Submitted by SafariADV on Tue, 2018-11-20
This morning we left Shakaland in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal; after visiting the Zulus cultural village, we checked out and we left by our Dr. Livingstone.
The road to Johannesburg is rather long and sometimes monotonous, crossing endless meadows of livestock breeding, small towns with a traffic worthy of the Milan fashion week and fields cultivated with sugar cane.
The R34 runs quite fast, the bottom is good and the donkey-drawn carts and the herds that clutter the road are almost completely absent.
To read the names of the places, rather than in Africa, we seem to be in Holland, and moving then quickly to England or Germany, in fact we find small towns with names like Vryheid, Newcastle and Kroonstad.
The economy of the city of Vryburg is fundamentally based on agriculture, the landscape is dominated by expanses of cultivated fields and the bucolic atmosphere is particularly relaxing, far too much when you are driving.
Newcastle, that was initially called Post Halt Number 2, because it served as a point of exchange for horses on the road that connected the coast to the interior, was renamed later with the current name, guess by whom.
The city of Newcastle has a more industrial soul and is today the third largest city in the KwaZulu-Natal province.
Along the way we stop a couple of times to refuel and stretch our legs a little.
The gas stations are a reference point for those who transit on South African roads, and, around them, a small town has arisen; in the supermarket there is everything to prepare a braai and the fridges for drinks are always well stocked.
In these South African parking areas you can find everything and you also have the opportunity to chat with the people who work there, who are usually very curious about tourists, they like to be informed about the country of origin, and especially the boys , they start talking about football, European teams and players.
We take about five and a half hours to complete the entire stretch of road from Shakaland to Johannesburg; as we approach the South African metropolis, roads have more lanes and traffic becomes more intense.
We arrive at Jozi that the sun is setting, we are quite tired but we have to prepare all the luggage to leave and park Dr. Livingstone.
Moment of sadness: we have to unload our car and leave it to the guy of the long-term parking lot who picks it up at 6.00 pm at our hotel.
He is as punctual as a Swiss and with a veil of sadness we give him the keys of Dr. Livingstone, we see it leaving as dirty as ever and we smile at the thought that at least tomorrow it will return to its original color.
Disconsolate like Rossella O'Hara we return to the hotel, now we just have to plan the next trip :)
