming projects and take it easy for a change. Traveling is quite a tiring hobby and confusing as hell. I’ve had many moments along the way when I have not immediately remembered in which country I am, let alone knowing what the local currency or language is. Waking up in a different location every morning can get a little mind-bending.

Anyway, after landing to Durban a week ago we hired a car and drove straight to St Lucia from the airport. It was a touristy destination with nature parks and lakes around it. Apparently a home of hippos, and one morning a hippo was rumoured to have roamed in the backyard of our hotel! Driving our rental car to the nature park nearby we definitely saw hippos and other animals such as rhinos, elephants and all types of antelopes. It was nice to see them on our own, as previously we had been only on the organised safari game drives.

After some hiccups with accommodation we found our way to Swaziland, or eSwatini as of last year, a curious little country surrounded by mountains and South Africa in the west and Mozambique in the east. It is one of the few lasting true monarchies in the world, meaning the King actually has decision power. The first two nights we spent in the east near a place called Siteki, at a nice mountain view lodge with a cozy living room including a fireplace - which was actually quite necessary as the temperatures dropped down to 10C at night (we were in the mountains after all). A dry game drive at Hlane nature park left us a little disappointed with only a couple of animals spotted (luckily two rhinos pretty close up, so it was not all for nothing). And an especially memorable encounter with a wild animal was while we were driving back to lodging, a giraffe stood by the side of the road, waiting to cross it. It was rather funny! I was driving, deep in my thoughts while Kai was sleeping next to me, and I saw something in the corner of my eye, but did not immediately recognise it as a giant giraffe. Only after we had already passed the animal, I glanced into the rear mirror, wondering what the hell was that, and to my surprise saw the giraffe crossing the road after carefully checking no cars are coming. I did a quick U-turn and we sat there gazing at this magnificent animal for quite some time, before returning to our lodge for a nice dinner and some wine.

Next stop was the capital of eSwatini, Mbabane, which, being a rather small town, did not appeal to us that much. But driving out of Mbabane towards the border crossing of Bembule was quite a journey. Soon after leaving the capital we saw a huge rock formation on our right which we learned to be the famous Sibebe Rock, and ancient, very steep rock, popular among tourist climbers. We tried to climb some of it but found it too steep and gave up midway. Getting back down was a bit more challenging than going up, so we were relieved to finally get back on the road. A friend had tipped us of a nice guesthouse in the middle of the mountainous countryside, where her friends were working, where we stopped by for lunch and made new friends. The view was amazing! We did not always have the chance to look, as the road was in such bad condition, whoever was driving had to keep eyes on the road for potholes and uneven surfaces, which occurred non-stop.

When we finally made it to the border crossing, it was a surprising event as the road was narrow and like a potato field right up to the tiny passport control hut, and at once on the South African side the paved road was as smooth as a baby’s bottom! What a change! We were quite happy about it as it had taken us a huge amount of time driving a short distance, the average speed possible being somewhere between 15 and 30 kmh. Arriving to Nelspruit we had a quick dinner and spend the evening at lodging watching TV as that is a rare treat on our travels.

The road to Pretoria was fast and smooth and we made it in less than 5 hours with a short stop for light snacks in an idyllic small town. Our lodging in Pretoria was a really cool little house in a lush environment with trees and birds and a pool. The following day, and the last day of our trip, we spent driving around the city, visiting for example the Mandela statue and a viewpoint at the highest point of Pretoria, where we spotted zebras! In the middle of a city! We also visited a huge mall where Kai could watch the rugby world cup while I was doing some shopping (I had ripped my last surviving pants, so needed some new ones). It was a nice relaxing day, really enjoying the memories of our journey and saving the moment. In the evening we took an Uber to a fancy fine-dining restaurant, overlooking the night lights of the city, to celebrate the finale of our journey. The food was delicious and paired with local wines that made our mouths smack in delightment. 

This morning, we packed our bags, efficiently as always (we have become pretty good at packing by now) and said farewell to the staff who were overly interested in where we came from. The drive to Johannesburg airport was fast and easy and we were at the departure gate in no time. I am now writing this post from the airplane on its way to Sao Paolo, and we are about halfway there somewhere over the Atlantic.

It has been a once in a lifetime experience with memories that will last forever. I think I am done with traveling for a while, and I feel great joy in thinking we will be stationary for at least the following few months. Thanks for reading the blog, I hope you got something out of it. Feel free to leave comments or questions here for example about what you would like to hear in our upcoming Summary Blog, where we will list the pros and cons of the visited countries & places, best experience, best food, best view etc. For now, it’s over and out.