Roadtrip through 3 African countries

Your camper is ready to leave, so please come to the depot between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. If you have booked a flight with a late arrival, we recommend that you book an extra night in Johannesburg. On day 1 there is a long drive on the program! After all paperwork has been arranged and you have received all instructions, you can leave.

You are now in the province Mpumalanga, which means ‘the place where the sun rises’. The road from Johannesburg to the east takes you through monotonous, grassy, plains of grass. Initially the trip seems to be little exciting and hardly a prelude to the fascinating landscapes that lie ahead.

Along the way you will pass the towns of Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder, which are on the edge of the Drakensberg (the ‘Escarpment‘) that lie ahead. Here you can enjoy your first waterfall, but don’t worry, many more will follow. Visit the Sudwala Caves, where you can admire the huge rooms with their bizarre limestone formations over a distance of 500 m.

The town of Sabie is at an altitude of around 1,000 meters and is therefore malaria free. The former Voortrekkers therefore usually stored their base camps in this area in order to hunt from here in the low field (where the Kruger Park is also located).

The next two nights you will be staying at a camping site Merry Pebbles Resort. You have enough time to explore the area. So you can the Panoramaroute to explore and enjoy the view at the Blyde River Canyon. The town itself has more than 20 restaurants, pubs, supermarkets and coffee shops.

Today you head for the famous Kruger National Park where your safaris will begin! The park is exceptionally rich in mammals and birds and this, combined with its surface area, makes it one of the best game reserves in the world. The park has an extensive network of roads and camps, but fortunately that does not affect nature. There are strict rules, including the speed limit of 40/50 km per hour.

The best times for spotting animals are the early morning until around 10 a.m. and the late afternoon. A quiet picnic at a watering hole or in the camp is a good way to spend the hottest hours of the day.

Most animals live scattered throughout the park, but the amount and regularity of the observations are determined by the terrain and the vegetation. At the rivers and drinking places in the south, where you are now, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, buffalo and herds of giraffes are often seen.

The next two nights you will stay in it Skukuza Rest Camp what a village is in itself and therefore has many facilities and activities to offer. The camp is very central and beautifully situated on the Sabie river, an excellent base for seeing the Big 5 and many birds. Nearby you will find some of the best ways to see wildlife, especially lions are spotted here a lot. Take advantage of this and book a bushwalk or game drive to make sure you are in the right place at the right time!

During your ride to the next camp you will not only spot animals, but you will also be surprised by the beautiful nature. Overgrown areas are interspersed with large open plains with trees, such as the interesting baobab tree

Tonight you will stay at the Satara Rest camp, which is the third largest camp in the Kruger Park. Here you can relax by the pool, do some shopping, have a picnic, send tickets, wash, refuel and pick up a restaurant and all this in between game drives. You can of course also book a guided walk and / or a nightly game drive.

Satara is often called the “cat camp”, large cats are regularly spotted in the Muzadzeni area, where a large group of lions live. The camp is fenced so that you can walk around freely in the evening and come face to face with wildlife. Nestled in a hilly landscape with manicured gardens, it is the best base for seeing leopards, cheetahs and lions. When this area is dry and arid in the winter, they wait in the bushes for the thirsty Antelope that comes in large groups to drink at the scarce ponds.

You will also spend the coming days in the Kruger National Park!

Your next camp is located in the northern part of the park on the southern bank of the Letaba River (sand river), where there is only water for part of the year. The riverbed is often a good place to see animals, troops of elephants enjoy roaming the loose sand. The dominating Mopane tree shows that Letaba is in a drier environment. However, a rain shower starting in October can brighten up the landscape beautifully. In addition, Letaba has the only museum in the park: in the Elephant Hall you will find everything about the largest elephants that have roamed through the park for the past 100 years.

In the quiet Letaba Rest Camp there is a reception area with a shop, restaurant, cafeteria and laundry room. Furthermore, Letaba has a gas pump, but there is no mobile phone coverage. At the reception you can book guided walking safaris, jeep safaris or book a breakfast or dinner in the bush. In this camp you will have the feeling that you are really in the wilderness.

Today you cross the border towards Chidenguele in Mozambique. Make sure you leave as early as possible as you never know how long the border formalities will take and so you can still enjoy awakening the Kruger Park towards Komatiepoort. Make sure you are full, as the fuel in Mozambique is more expensive than in South Africa.

The unspoiled beauty, pleasant ambiance, friendly people and the authentic African atmosphere await you. In addition, the tropical beaches on the Indian Ocean are downright idyllic and you will certainly not find mass tourism here.

There are countless freshwater lakes around Chidenguele. In the small atmospheric Chidenguele itself you can visit the cathedral (along the EN1) and the colorful market. The place is only 1.5 km from Lagoa Nhambavale. This azure blue lake is surrounded by green, subtropical nature and is popular with windsurfers and recreational skippers.

You will stay the next night in the Laguna Camp.

Your next piece of paradise is Tan ‘n Biki, located on the Macaneta peninsula, just 35 km north of Maputo. Your shaded campsite has its own braai, water point and electricity.

With the Nkomati river on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other, Macaneta is truly the gem of the Maputo province! Enjoy 50 km of pristine sandy beaches, the beautiful dune landscape and the friendly atmosphere that prevails here! The coming days are all about enjoying and relaxing!

Today it is time to visit your third African country and drive through the Lomashasha border you will enter the kingdom of Eswatini (previous Swaziland). You must clear customs through both customs upon arrival and when leaving the country. This also applies to the motorhome that is rented in South Africa and taken to Eswatini. Make sure the rental company gives you a statement in which permission for this customs clearance is given. You are also required to pay a toll upon arrival in Eswatini.Most borders are not open 24 hours a day but have limited opening hours.

The area around the capital Mbabane is westernized, but outside of it most people still live very traditionally in ‘beads’ consisting of a few loam huts grouped around a yard. Eswatini is also very traditional in political and administrative terms. Although Eswatini has an elected parliament, it is in fact the king who can rule as an absolute monarch, even though he must adhere to all kinds of traditional rules.

The Swati are friendly, hospitable people. The traditional Swati village that is still visible throughout the country is still the so-called homestead: a collection of huts, inhabited by a family consisting of a man with his wife (s) and children. Every woman gets her own cabin. The hut is made of reeds and has the shape of a beehive house. These beehives are also surrounded by a thatched fence that still gives the women some privacy.

Moreover, the country offers a number of specific locations that are worth visiting, such as the Ezulwini Valley – also known as the Valley of the Kings, where countless stalls sell wood carvings and other artistry. Most of the hotels are located in this part of the country and numerous excursions can be made, such as to the traditional village of Mantenga in the nature park of the same name, including the highest waterfall in Eswatini (95 m).

Hlane Royal National Park is part of Big Game Parks. For bird lovers it is interesting to know that most Marabou Storks spend their southern nesting period here.The Marabou Stork is a large water bird (a kind of stork) that only occurs in certain areas. Moreover, Hlane Royal National Park has the highest density of vultures that make their nest in the trees. And here you will spend the night among elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards and many other animals.

You can also undertake various activities in the park such as self-drives, 4×4 vehicle tours, guided mountain biking and unique guided walks. Hlane has great cultural value for the people of Eswatini. Here it would be (at Hunter’s Rock) that the father of the current king saw his last lion before he died.

Lobamba is where the royal family resides. Parliament is also here. Every year the Incwala ceremonies and the reed dance take place in Lobamba. The small national museum (next to the parliament building, near the main road between Mbabane and Manzini) has a nice collection of cultural-historical material. A number of traditional beehive huts are set up next to the museum. From the main road to Manzini a side road leads to Malkerns. Here is the Swazi Candles factory, which is very popular with tourists, where beautiful candles are made in all sorts of colors and shapes. At ‘Tishweshwe Crafts’ you can go for example for wicker baskets and mats.

Ezulwini Valley is a beautiful green valley of approximately 20 km, which more or less follows the course of the Mbabane River from the capital. The name Ezulwini means valley of heaven ‘.
The Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the Big Game Parks of Eswatini. Ted Reilly started this first nature reserve in Eswatini on his farm, with the aim of protecting wildlife and reintroducing extinct wildlife. It opened to the public in 1964.

Buffalo, giraffes, hippos, leopards, zebras and many antelopes such as kudu, blesbok and nyalas live there. There is a nice walk of 2 to 2.5 hours that is worth the effort. You can also book game drives here or explore nature on foot, by horse or by bike. Here you will spend the next two nights sleeping among the animals and under the huge African starry sky.

Enjoy your route today via Eswatini to Johannesburg, where you can deliver your camper  before 4 p.m.