It was already a long time on our bucket list to visit South-Africa, Mozambique and Lesotho. Thanks to a careful planning with the help from Ivory4x4 and thanks to the tough and fully equipped car we traveled from bush (Kruger NP) to tropical coast (Vilanculos, Mozambique) to mountains (Lesotho).
We traveled via the Panormara route with its magnificent mountains to Kruger NP. Here we spotted on our first day already the big 5! We traveled through Kruger from south to north. From there we entered Mozambique via the northern Pafuri-border to Mozambique. Here we really made full use of the capabilities of the vehicle when we crossed the Limpopo-river (luckily the water level was low) and drove through the inland of Mozambique. After a 2 day trip over small sandy roads (and a flat tire) we arrived at the Indian Ocean at Vilanculos. After sleeping in our roof top tent we were now ready for some luxury and booked a luxurious resort. From our resort we made a visit to the Bazaruto-archipelco, where we saw beautiful beaches, reefs and sea life.
Amazing Sights from Peter and Kristel on their latest adventure
After a few days it was time to travel along the Mozambican coastline southwards to Inhambanhe and Tofo-beach. Because it was low-season we were the only guest in a really beautiful long stretch of beach. Our camping spot was surrounded by sea and was only reachable by low tides, really amazing! Here we ate plenty of fresh fish and had some nice swims and enjoyed beautiful sun downs. In Tofo we made again a visit to the sea and actually did swim with a whale shark. What a trip, after 10 days we already experienced so many highlights, wow!
From Inhambanhe we went back to South Africa and visited Maputo on our way. After crossing the border we entered the Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park where we made some beautiful safari-drives through the beautiful landscape. We encountered many rhinos close to the car. Before heading to the Drakensberg mountains we took a last view to the ocean at St-Lucia. Here we saw hippos, which completed our full list of wild animal’s sightings.
More amazing sights from Peter & Kristel’s last trip
The next day we drove to the southern part of the Drakensberg Mountains were we did some nice hikes. After that we drove the Sani mountain pass to enter Lesotho. For us from the Netherlands (no mountains at all, only tar roads) this was a thrilling experience. What a beautiful pass, what a landscape and what an adventure to conquer it with our powerful car! We drove through Lesotho to enter the Golden Gates NP and Royal Natal NP back in South Africa. We made some nice hikes in this area where our car brought us to the most remote places, and again we were lucky enough to spot some nice animals like a group of vultures which had a fight with coyotes around a corpse of a cow! Must say that the monkey who took a visit in a non-guarded-moment to the back of our car wasn’t one of our favourite animals:)
Amazing underwater sightings & Whaleshark
After we visited the spectacular nature we drove back to Johannesburg. Back in Johannesburg, Ivory picked up our car at our hotel, so we did not have to take a taxi or something. Time to fly to Capetown and say bye bye to our car and get used to our small family car which we rented there. It goes without saying that we prefer the Hillux form Ivory4x4…..