Travel

A recent road trip to Zambia, to assist my friends in transporting the zooarchaeology artefacts of their son’s girlfriend (a PhD candidate) from the Livingstone Museum to South Africa for further scientific analyses, gave Lorraine and I the opportunity to see something of the countries to our north.

Our route to Livingstone and back to Johannesburg

On our first night we stayed over at Big Fig Oasis Camp, a few kilometres before Grobler Bridge and the Martin’s Drift Border Post to Botswana. While the other couple and we were comfortably ensconced in airconditioned chalets, their son (Christian), braved the tent atop the camping trailer. He certainly drew the short straw as he also had to prove his excellent braaiing talents on several occasions.

Like all overland trips, ours had some moments of vexation. Firstly, my friend’s SUV suffered a break down near Modimolle, causing delay, while Christian’s Pajero was brought up from Johannesburg as replacement vehicle. The following morning at the Martin’s Drift Border Post, a burst water pipe water caused a temporary closure of said post. Hobson’s choice: wait for the water to be restored or detour to the Stockpoort Border Post (‘Parr’s Halt’ in Botswana) some 80 kilometres to the south-west. Unsure of the duration of the...

Once again, I travel with the late Denis James Strever and his friends and family back in time, to a trip they made to South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1977. This is the third article I’ve written using Denis Strever’s colour photographic slides to travel with him (click here to see photographs of the Kruger Park that haven't been seen for half a century and here for old photos of the Royal Natal National Park Hotel). Many of the colour slides (Agfacolor) have changed colour towards purple and magenta because of their age (50 years) and I’ve adjusted some of the photographs to sepia to enhance their appearance. Some of the interesting aspects of these photographs, kept in cardboard boxes in a spare room for fifty years, include the cars, the 1970s clothing, the many picnics in the shade of skimpy trees, as well as the scenic places visited.

Border sign (Denis Strever)

A very long journey in ordinary street vehicles

What has struck me the most is that this was a very ambitious trip. The four ordinary sedan cars left Durban and probably travelled via Bloemfontein and Kimberly to Upington and onto Augrabies Falls National Park (see maps below). Then, across the border into South West Africa (Namibia) at Sendelingsdrift and the drive to the Fish River Canyon view point and the Ai Ais...