South Africa 2018

South Africa 2018 - 10 April to 8 May

Big picture: 

Phase 1 - Fly into Johannesburg and drive to the Kruger game preserve. Spend 5 nights in Kruger and then fly to Cape Town.

Phase 2 - Spend 4 nights in Cape Town touring around and visiting the sites

Phase 3 - Ride bicycles from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth

Phase 4 - Fly into Durban and rent a car. Drive to the Drakensburg region and then drive to Phinda private game reserve. Fly home.

Here is the "Big Picture map"


Here is a link to the live map.

Phase 1 - Kruger Park



Phase 2 - Cape Town

Phase 3 - Bike Riding


Phase 4 - Durban, Drakensburg and Phinda




If you want to just see the photos, Here is a link to a lot of photos from the trip.

Schedule - summary   

• April 10 – leave USA (7 of the group)
• April 11 – arrive in JHB
• Spend night near airport
• April 12
• Pick up rental van (8 passengers)
• Drive to Kruger
• April 12 – 17 – Kruger (4 full days)
• Stay in Kruger at two different camps
• April 17
• Fly down to Cape Town
• Pick up rental van (8 seater) and a rental car
• April 17 – 21 Cape Town (4 full days in Cape Town)
• Stay in Camps Bay in house
• April 22 – 2 May Bike to Port Elizabeth
• Most people leave for home or back to JHB
• 2 May Fly to Durban and rent a car. Drive to the Drakensburg and to Phinda.
• 10 May - fly back to DC

Thanks, Google, for sending us down a 30 km rocky, potholed dirt road! Got a flat, but some very nice Africans changed out to the spare in a flash. Sitting in a tire shop while the spare is replaced. Now off to Phinda for three glorious nights at the Vlei game reserve.

Photos from yesterday's and this morning's drive and breakfast. Action shots of Sherry shooting lions and cheetahs. In the Kruger game park, there was a huge abundance of animals but you had to stay on the road. Here, the vehicles can drive overland. We shadowed a pair of male cheetahs as they did their morning rounds. At breakfast, a monkey stole Sherry's apple pastry right off of the table.

We came across a fresh cheetah kill - Mom took down a buck for herself and her three cubs about an hour prior to our happening upon them by the side of the road. Graphic photos, folks!

We are taking a rest day in Nysna along the southern coast of South Africa. Yesterday, we went up and over a pass to exit the high desert and to roll (rocket) down to the coast. The descent was almost 2000 feet, Sherry's longest to date. Nysna is a nice little tourist town and an excellent place to do nothing.

The broken mirror was done by a motorist. His passenger mirror smashed our handlebar mirror. These drivers pass waaay too closely, and we were foolishly riding a too-busy road on the Friday before a 3-day weekend. We took a ride in the van until the road got wider and had a shoulder before we continued.

Bike nerds will notice that my hand grips are upside-down. I had to switch the mirror to the right side of the bike, but the mirror only works with the left hand grip, so I just swapped them out. Not as uncomfortable as it may look.

Our trusty steed - a heavily modified Toyota Land Cruiser. There is a tracker's seat in the front where our tracker could sit and look for tracks. We are at a stop for our morning coffee break.

All of my stuff for a month on the road (minus the bike gear which was sent home with the tandem). Good thing, because we would have missed our connection in Johannesburg if we had to check bags. Our inbound flight was an hour delayed. Sherry had only one carry on bag as well.