chefmaison

I took a direct flight from Brussels to Johannesburg (Joburg) with Air Belgium. They fly three times a week to Johannesburg and onward to Cape Town. The planes are brand new, you have enough leg room and the meals are good. (I had a terrible neighbour and one child was screaming all through the night but that’s not the airlines’ fault) Upon arrival in Johannesburg, you proceed to the passport control where you have three lines: South African nationals, visitors who need a visa, visitors exempt of the visa. Since our plane arrived in the early hours of the morning, the queues were short and we went through passport control swiftly. I had booked a hotel for one night in the safe Sandton area of Johannesburg.

From the airport a train runs directly into Sandton, the train arrive at a 20 min. interval, and takes about 10 to 15 min. to arrive at Sandton station. In the arrivals hall you follow the signs that say ‘Train’, then take the lift from the arrivals hall up to the departure hall. On one end you find the entrance to the train station, where you can buy a ticket from the ticket machines (it accepts VISA and Mastercard credit cards). First select the Gautrain train card, and then choose a single trip, and fill in the start and end station. Pay and take your train card, which can be re-loaded. You need to scan the card to get onto the platform. There is only one platform in the airport, so you can’t go wrong. The third stop and end station is Sandton station. I booked a room at the Radisson Blu Gautrain hotel just opposite the Gautrain station, you just need to cross the street from the station entrance. Because of load shedding (regular power cuts) the traffic lights often don’t work, but the cars approach the intersection with caution, so crossing the street as a pedestrian isn’t an attack on your life!

I checked in and asked for an early check-in. I had requested one online and via e-mail but had never received an answer. They said they would get me an early check-in as soon as possible. I checked in at 8:15 AM and had my room two hours later at 10:15 AM, without any extra cost. They tried to accommodate me with a free drink in the lobby in the mean time. I was happy to lie down and catch up on some sleep I had lacked during the night flight. 

In the afternoon I decided to go to Sandton city to stretch my legs and get a lunch. The hotel offers a free shuttle bus between 8 and 11 AM and between 4 an 8 PM. Since no shuttle bus ran when I wanted to go, I just walked the 500 metres from the hotel to the mall, which is perfectly safe! 

Online, they often scare you out off walking the streets of Johannesburg, but I did not feel insecure at all walking the streets during daylight hours as a single female. On Mandela square in front of the mall a huge statue of Nelson Mandela is erected that attracts many for a picture. 

I settled for the restaurant Tasha who also offered vegetarian dishes. I was very happy with my Halloumi salad and elderflower fizz. After lunch I walked around in the mall, which seemed to go on forever, and walked into Checkers, a local supermarket chain to buy some biscuits for the next day and got some cash from the ATM machines in the mall. 

I took dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, also a vegetarian dish which was OK, but nothing more than that.

I had a good nights’ sleep, and enjoyed the ample breakfast buffet the next morning. A pity they had no tea, only coffee. 

I checked out by 10:30 AM and reached the airport with the Gautrain by 11 AM. My husbands flight out of Lusaka arrived on time, but he had to queue a while at the passport control. We arrived at the Thrifty car rental counter by 12:15 AM where they contacted Britz / Maui office. Only 10 min. later the driver came to pick us up and transferred us the their offices a 10 min. drive away from the airport. Here we picked up our SUV 4 wheel drive. The handover of the car went smoothly and professionally. We also received the necessary documentation to cross borders with Eswatini during our trip. We had booked the car with a Super Cover insurance that would give us peace of mind. We filmed and photographed our car from the different angles. Britz/Maui specialises in 4 wheel drive cars, safari cars with tent tops, caravans and mobile homes. 

At around 1:30 we were on our way in the direction of the Kruger park. We arrived at the Mhlati Guest cottages in Malelane, just outside Malelane gate at 6:30 PM where Jeremy, the owner was waiting for us. He showed us to our room, one of the bungalows set around the garden with a pool. He told us where we could get dinner, and after putting our luggage in the room, we drove up to Hamiltons restaurant, part of the Hamilton lodge, a bit further up the road towards the Kruger Malelane gate. We chose a phyllo package with chicken and a salad which was really good and filled us up. We were quite hungry since we had skipped lunch. 

The next morning Maryam prepared our breakfast with a choice of eggs, toasted bread, fresh fruit and juice, yoghurt, cereal… We paid our stay by credit card and set out towards Kruger national park for our first safari day in the park. We started our safari around 9 AM which was rather late, since the sun was up high already and animals were scarce. We first filled up our car at the Berg and Dal petrol station. The card machine did not work and we didn’t have enough cash, but in the shop they gave us 600 rand from our credit card via cashback, there is no ATM machine in Berg and Dal. 

On our first day we took the S 110 gravel road away from Berg en Dal rest camp, continued on the S 120 Steilberg loop, after which we took the tarred road towards Afsaal where we used the restroom, bought some cookies and drinks and continued in the direction of Skukuza camp. When arriving at Skukuza it was already after 1 PM, so we decided to live on the cookies we had bought and return slowly via the gravel road S 114 towards the Berg and Dal rest camp. One of the cars pointed us towards some lions and rhino’s on the S 118 near the river there. With some help of others we managed to see the young male lion sleeping in the sand next to the river. On our first day we spotted a turtle, giraffe, Burchells zebra, elephant, impala, nyala, one young lion, bushbuck, steenbok, waterbuck, black winged stilt, hamerkop, yellow billed hornbill, ground hornbill, starlings, lilac-breasted roller, fish eagle, black stork, bee-eaters, tree squirrel and some warthog.

From the S 118 we returned via the tarred road towards Berg and Dal camp in time to check in. We paid the park entrance for two days and received the key to our hut at the perimeter. We bought breakfast for the next two days at the camp shop. Each hut has its own parking spot, a terrace and a brick barbecue. The huts are really well furnished, three beds with bedding and towels, a bathroom with toilet and shower and a fully equipped kitchen with an already cold fridge, a magnetron, a water cooker and two cooking plates. Even the aircon was already on. When the electricity goes down due to load shedding, the generator is turned on. 

The second day we started in the same direction, the S110, but this time we continued first towards the water hole. Then back to the S 110 and the S 114, with a diversion off S 118, and further the way up to Skukuza, with a diversion towards the airport of Skukuza. Because all the roads towards Lower Sabie and Crocodile Camp were closed after the heavy rains a few months earlier, we returned by the same gravel S 114, the S 110, past the water hole and back to Berg and Dal. The second day we were rewarded with kudu, black rhino, a rare secretary bird, bateleur eagle, marabou stork, a lion couple and two lionesses and two cubs next to a giraffe carcass. At the end of the day we got the cherry on our cake: a cape or scrub hare and a spotted hyena in all its glory and all to ourselves! This time we had lunch at the Cattle Baron in Skukuza camp. The restaurant has a pleasant terrace overlooking the water and the bridge where an old train refurbished with beautiful hotel rooms has come to a permanent standstill.

Both evenings we took dinner at the Tindlovu restaurant of the Berg and Dal camp. A decent restaurant with several vegetarian choices.

(Load shedding: daily periods of power cuts caused by a failing electricity network due to insufficient investments in the power grid over the past years.) 

Link to South Africa Part 2: Saint Lucia

Link to South Africa Part 3: Drakenberg