Would you take your friends to South Africa? - Introduction

Above: would you take them to Paternoster?

Almost a year ago I was presented with a blank canvas. What an opportunity! What a responsibility! Pretty scary actually. Surely a test of a great friendship?

A seemingly casual conversation led to toes being presented to water and being greeted only with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm from close friends, a couple around our age. As the numbers rolled in, they were seemingly undaunted. In fact they were positively encouraging.

​"This could actually work," I reassured myself as I started researching flights for a year hence.
Then there was a deposit to be paid but it wasn't that much, even with a car included.

​Booking.com was good for finding accommodation where previous trips hadn't already provided favourites. Ratings had proven in the past to be pretty reliable and deposits could be deferred until close to the actual time.

​At first we were trying to cram everything into a fortnight but it soon became evident that quality gazumped parsimony. By the time the flights needed to be finalised, two weeks had become a month. Thank goodness, because we were proposing a road trip from the Northeast to the Southwest, a mere 3,600 km (2,250 miles) before adding another 900 km for side trips. Our initial fortnight would've meant 320 km a day in the car every day. That translates on South African roads to something way in excess of 4 hours in the car a day without stopping to view any sites of interest at all.

Happily common sense prevailed and we agreed to double our time away. Perhaps next time 6 weeks would be preferable!

Sián and Roger 

It is time to name our accomplices, i.e. Sián and Roger (Roj). They never blinked as the estimates accumulated. In fact we were only greeted with grins of encouragement.

"We're happy with whatever it takes," quoth Roj, showing a degree of admirable trust.

And so we proceeded with caution, lightly spiced with a dash of recklessness.

A couple of headliners in the early part of the trip were added to the "essential" list. Deposits were paid for Safaris in the Kruger Park and at Fugitives' Drift before preparations went quiet for a bit. The subject came up at random social gatherings and other friends occasionally looked a little sceptical, enquiring politely whether the 4 of us had ever been on holiday together before.

"Not even a weekend away," was our riposte.

I am sure Sián and Shan had the occasional discussion about appropriate clothing, and the odd summery garment might have found its way into an early shopping bag, but it was only with about a month to go that it all became real.
​
Suitcases/luggage part 1

The realisation that travelling for a month 4-up in a car would stretch your average VW Polo rental meant that suitcases and hand luggage needed to be reassessed. Even though the requirements for wintry clothing would be minimal. And even though we'd kind of provided for this by upgrading to a VW T-Roc from the start. This was advertised as having the capacity for 4 bags. But what size bags?

Shan and I have a couple of smallish suitcases, the size you'd imagine were adequate for our requirements if we could wash some stuff on the way. Barely bigger than cabin bags they are. We suggested to S&R that they should bring something similar. So they went out and procured almost identical-sized suitcases to ours. Result.

Clothes 

Light summer clothing and a hat each. Maybe some robust shoes that could double up for the occasional country walk.  Plan on washing clothes about once a week. Roj didn't have an appropriate hat so I suggested something similar to the indestructible Tilley I have owned for decades. Not exactly flattering or cool in the fashion sense but cool and practical for subtropical sun. A week or two before departure our friends attacked the local outdoor shop and walking shoes and hats were acquired. Roj and I ending up with practically identical hats and identical Scarpa walking shoes.

The 4 of us wore the shoes occasionally but spent the vast majority of the time slopping around in flip-flops (Phillipe Phillops to a French person, according to Roger). The hats came out most days, though, otherwise we would have become the victims of sunstroke.

Above: matching Tilleys ... les femmes were offered more protection by their abundant hair.

Suitcases/luggage part 2

Someone, possibly Roj, sowed fear in the ranks about the capability of our designated hire car to accommodate 4 suitcases out of sight in our designated VW T-Roc despite the fact that Avis was touting it as a 4-bagger. The out-of-sight criterion was pretty critical given there would be occasions when the car plus luggage would need to be parked in public space in South Africa where it would be a sitting duck for smash-and-grab thieves. 

It turned out that our mutual friend, Nigel, was the proud owner of a new T-Roc and Roj undertook to ask him if we could perform a capacity test with our 4 actual valises. A pre-lunchtime Sunday appointment between Nigel, Roj and Shan avec valises was established. The answer was a resounding "no". WTF did we do now? Some quick research revealed that Avis also offered a VW Tiguan that had a larger luggage capacity. A call to Inchcape VW in Swindon revealed that they had a Tiguan in the showroom. The 4 cases were summarily loaded into the boot and back seat of our own VW ID.3 and transported the 32km (20 miles) to Inchcape where a most helpful sales person helped us establish that the Tiguan would accommodate our 4 suitcases under cover with a little room to spare. 

We returned home grinning and immediately paid a small extra fee to upgrade our T-Toc to the Tiguan that was on offer on the BA/Avis website. Job done, we could breathe freely again.

Coming next

This blog is a quick intro to our perambulations between Northeastern Mpumalonga to the Southwestern Cape Province. A few follow-up blogs over the next few weeks will expand on our adventures and anecdotes as we proceed through some of the choice delights (and one or two challenges) that South Africa has to offer.

Included will be the initial delights, a major diversion around Lesotho, the ongoing delights of Nieu Bethesda (including an extraordinary episode of serendipity) and actual toes in actual "glacial" water on South Africa's Weskus[1]

​[Endnotes]:

1. West Coast