As if skydiving fulltime isnt enough to get the adrenaline flowing— it was time for Charles and Ralph to take a road trip. It wasn’t to be any thing special just a quick trip to Mozambique involving scuba diving eating fresh crayfish and drinking lots of beer.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG

We elected to take the VW Touareg it was Charles pride and joy and a four  wheel drive with a lot more than your average comfort level. After many exciting days encompassing all a road trip could throw at us it was time to head home.

Thinking about the how to do things away from the norm we chose to go back to jo-burg via Crooks Corner. Arming our selves with maps and our trusty GARMIN we headed to the northeast corner of South Africa where our great country joins with Mozambique and Zimbabwe. We expected a day trip with a night in the Kruger getting home well in time for the weekend and those twenty odd jumps that await me. Leaving Nelsons Bay the roads went from bad to worse indeed the roads disappeared. Running out of daylight and progressing very slowly we choose to overnight in the bush falling just short of our target and less than 100ks from the border.

Sunrise the next day and we were on our way, getting to the Limpopo in less than an hour. Then the realization hit

NO BRIDGE AND NO WAY ACROSS WE FACED THE MIGHTY LIMPOPO

Where to from here as  I hate going backwards its not in my make up…but wait, there’s a man waving so surely there will be a ferry or pontoon so we load up the car and over we go, but why is he coming over in a canoe?

Once over our side the river guide points to the oxen, they are on their way over disappearing under the water in frequent bursts. Our hearts sank as we realized the only way to cross was to be towed by the oxen. I didn’t realize that oxen legs could transform into fins so easily. Hooking up the oxen took five minutes and five hundred rand, your backs against the wall so it was no surprise when we were asked to pay in advance.

Charles entered the water with eyes as wide as saucers and just as I thought they couldn’t get any bigger when the onboard computer decided it would be a good time to drop the suspension, coupled with a oxen getting a tow chain around its leg the stress levels moved to maximum. I could only let out a mild cheer as I watched everything from the comfort of my canoe and the relief was visible as our vehicle in what seemed a lifetime finally went up the bank on the opposite side.

Our trusty vehicle stayed airtight and after many high fives it was time to hit the border and with only 60ks to go that first beer was looking mighty close.
Six hours later and wishing the oxen were still by our sides, we finally saw the unusually welcome sight of the border post, and after some strange looks I asked “ how many people travel this road ” The straight reply from the over worked official came swiftly “ you are only the second vehicle we have seen in the last month, no one travels this road during the rainy season”.

Arriving in Crooks Corner, having a five star lunch as well as viewing most of the big five in the first 30ks made me realize how lucky we are to be proudly South African.