A father a son and South Africa's borderland

Few things are better for a father-and-son relationship than a trip all around South Africa, says Kobus Boshoff from Modimolle.

- Kobus Boshoff

Eighty-year-old Kobus Boshoff and his son Jakkie (50) recently decided the time was right for an extensive tour using Kobus's Land Rover Discovery 4 and Jakkie's Jurgens Explorer off-road caravan.

Eventually, they decided to travel all around South Africa, staying as close as possible to the country's border at all times.

They set off from their hometown of Modimolle to see what they could accomplish and 24 days (and thousands of dusty-road kilometres) later, they were back home with plenty of stories to share.

Kobus recounts...

The two of us set off from Modimolle in September 2023, turned right and headed through the beautiful Bushveld towards Lephalale. With our towing combination, we could take dirt roads, so we travelled along the Limpopo River past Swartwater, Du Plessis and Zanzibar, reaching the Platjan border post between South Africa and Botswana.

However, our plan wasn't to visit our neighbouring country. So, we carried on, following dirt roads through Alldays and past many game farms until we finally arrived at Tshipise with its hot spring, where we spent our first night. The first day was behind us, and we felt a sense of relief that we were on the road, with a palpable excitement for what lay ahead.

The next day, we travelled to the Kruger National Park, entering through the Pafuri Gate. We drove to Shingwedzi, our home for the night.

The following morning, we hit the road again, leaving Kruger through Crocodile Bridge now, we pointed the Land Rover towards the Hlane Royal National Park, our destination for the night. Here, we listened to lions roaring around the camp all night long. The next morning, we saw rhinos right next to where we had slept.