A road less travelled
Why would you take the soul-destroying N1 and N10 highways from Gauteng to the Addo National Elephant Park when there’s a far lovelier back road? Go on, set aside at least four days for this route and pre-programme the coordinates we provide on your GPS (without them, you could easily get lost).
In return for your efforts, you will be rewarded by the opportunity to camp in a gorge, explore a forest, drive a 4x4 trail up a mountain and at the end of your journey you will witness scenes of elephant, zebra, buffalo and warthogs grazing on a vast African plain.
It is possible to tow an off-road trailer on this route, but because many of the gravel road passes along this route have hairpin bends, we strongly advise against bringing a large off-road caravan here. And unfortunately, a regular road caravan just doesn’t belong here at all.
So pack your duffel bag, fill your rig up with fuel and head south to where elephants roam.
AVOID SANRAL’S HIGHWAYS by taking the back roads from Gauteng to Deneysville at the top of the Riemland. From here you follow the R57 through Heilbron to Petrus Steyn.
The Riemland got its name when large herds of game were hunted here in the 19th century and the tanned hides were cut into leather strips (riem in Afrikaans). Heilbron may seem insignificant,
