Solid road trip around South Africa, first leg, home (South of Durban)...all the way up to Sishen in the Northern Cape...

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Here we are, this is March 2021...and we are on for a solid road trip at home. The car is a small Suzuki Swift this time. So yes, you don't need a huge car to do special road trips. We will be on the road for 20 days. 2/3 of this trip are actually roads I have not drove before...so if you ask, yes there is a lot more for us to discover in gorgeous South Africa.



We encountered close to no foreign tourists on this trip. And as it is back to school here, not many locals either. I'm dividing the blogging in 3 different blogs. The first one is leading us North. We drove first to Durban to exchange our category A car...a little Picanto...for a category B car....as the distances are huge here! First night is at Umhlanga. Nothing really new here, just north of Durban, the wealthy beach area is home to some top restaurants...and one or two decent size shopping malls. We may live on the beach in our "village"...sometimes it's fun to drive to the big city! So it's cinema time, shopping time, and steak time!!



Next morning, we are heading North...we are actually going "around" Lesotho all the way to Clarens in the Drakensberg. The drive to Clarens is super nice...the road is going through the Golden Gate National Park....that's the South African one! Hotel is Clarens is super cute and we love the art shops scattered all around town. It's a place where you park your car and go to dinner walking. That doesn't happen in many places in South Africa. It's also the first round of golf of a total of 14 of them over the coming 20 days.



Next drive is to Bloemfontein, the city if the capital of the Free State. Well....if there is a place I don't want to move to, it's Bloemfontein. The golf course is a seriously run down affair...and the city is less than impressive. At least we found a great restaurant for dinner....but they don't seem to have that many of them around. Bloemfontein is a good stop-point in between better places....not a place to spend few days.



The following leg is bringing us North to Kimberley. Most in South Africa have seen pictures of the Big Hole, interestingly to note, not that many people have actually been to the place. Our hotel is right by the Big Hole. There is a great museum to visit...only 4 of us in our "group visit"....but super interesting 90 minutes. Forget about diamonds...it's a long time does are gone from here, but the visit was really worth it! Did also play the more than decent Kimberley golf course. Dry, hot....we are at the doors of the Kalahari!



Next morning, it's a 3 hours drive North to Sishen. We started our trip in KZN, went across the Free State bordering Lesotho...now we are already in the Northern Cape...and not that far from Botswana! South Africa is not a small country!



Sishen host the biggest Iron Ore mine in the country. Mining trucks are all over the place on super well maintained road...welcome to mining world! This means there is also money to entertain after the digging! So Sishen also known as the Kalahari Country Club is home to an 18 holes golf course ranked 21 in the country. It's dry, it's hot...and it's gorgeous! I even managed to play my handicap on a course packed with squirrels living in the ground, and numerous slender mongooses...what a place!



Next, we are heading West...and slowly South...ready for more pics in the next blog!

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