A Hilux, of course!

This will be our transport and home during the Serengeti Trip 2011!

"What will you be driving with?" I hear you ask. A Hilux, of course!  I wouldn't want to take on such a long journey through Africa in anything other than a Toyota Hilux. They are vertually indistructable and if you drive sensably it will seldom let you down.

We will be using my 2.7l petrol double cab 4x4. By the time we depart it will probably have about 190 000km on the clock, which is not much for a Hilux! But before we leave, our baby will undergo some dramatic changes, all of which we will post on this blog.

Firstly she is getting a customized drawer system in the back. This will make it much easier to pack and store things in the canopy. Secondly she will be getting a customized aluminium canopy with side doors, making it even simpler to pack and unpack the back! Thirdly she will get a roof rack in front, which will hold one spare wheel, two jerry cans and two gas bottles. Lastly we will add a pullout type awning on the side to provide shade and cover from the rain. This will be especially valuable since we are travelling in summer - the hottest, wettest time of the year!

Our Toyota Hilux before the face-lift.

Keep following our progress with the Hilux's face lift on the Serengeti Trip 2011 blog! We will post photos after every new piece of body and equiment is added!

Getting the most out of Zimbabwe

Originally our plan was to visit only Mana Pools and Matopos in Zimbabwe, but after spending a morning with Ds. Deon van Dyk of NG Skuilkrans in Pretoria our plans have changed slightly...


Deon lived in Zimbabwe for 25 years and it's not difficult to see that he has a passion for the country, its parks and its people. He offered to give us some advice on different roads, reserves and camps, and on top of that he has some great contacts for in case we break down or hit other obstacles along the way.

JI and Deon studies a map of Zimbabwe - so many stunning places, so few days!!

According to Deon, Mana Pools and Matopos are MUST VISIT-destinations! His suggestion is that we cut out the three nights in Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia and rather use them to visit some of Zimbabwe's other wilder reserves, such as Chizarira and Gonarezhou. This makes a lot of sense, since you can get very similar (and in all likelihood, better) experience to Lower Zambezi in Mana Pools. Deon also convinced us to spend at least one night in or near Kariba town. This makes a lot of sense, since we can buy fresh food here and go past the Zimbabwe National Parks office as well.

After an exciting morning of looking at maps and listening to stories we have decided to cut two days from the 10-day Malawi stage, along with one night at Mapungubwe, and add them together with the three from Lower Zambezi to give us at least six extra days in Zimbabwe! If we enjoy Mana Pools as much as Deon says we will, we might just stay right there on the bank of the Zambezi catching tiger fish! Otherwise we might cut through to Chizarira and then drive down to Matopos via Hwange. We will probably end in Gonarezhou.

Mana Pools in Zimbabwe - a place Deon van Dyk loves and knows very well.

Either way, the information was invaluable and it's a great prospect to visit a few more of Africa's wildest game reserves...! Thank you Deon for your time and wisdom.

Planning and more planning

If you're wondering how we decided on the itinerary, well...it takes a lot of reading, asking and guessing. I spent weeks reading up on the different parks in each country, mostly in travel guides and on internet forums, but also in old magazines. The budget obviously plays a big role in how far you can drive, where you can stay, and how long you can visit. At the end of the day, it was decided to do the trip in very early in the year in order to see the wildebeest hordes in the southern plains of the Serengeti, rather than at the Mara river-crossing. This time of the year is also lush and green, which is great for photography.

Today we had a very good look at the itinerary and decided to add an additional 10 days to the trip! It was felt that 60 days was just too short to cover the 14000-odd kilometers we plan to drive during the trip. The departure date will now be 20 January 2011 and we will still arrive back in Pretoria on the 31st of March 2011.

We added a night in South Africa on the way to the Botswana border (Lephalale) and two more in the vicinity of the magical Magadigadi Pans. An extra day was added between Lusaka and North Luangwa due to our concerns with road quality. An extra day was also added between North Luangwa and Dar es Salaam for the same reason.

Two extra days were added between Selous and Arusha, along with an extra day in the vicinity of Arusha to allow us to see Mt. Kilimanjaro!

Finally we added one extra day between South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi, along with two more days down the shore of Lake Malawi, limiting the rush... Only one day was removed (at Mana Pools).

Designing the Blog

The Serengeti Trip 2011 Blog is being designed and expanded as you read this post... The foundations will be completed soon and then the fun part starts - posting entries about our planning, packing and of course, the actual journey! Watch this space!!