Holiday Road Trip Report ......

[Auslandau]

Well ...... its been near a month since the Mrs and I left these shores to do a small jaunt around Southern Africa visiting 4 countries in 26 days and covered a total of 4300 km's in this time.

To say we had an amazing time would be an understatement ...... it was beyond our expectations. It is something that we have wanted to do all our lives and with the help of some very good friends in Pretoria (& the Ford Motor Comp. South Africa) we managed to finally do it. It took nearly 6 months planning to organise where we wanted to go, we had to pinch ourselves sometimes when we were actually doing what we spent so long planning.

We arrived in Johannesburg late April and spent the next 3 days in Pretoria getting to know the road rules (minimal & bloody scary) and finalising the rest of our trip. We had some great Braai's to get into the mood of things ... visited some local sights and markets (keep the girls happy).

Also spent the day at Ford SA looking at the new lines being installed for the T6 Ranger and saw the last Focus being assembled at the plant which was bound for Australia. Was a big occasion for them. Had a really good look at the new Ranger and all I can say is .... its bloody impressive. The Wildtrack is one tough truck! Size wise seems to be very big and sitting next to the old Ranger looks huge! Still 5 months away but all the prototypes that were built in both LH & RH drive are worlds apart from the old ones and the specs put it above everything else presently on the market. Definitely one to watch when released late August! 3.2 turbo with the 6 speed, push button 4WD and all the goodies including very nice interior and leather seats ..... sorry but no pics allowed

Packed and ready to go with a new Ford Everest (7 seater Ranger) and the Camper ..... pointing in the right direction and a GPS connected ..... which proved to be absolutely the most vital part of the trip.



Left Monday May 2nd to head from Pretoria into Botswana and stop the night in Serowe ... 580k trip which took around 8 hours. Boarder crossing was painless only taking around 45 minutes but the roads were 'rough' to say the least. Pot holes are the standard along the absolute multitude of cattle, donkeys and goats. Traffic is near non existent in Bots as car ownership is left to those that can afford it and then its the Bakkie (Ute) thats the preferred choice. Reason being you can fit 10 in the back (hence the term Bakkie ... "Get in the Bakkie") Ford, Opal & Chev all have there version which is a very cheap small ute. They all look almost identical with the Ford one being the Bantam. Bit like a Fiesta ute.

Boarder crossing at SA/Bostwana



Normal mode of transport for most in the Bakkie



First night out was at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. Saw a few Rhinos but they were reluctant to get close .... but was still very bloody big from a distance!



Camping ground ....... was a nice place to visit even though it was only an overnight stay.



No matter where you were or how desolate the place is ..... there is ALWAYS someone walking somewhere, waiting for a lift or just watching the world go by. Would have loved to have stopped and asked "Where the hell you going & where did you come from?"



The country side and some towns (villages) on the way to Sorowe ......





To be continued .......