Keep Left

I was really curious to know how different South Africa was going to be when we arrived. Flying into the city late at night wasn’t much different than flying into any other city; a spider web of orange lights in patches of blackness that lead into the epicenter. We had one goal and one main warning for our arrival in Johannesburg: get to hotel, don’t get carjacked. Apparently Johannesburg, know by the locals as Jo’burg, is now the world’s leading place for carjacking. We were given some tips on how to avoid such an event and made it to our hotel safely. When I say safely, I am not just talking about carjacking, but also it being our very first time driving on the left side of the road. It had been our first time driving in a while period. Right turns are like left turns and you are looking for coming traffic in a different direction. It was nerve-racking to be doing this for the first time in the dark after a 10-hour flight.
The next morning we got up early and headed out on our drive to Krugar National Park. The gate entrance to the park, Crocodile Bridge Gate, we will be using to access our restcamp is close to the Mozambique border - so we have a 5-6 hour drive and one thing we know is that the sun sets 5 hours earlier than it does in Europe (being here in the Southern Hemisphere) so no dilly-dallying. We made it to the park and to our rest camp around 4pm. The drive was unremarkable and the scenery had a very familiar feel to it. Aside from the uncomfortable feeling we had from the left-sided driving, not any Rands for the tolls, and the “CAR JACKING HOT SPOT!” signs posted along the way, the drive was quite enjoyable. Welcome to Africa.

Days Traveled: 38
Distance Traveled: 29,207km/18,254mi
Countries Visited: 14