Driving Destination - Durban to Johannesburg | Feature | Autocar India

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there is only one way to see the world and it's true your windscreen road trips give you just so much more and with the holiday season upon us we decided to hit the road to [Music] I'm just checking our itinerary which looks really really interesting while beginning in Durban following in the footsteps of the great Mahatma Gandhi who came here in 1893 and spent 21 years here this is where he actually became Mahatma Gandhi fighting for the rights of Indians well ours is more about a road trip and we're going to get going on this incredible journey and take you along with us [Music] Durban is the largest between the kwazulu-natal province and it's a hustling bustling place the Golden Mile a popular beachfront promenade was bristling with activity and local selling their colorful ways to Shaka which is the more upmarket end of the promenade at an entire shopping area and some weird wildlife attractions for those who like to be grossed out more interesting though is the old shipwreck that's been brought ashore to become a restaurant and further down is a boardwalk which provides a spectacular view of the city and the Moses Mabhida Stadium a very popular football and cricketing grounds leaving you shaka we headed down Mahatma Gandhi Road and I felt a sense of pride and seeing that name atop a street sign in a foreign land setting the traffic out happy to be back in the become silcoon dawn of RC club with the temperatures soaring outside turbine can get really hot and traffic quite chaotic thankfully the free club was cutting easy through the heavily congested sections of road getting us in and out of narrow traffic gaps to the crowded spice market the spice market fest like any Indian bazaar area with so many Indians around it purely felt like home Durban is home to the largest Indian diet for us and it's also the most culturally diverse city in the rainbow nation another solution I'm talking our huh back in a cool car we cruise down to the Moses Mabhida Stadium thank God we three down because what came next tested my fitness levels to the utmost get me sweating in panic I was already feeling very easy getting kitted up and also signing the waiver I was even more climbing to 352 step though the view was fabulous my head was spinning and I was wondering what have I got myself into did I rush into the big rush standing on that platform - really clinging on for dear life my knees were feeling weak and then I took that leap of faith - visuals just don't do justice to the feeling of plunging down towards the earth hurtling towards the grass and just freefall equivalent rush like I've never done before never ever I'm followin play with quick realization hit home as I done the big rush highest bungee swing in the world bucket list picked for sure [Music] well day one in South Africa has been absolutely exhilarating and not because we jumped off one of the tallest well Guinness Book record-setting swings in the world but because it's I think one day and we've got to experience so many sights sounds smells flavors and we wiped it all off and ended the day with this fabulous seafood meal finger-licking good the next day we packed our mountains of luggage and equipment into the Seas boot set off the Winterton we hit the highway and I was immediately amazed with the quality of room now whilst the c-class was nice and compact in the city yesterday whilst we were nipping in and out of those crowded streets play out on the highway a good companion as well food is really easy comfortable just keeping me cool though it's really hot outside everything just happens effortlessly and that's the beauty about it you just arrived from destination to destination killing all calm composed don't feel like you've done a long journey the pee road we took later was beautiful soon enough Alisha first stop theater mattersburg this sleepy little station was at one point the center of activity and a place that is conjoined with our history I can see there's a plaque here which was actually inaugurated by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 9th of July 2016 so this is very recent this display let's go inside the room and take a look as you can see it's a quiet little station now not much activity over here this spot because it says in the vicinity of this flock Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was evicted from a first-class compartment on the night of 7th June 1893 now this was just a couple of days after he arrived in Durban and he was going to fight a court case so he was sent off to Pretoria and you know they've bought a first-class ticket for him but unfortunately he wasn't allowed to travel and this is the incident that really changed the course of his life he took up the fight against racial oppression and we've seen the results of that big piece of our history here with the morning progressing fast he urged munch got stronger and knocked on the local goodies so when in Africa do as the Africans do what I'm snacking on today but I'm feeling a little peckish now it's been a long drive since the morning is it it looks kind of awful but it feels really nice it's dried meat and it's really flavorful step out on the highway the c-class was keeping pace nice well today driving to the Drakensberg mountains we have a lovely dates and nice sunny day blue skies and you know the highway very often has you know points where you can see the road stretch out endlessly in front of you and you get this nice 180 degrees panoramic view around and it's quite beautiful and the 180 kilometres from pietermaritzburg coincidence noubar winter turn is nestled in the mountain of dragons or drakensberg mountains where our second adventure awaited ah [Music] well it seems to be an adventure a day here in South Africa is just our second day and already another adventure the adventure for today well I'm going to be like Jace and swing from tree to tree across rivers jungle everything but as you can see I'm much better catered out than she ever was in the quest for carbon we were swinging from one tree to another high off the ground in the thick of a jungle strong mountainside to mountainside ziplining / gorgeous requires certain amount of skill and paying attention to the instructors whole as our cameraman needed to learn you do need to master the art of ABS and OBS no we're not talking about the conventional terms we know but zip lining terminology abs is adventure braking system where the guide slows us down and OVA if your own braking system which means using your own hands to slow down it's all about technique and once you get the hang of it it is a joy ride on the Mini Cooper I felt the AC is the end of Richards adventure Prison guys also got up into auto car mode calling the various lines across and means like Mini Cooper for a small but fast one and black Ferrari for the fastest one across the gorge which was my absolute favorite truly feeling like Jane of the jungle now what I've swung across is 65 meters above what is the ground way down there and a hundred and twenty meters across this gorge a full-on adrenaline rush and if you dare to look down and around the views are just stunning [Music] another delightful day ended with a cozy dinner in the Drakensberg front hotel small but beautiful little Lodge however dinner hadn't given us a cute picture of the place and we awoke to stunning news from our room the next morning breakfast in the patio was also a lovely setting well I have a cat to share my breakfast with today and it's going to be hard to leave this place Winterton because it's just so gorgeous so beautiful out here in this hotel the Drakensberg Sun has this fabulous view there's so many activities to do around here as well but we've got a road trip we've got kilometres to cover and we have to keep going today we're headed to Kruger Park 600 kilometers out on the road so it's time to get going driving out of Winterton - hazyview we caught the sunday churchgoers and it gives out on the road just enjoying the weekend now after all the frenetic activity of the last two days where we climb 352 steps to jump off the top of the stadium and then yesterday swinging from treetop to treetop and then climbing halfway up a hill again my legs are just so frazzled so it's nice on these long straight highways to be able to settle in to cruise control and just give my legs a bit of a break so when we were winding our way through the hills which proved to be a critical playground with the recently high speed limit letting up enjoy the road the club did a good job of entertaining me down that section of road using the battleships there was a nice heft to the steering so I quite enjoyed myself and then after that we've gotten out onto these very flat straight sections of road cutting through the sugarcane fields the fuel needle was dipping gently with the seats dipping you but we still stop for a quick refuel in the town of Newcastle and then headed off to his lady space this is the area where the Afrikaners and Lulu's went to walk in what was the Blood River battle there's a long and interesting history worth reading and when you are doing long distances especially for someone like me and the woman going to the loo is not always easy but here even the looser gap stations have been impeccably clean my last time we hit the town of Armero and we did an African version of KFC : and oh also launched the peels and undulating roads continued until we go to NetSuite which is when it turned again into pine trees and pointing section with the Sun setting behind us it made for an even more outstanding Drive very often I can see the road five kilometres ahead so it's easy driving and the speed limit in about 120 kilometers and even on a single lane highway the road is just so well surface long-distance driving in South Africa is really easy we pass through a diverse range of roads today Hills flat grassland back into the hills through plantations through really small cities where you can see the difference between a big city like Durban and the different kinds of people the different kind of culture so it's been nice I mean there's no better way to see the world than driving by Road I think as a propels we arrived in here video and settle in to an early night with a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call for the next day we're in hazyview this morning and as you can see it's still dark outside it's an early morning call today because we are off to see the animals at Kruger National Park kvu is actually the gateway to Kruger National Park and it's about a 20 minute drive to the park from here we're off on a safari through the words of first wildlife sanctuary ever in South Africa was founded in 1926 stretches across and massive 2,000 hectares with a few rules and regulations we couldn't contain our excitement and as soon as the permits were done we set off on a safari we got lucky in the first 10 minutes of the sighting of a female leopard there was much excitement and camera clicking and loud whispers which made the Shire you drive into the bushes so quick we barely got a pin yes we have seen one of the big five it's really difficult to describe and was the trillion beauty of being animals in their natural habitat and it's better to let the visual sequence zebras Impala water buffaloes and warthogs all three interlocking birds came out to down a dusty trail we got lucky enough to see wild out now that may not sound exciting good risk is an endangered species highly elusive so we got really lucky as they trotted alongside stopping every now and then to check us out a little more satisfied we decided to break for breakfast where the yellow-billed hornbills kept up entertained and Tommy's repeat we exited the breakfast area lo and behold 500 meters down the road we saw it the big cat hiding in the bushes finding itself a cool spot in the shade Wow confused face is looking like right at us Wow in a matter of hours we have seen another one of the big fight was still feeling a bit short change within rolling off to sleep so quickly luckily for us guys along the roof told us of another sighting and we headed down a dirt trail again bouncing around in the van for quite a distance when suddenly got a little uphill battement right there just off the road was a lion and his line once again lazily sitting in the tall grass this time we got up in so we had seen before the lion value the horn the landfill by the water and sadly our very own little Lion King episode was coming to an end what could be better I thought that this day what next morning I realized that what a question you asked in South Africa there is always something better around the corner the days I generally had 450 kilometers to cover which meant an early start from hazel and Johan our guide was caught on about the stunning panoramic sea we meander through banana foundation and then pine line rose in the string of cherry tree that stood out from the crowd showing us it thank you this is a rose that you will not only enjoy for the scenery but what it drives you into this life twisty winding back we headed to the furthest viewing point on this route called fear on our form it is named so because in the gorge of the blyde river beside a black top mountain now three large rock formations so we just come on a stunning stunning drive from a view through grass carp and now here to what is one of the viewing points on the panoramic tour this is where the three Ron dollars or what they say is that flat mountaintops which is the Big Chief and the drinks circular ones they go by his three wives well it's absolutely fabulous well we are here on high ground which is called high belt and line the lower you see what is called low fell and the view is absolutely spectacular folklore about the reason this place is so special is that you can spectacular view of the low fence or the low-lying ground surrounding the lake on one side and the gods on the other this point on we headed back down the road after which ran along the gorge and small sounds along the wave paint a pretty picture we came upon a sign that said bottle now we did have some such bottles of illusion I was glad for the earlier warning signs especially to keep an average around under kilometers when asked when they come up suddenly it white because however this was different it was a big green roll sign pointing us to words that well in normal circumstances we would have gone in the opposite direction but in South Africa these are something to be seen the blyde river or the happy river gets really happy at this point rolling around the rocks and dropping down in waterfalls to making some very large holes to the rocks that's the me old bridges run across this area taking you criss crossing over the river and ending up atop the waterfall monkeys line the rocks and fear interestingly at the creatures in their habitat this area is famous for calcium deposits and a great spot for a pig after a while we were headed back driving through high grass and hills and dales where we stopped at the last viewpoint God's window given the name for a spectacular view of the entire run unfortunately some bush fires mark that spot for us all we got was brown haze but we did have some fun with the locals telling goodies who were all happy to pose with a piquant the sea had just made our journey so comfortable and effortless who didn't realize it was well past 2:00 in the afternoon and we drove back to grass cops for lunch hairy's pancakes is a speciality Holden crowded with busloads of tourists stopping here for the uber young and savory and sweet pancake honey school we headed to loft on fire which houses the lockdown cannon this was the last thought that this cannon was used and in a heyday it was a Mean Machine shooting as far as 15 kilometers we've done 1,600 kilometers in four days and it hasn't even felt like it South African rose in the free class and made it a breeze but before calling it a night Johan took us for an authentic local dinner at Moreau in a santen area of Johannesburg and boy were we in for a treat we chomped on some delicious slow-cooked guru steak for the highlight was really a dish where the main ingredient was Mopani worms yes you heard that right this fried caterpillar dish is a delicacy amongst the locals and I jumped at the opportunity to say something new I wasn't disappointed at all the taste was leafy and a texture crunch well as we had turned in tonight it's time for us to end this first part of our journey we arriving in Johannesburg and we are going to hand over this car but the fortunate part is that we have another part of this journey but that's for another story as we leave Joanna's work for our second leg I'm thinking you can take a bucket list of items at a rapid pace in South Africa from all the exciting adventures force to the unique coastline to the uncoiled visit South Africa seem to have something for everyone and left only about the quintessential reason to have an awesome road trip in South Africa the brilliant Road it has to offer well if you've enjoyed watching this take you for a next leg of the South African adventure coming [Music] [Laughter]

Channel: Autocar India

Views: 57,603

Rating: 4.8133969 out of 5

Keywords: Autocar, India, Autocar India, Car Reviews, Video Reviews, Test Drives, south africa, road trip, Mercedes C-Class, adventure, bunjee jumping, treetop adventure, wild life, natural beauty, Durban, Johannesburg, panoramic route, Mercedes C class, long drive

Id: _6-RUvvh-2I

Length: 22min 42sec (1362 seconds)

Published: Sat May 20 2017