Everybody we spoke to in Kruger National Park thought it was crazy that we were travelling all the way back to Johannesburg (5 hrs) to collect a hire car, when we could have transferred to a large town closer to where we were and continued our travels from there. Going back to Jo'burg didn't make sense to them; why go back on ourselves by several hundred kilometres before heading off again.
So, firstly, every traveller has to prioritise time or money; with transport, choose cheap and it will take an age, or more costly but it may be faster or more comfortable. Given that we are rich on time, we tend to choose the least costly option (as long as it's not absolutely mind bendingly bad - we aren't in our 20s after all!) and that is what we did in this situation. We could hire a car at Jo'burg airport and drop it off at Cape Town airport 3 weeks later for a much lower cost than hiring elsewhere. Secondly, when we research our travels and start to confirm plans, sometimes we make decisions based on what we can access online, and whilst this allows us to get things confirmed and in place, it doesn't allow for the opportunities that arise when we are on the ground in the location. Inevitably we find alternative options for acitivities or accommodation etc... and leaving things more open ended would have allowed us to react and take advantage of those opportunities. It's always a trade off and there's no right or wrong way of doing things. We try to have a few things sorted and then allow the trip to evolve as we go.
In this instance, on reflection, yes we had an additional day of travelling, but picking up the car back in the city meant we could do a satisfying loop, up to the Limpopo region and its green forest covered hills around Haernertsburg and on towards the Blouberg mountains, before travelling down the Panorama route, a must-see ever changing beautiful landscape of canyon cliffs, rivers and waterfalls that will stay with us for a long time. If we had less time, we could have hired a car in a more convenient location at the end of our Safari, but we wouldn't have explored this region to the extent that we did.
We paid around £650 for a hire car for 21 days with Avis. That is inclusive of all fees, insurance, taxes. Fuel in South Africa is less expensive than the UK - roughly £45:500 miles.
After our long journey, collecting the car was straight forward and we found our way out of the airport on our first attempt (this is particularly notable because we have been completely lost driving in airports before and become so stressed we end up in a shouting match and it ruins the day). As it was, things were fairly simple and we drove to a small guest house on the outskirts of the city, only 10km away, for one night. We parked up inside after getting through the perimeter security gates (standard for South Africa) and were shown to a clean but fairly shabby room (£18 a night, so I'm not complaining) and got a good night's sleep.
The next morning we checked out, only to find that the hire car doors wouldn't open using the remote locking. ??? We ended up opening the drivers door manually using the backup key, but when nothing would work, it was very clear that the battery was dead as a Dodo. We called the Avis breakdown line and they were great. 15 minutes later a chap arrived to fix the car and was there for about 10 minutes. Sure enough Gaz had left the lights on overnight and the battery had drained. Oops. Easy done when you're new to a car, parking in a lit courtyard and overtired from a day of travelling. So once the breakdown guy had jump started the car, we headed off having learned our lesson and understandably a little embarrassed.
We travelled north out of the city and very quickly had to start learning how to tackle junctions where the traffic lights are not working because of load shedding. We figured it out and Gaz drove us safely out of the built up areas, and into the countryside, where fields turned to extensive flat plains, and then rolling hills, occasionally broken by remote villages and towns, or the drama of goats or cows wandering out in front of traffic.
Two days of driving brought us to the Limpopo/Mpumalanga regional border and the Blyde river. We stayed here in a fixed tent for 4 nights, complete with a large double bed, full sized fridge, table and chairs, barbeque etc... In fairness it was more glamping than camping - definitely more appealing to me these days lol! It was good to be in a chilled environment with animals milling around = a pack of babboons were causing mischief in the early mornings by raiding the bins throughout the campsite and fighting over their finds, and herds of Kudu wandered throughout the site and into the forest edges when a human got too close. One afternoon we were sat by the pool when some children placed their towels on the grass with their remaining lunch items. Within minutes about 4 Vervet monkeys had descended from the rooftops and begun stealing things, which created much hysteria amongst the campsite staff and the children. Gaz and I found it all very entertaining.
During our stay we explored the Blyde river and the dam and this was the first time we had seen such beautiful landscape scenery since arriving in South Africa the week before. It was stunning and the start of a week that saw us travel the Panorama Route and take in incredible landscapes around every turn.
We saw so many waterfalls and river views. The Blyde River Canyon at the heart of it all is such an amazing place to explore. There is a reason why this is a tourist hotspot. Interestingly, we were told that most visitors to South Africa fly into Cape Town, travel to The Garden Route in the Western Cape and then fly out. They also fly to Kruger to go on Safari, but generally don't explore the rest of the country. I don't know if this is true, but we would both recommend visiting the forest lined hills of Limpopo and the truly spectacular Panorama route.
A highlight for us was the town of Graskop, built on the edge of a deep gorge. It is made up primarily of guest houses, waffle houses and restaurants, but its best feature is easily the Graskop Gorge Lift which for the equivalent of £6.50 pp, you can travel to the bottom of the gorge and then explore the rainforest. The lift is a real feat of engineering and being made of metal glass, allows you to take in the views as you descend. There's a number of short wobbly wooden suspension bridges in the rainforest, and one large steel construction that spans the entire gorge. I'm not good on wobbly bridges, so I squealed a few times, but as always, I blame Gaz! 😉
Amazing views and the rope bridge looked great!