On road tripping in Africa

I wrote a blog post last week from the beach, and I’ve received many questions about what it’s like to road trip in Africa. I’ve posted in previous blogs what it’s like to drive in other countries; land rovers buried up to their axles in mud, terrible roads, horrible traffic. I think many people (rightfully so) assume it’s the same here in South Africa but it can’t be further from reality. So when I was driving home last weekend, I managed to snap some photos so you can join me in the journey! Note, some of the photos are not great, but my priority was driving safely, not getting good photos!! So, all that said, welcome to my road trip! The whole trip is about 7 hours plus time for fueling and bathroom stops.

We start on the Dolphin Coast, or North Coast, the space of coast between Durban and Jeffrey’s Bay. First you have to drive about an hour in a southwesterly direction towards Durban, where you then catch the main highway to Johannesburg/Pretoria.

This area is very humid, lush, green, mostly rolling hills of sugar cane broken up by orchards of what I would guess is some kind of citrus.

As you can see the road is in good shape but there is some road construction in some areas. In this particular spot they are replacing a bridge on the other side of the highway.

This is the view around Durban, as you can see it’s pretty much just like an interstate highway in the United States. The speed limit is mostly 120km/hr, with a chunk in the middle of 100/hr – there are are about a dozen speed cameras along the way which WILL nail you if you’re speeding.

There are a few toll plazas along the way. Pro tip – pay attention so you don’t end up in the credit card only line, as they only take RSA credit cards, not US credit cards. And stay away from this lane, the one right next to the credit card only lane, because when someone gets into that lane by accident, they actually have to back everyone out to let that person move to another lane and they all end up in this lane, the one I was sitting in when I snapped this photo. And also of note, yes, the vast majority of cars in SA are white. Mine is red, of course.

The first time I drove down here (this is the second) Jay was a bit anxious, kind of whiney, never really relaxed in the car, but wasn’t sick or anything. But by the second drive, he relaxed, and now he basically sleeps the whole way.

Once you’re on the N3 heading northwest towards Johannesburg/Pretoria, you go through an area that feels more like a tropical forest.

I don’t know if you can tell in the photo above, but it’s a stretch of road bordered with rows and rows of some kind of tree that is farmed for harvesting.

Oh, I forgot to mention – Pretoria sits at 4,339 feet above sea level, high enough to need high altitude baking adjustments – and of course the coast is at sea level. So most of the drive to Pretoria is uphill. Your gas mileage is much better going the opposite direction.

Anyway, you’re driving through these fields of trees, and then suddenly they’re all gone.

A bit further along and you can start to see the foothills of the Drakensberg mountain range. If it was a clearer day you’d see more peaks in the distance. This is a really beautiful part of the drive. And the sun is more prevalent here as we put more distance between us and the sea.

As we get closer to Johannesburg, the rolling green hills give way to relatively flat farmland.

Johannesburg became a city because of gold mining – much of the city and it’s surrounds are built on or around the piles of earth that were moved for mining.

Finally you can see the skyline of Johannesburg in the distance, and you know you’re almost home!

From there it’s mostly like driving interstate through any big city and the suburbs around it. The freeway gets up to six lanes wide in some places and is very well maintained.

The space between Johannesburg and Pretoria is hilly and brown in the winter, green in the summer. After almost eight hours on the road, I’m so happy to be almost home!