We Drove Across South Africa

We're driving this 40-year-old Hilux we bought a few weeks ago over 5,000 kilometers through the backcountry of South Africa. We've got no AC, original suspension, and we're about to break down. So far we've done over 2,000 kilometers from Johannesburg, heading up Sani Pass and across Lesotho. Now we're tackling the last 20 water crossings through Babyanskloof Nature Reserve before we head back towards the coast. One of our favorite things about South Africa is how fast and how often the scenery and topography seem to change. In half a day we'd find ourselves driving through arid plains to rocky gullies before eventually ending up in the green forested mountains near the boundary of Garden Route National Park. After having some breakfast it was time to head towards the famous Garden Route National Park. We didn't know it yet but we had a long day ahead of us. We had roughly an hour-long drive on the rough dusty mountain roads to the next town. I guess if you spend enough time recording you're bound to eventually catch one of your breakdowns on video because this was the exact moment Hilux died on us. It's totally dry so I don't know we have no fuel going to the carburetors long story short. 99% sure it's there's no um there's no fuel going to the carb because this fuel line is pretty dry but honestly I don't know. So I'm gonna just pour some of this gasoline in there you're gonna hold here hold on and then I'm gonna see if if it starts at least with so yeah it's just there's no fuel so we'll just have to gravity feed the motor until the next uh how does that work if someone is in the here no we're gonna walk next to it or something no we're gonna you need to figure out a way to run a fuel line down the car from the roof or something and strap the jerry to it I do actually believe this will work we're gonna tape this bottle to the windshield I'm just gonna grab some glass cleaner and then the jerry can was just too heavy to put on the windshield for these rough roads and the only other thing we had was an empty Gatorade bottle. All right viewers that's the last shot from the outside maybe until we refuel because we gotta go let's go manual fuel pump I think we did one qualm. Gravity feeding the carburetor was fine except on the uphill segments where Nikki would have to lean out and squeeze the bottle to provide some extra fuel pressure we were having to refill the bottle every few kilometers but soon we got into a groove with it this is number five I think. Engine's off, got the keys right here I think we made it halfway now though just coasting to a stop. Finally we hit paved roads and we were able to get a few more kilometers out of each bottle. We rolled into the town of Plattenburg Bay after refilling a total of 26 times and left the Hilux with the hazards on at a bus stop while we went to the parts store to get a new fuel pump. Once the Hilux was back up and running we made a short backtrack along the beautiful coast to Nature's Valley. Like Baviaanskloof, Garden Route National Park sits within the Cape Floral region of South Africa, hence its name. After driving through beautiful forests we decided to stay in the official campground since it was within walking distance to the beach. In the Landerkloof trail up through the forest to a viewpoint. The Cape Floral region makes up less than 0.5% of Africa yet it's home to 20% of the continent's flora. The first half of the trail went through the shaded forest which was nice because since we were going to a lookout the hike was almost all uphill but the final section would be extremely steep and exposed to the sun. I have sweat dripping off my face. The last 10 minutes they make you climb like three times the time of the rest of the hike. Well said. Finally we found ourselves overlooking the small village of Nature's Valley and the lagoon that forms where the Groot River meets the ocean. Now we just had to do the whole hike in reverse. Back on our way towards Cape Town we decided to take the seven passes road between Nysna and George which used to be the only route between the two towns when it was completed in 1883. What's nice about camping in an old cut site is perfect leveling blocks. Oh I'm spinning that one time. Camping in the woods in an old cut site made me feel a bit like I was back in Canada. So we spent all morning in the rain. Now our windows are fogged up so we got to turn on the defog mode. Of course that doesn't really work but you want to hear it? After spending the day enjoying the beautiful scenery around us we made our way back to the main coastal highway for yet another long day of driving hoping to find a beach to camp at. On the way we passed by some massive ostrich farms. South Africa has about 350,000 commercially farmed ostriches and makes up about 60 percent of the world's export of ostrich products. As we made our way further south we started making our way past the Cape Fold Mountains characteristic of South Africa's Southern Cape. And eventually we found the beach we were looking for. It smells like beef. It looks like beef. It must be beef. There's plastic on this but I'm just gonna use salt and pepper on these first two so we can taste that ostrich. I think I'm more of a chicken type. Neither of us really enjoyed the ostrich though I couldn't tell you exactly why. After airing up we made our way back to the road to finally head towards the big city, Cape Town. But before driving all the way there we would have to make a quick detour to visit Cape Agalos, the southernmost tip of the African continent and the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Yep, finally made it after driving here from the northernmost tip of Johannesburg. Oh, sunny pass. From there to here. These jagged rocks along the coastline are part of the Table Mountain group, composed of Table Mountain sandstone. This is all part of the same Cape Fold belt formed when the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart roughly 600 million years ago. We had just one last stop to make. Eager to see some penguins we stopped at the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary in Gondzwa. Here you can enjoy some delicious cake and coffee and buy some penguin merch and all the proceeds go to conservation efforts. Every penguin counts. Go uh sponsor some penguins they're critically endangered. Endangered. Endangered. We eventually made our way into the city itself. Here we finally met Rian and Tunis, the guys behind Rusty 4x4 Offroad Recovery Gear, who helped us out through various parts of the trip and hooked us up with one of their recovery gear kits. This is called Ecolite. Now Ecolite is a environmental friendly firelighter. It doesn't have any toxic components or it doesn't have any paraffin. A lot of eco-firelighters got either paraffin-based wax or recycled oils and stuff where this is really clean. It doesn't stink, it doesn't, well you can eat it if you want to, but it just tastes great. We made our way to a campground outside of the city limits where we'd stay the next few days while we explored around Cape Town and got some errands done. In the morning we headed south across the city to once again see some penguins, though this time in the wild at Boulders Beach. These little guys weighing between five and eight pounds are the only penguins found in Africa, and while they can't fly they can dive to depths of over 400 feet. From here we headed to a tourist hotspot near central Cape Town, the V&A waterfront. Usually we tend to avoid cities but after being in the backcountry for weeks Cape Town was a nice change. We got to enjoy a nice craft beer on the terrace with views on Tabletop Mountain. After walking around some more we hopped back in the truck and headed north to meet Rian, Tunis, and their families for dinner. We had a great time enjoying the pizza and meeting everyone and it was nice to get to work with a genuinely local brand. The guys from Rusty 4x4 don't just sell recovery gear, they also go out and actively test everything they make, and they run recovery courses in the dunes to show people how to safely and effectively use their gear. And the next day that's exactly where we went, to the Atlantis Dunes. Though not to join the recovery course with the guys, instead we would spend the day with Sean, Martin, and the Offroad Adventures group, pushing the old Hilux on a bunch of obstacles and seeing what it was capable of. Once we made it into the dunes we met up with the group. Sean walked everyone through the plan for the day and a safety talk and then we were off. For me this was the first time in my life off-roading with any sort of a group and it was honestly a lot of fun. There was a real variety of vehicles and people with little to no experience all the way up to guys who have been driving the dunes every week for decades. Every single clip you see of the Hilux is me driving with my foot buried to the floor, smashing through gears without mercy. But the stock 4Y in perfect shape makes about 97 horsepower on a good day and pair that with steel bumpers, 31 inch tires, and a drawer system in the back and you get a less than optimal machine for the dunes. But after speaking to some higher wisdom we went down from about 12 psi to 8 psi and with some serious abuse I was able to get it up over the first obstacle. We had an absolute blast in the dunes and the truck was fortunately more or less in one piece at the end of it all. We wanted to make one last stop before leaving the Cape Town area and made our way to one of the many wineries this region is famous for. We started our long drive north towards Namibia late in the day and after striking out on a bunch of potential camp stars we made our way back to the road to leave civilization behind. From here there would be less of everything. Less cars, less people, less pavement. But not before we pass through one last winery and town to resupply. After pretending to be wine connoisseurs we made our way towards the long stretch of sandy trails along the west coast of the northern cape. We were full on food, water and fuel. There would be no towns and no resupplying for the next few days. We stopped at one of the many spots along the coast, choosing whichever place spoke to us the most. The guys from Rusty 4x4 had given us a few bags of wood and a whole box of Ecolite buying our solar stuff I'm installing it finally. What a place to do it. Yeah I was waiting for the found ourselves nearing the Makwa National Park. We passed a small automated lighthouse that marks the entrance of the Green River and from here we would be turning inland. But not before taking a down a long sandy beach. Damn it's like melted ice cubes. The water here really was ice cold. The southwestern coast of southern Africa has ice cold waters that are brought up from Antarctica by the Benguela current. Making our way further north we took a series of backcountry routes that we got from Sean back in Cape Town. Some of the land here is private and has fences that run hundreds of kilometers to keep livestock separate. To pass through these lands you simply have to open and close dozens of gates along the road as you make your way. Yet despite the occasional farm we still didn't see anybody. The rough trails eventually sheared off a bolt holding on our shock absorber. With the suspension being as old as the truck I can't say I noticed a difference in the way it drove. We used some lock wire to tie it up out of the way until we could find a more permanent solution. Somehow despite the remoteness of the region we didn't find the spot we were happy with and having already driven more than nine hours that day with the sun beginning to set we decided we would just push on and go to a spot we had marked on our GPS before we had ever even arrived in Africa. The spot we were going to was a special one and worth the drive and after 12 hours of driving that day we found ourselves pulling into an actual cave. This was without a doubt one of most unique spots we've ever camped in. It turns out camping in a cave is pretty awesome. We had shade and shelter despite being in a pretty barren desert and we liked it so much we decided to stay to keep going. Since we had driven into this spot in total darkness we hadn't yet seen the surrounding area which is characterized as a mountain desert. This would be our last day in South Africa before crossing into Namibia. While at a glance this area appears to be a barren wasteland it's anything but. The area here is home to nearly 5,000 different types of plants. 40% are endemic and most are various species of succulent and aloe plants. After airing up we drove the last stretch of dirt road to Namibia crossing the border at Alexander Bay where the Orange River separates the two countries. From here we would spend over a month traveling through Namibia heading all the way up to the Angolan border before turning back. We'd like to thank everyone who made our time in South Africa so enjoyable and thank you for watching.