Johannesburg to Durban and back, within a day

Saturday morning. I wake up at 5.30 and pack my stuff to go to Durban, stay for a day and return on Sunday evening. After breakfast, and some delays, I finally leave the hotel at 7. My GPS says I have to travel 583 km and I would reach at 12.51 pm. So I start. Just about half a km later, I see a police car and an ambulance, and dead man by the side of the road. Seems like a murder. A bad way to start a trip.
After taking different motorways, I reach N3. That’s the motorway from Johannesburg to Durban. Straight 500+ kms. Time to put my Polo (Mk IV, 1.4 petrol, 85 PS) to the test. I keep pushing the limits. On some toll roads, I even hit 180 kmph. I feel proud when BMWs and Mercs switch on their indicators and move to the left lane to give me way. Muahahahaha.
The car can cruise easily at around 170 kmph, but after that, it is a bit difficult to control. So I start cruising at about 160 kmph. And then, the dreaded moment. A cop signals me to stop. Damn.. Caught! No wonder these powerful cars were giving me way. They were just sending on the path of Hell!!!
The cop tells me that I was doing 147 kmph in 120 kmph zone, so I should pay 800 Rand fine. I try to act innocent, saying I am new to the country, and this is my first drive outside Johannesburg and I badly want to pee. And I ask her if she can reduce the fine. She keeps asking me how much I wanna pay. I say I don’t know how things work in South Africa, so she should tell me. Finally she says, “ok, give me 200”. I open my wallet, and there are some 300R. I say, “how about 50?”. Typical Indian bargaining. I think that pisses her off. She says, “that’s ok. Go. Drive safe”. I say, “this 50?”. She says, “no, that’s ok”.. whew!! I saved a big amount!
After that I keep cruising at 120 – 125 kmph when I have no company on the road. But when there are many other speeding vehicles, I try to keep up with them. First I find 2 BMW X5s. One of them gives me company all the way. For a while I lead and he trails me. After a while, he leads and I trail. Constantly doing 140 to 150 kmph. Luckily, no cops after that. I don’t know about automatic cameras. But in a country where theft is very common, I don’t think cops would risk planting such a camera!
And then I stop to reload the car’s tank and unload my tank. Time is 9.30 am. I have come only about 250 km. I now have lost the company of the X5. But now the scenery is getting better. Drakenberg mountains. I am so close to the border of Lesotho, and yet I can’t go. I see the mountains from far. So beautiful! The mountain that I am driving on, hardly has any vegetation, other than the elephant grass. The grass is brown and you can spot an occasional bush or a tree. Typical African savannah they show in national geographic. But drakenberg mountains are different. They are either rocky, or are full of flora.
As I continue, I get another company. A GTI. So two VWs racing. Well, not really racing. But trying to confuse the cops ;-). Now I am getting closer to Durban. The air is getting warmer. And now I have just about 5 km to reach the first place I want to visit, Ushaka Marine World. So I switch on the left indicator, and expect the guy behind to give me way. Stupid mistake. Because that is a city taxi (kinda car pooling taxi, used only by low income people. Usually full of people). I hear a thud and left mirror has turned inwards. That guy swerves left and right and then comes to a halt. I too stop the car by the road side. And then 3 black guys come rushing to my car. And start demanding money and my license. I tell them that I have no license, and I am driving illegally, so I tell them to call cops and that I’d surrender. I don’t get out of the car and I don’t get the window down more than an inch. So they really can’t do anything. After some abuses, they leave. Once their vehicle disappears, I come out and see. Whew!!! No damage to my car at all!
Then I go to the marine world. I didn’t expect it to be an amusement park. There are different water rides and all. Ha! Why would I want to do all that alone? So I roam around a mall there, and take a walk on the beach, and eat some Pasta and drink Peroni (Italian beer) at an Italian restaurant, and go to my next destination, Anstey’s beach. This place is a bit far from the other popular places, so no crowd. The weather is extremely pleasing. And the beach is beautiful too. About 30 feet sand on the shore that gradually goes up. And then some 15 feet of lawn. Then road. On the other side of the road, row houses. Beautiful beach houses. And the temperature is just about 15 degree C, and the breeze is chilling. I stand there for some 10 minutes, staring at the sea. Then I feel cold, so I sit in the car. The time now is about 3.15 pm. And I fall asleep. When I wake up, it is 4. The sun has almost gone down, but still not many people at the beach. So I go out and stand. I stand there for an hour, without even realizing it! When I see the time is 5, and still there are very few people, I decide to go. Go where? One option is to find a hotel to stay, and come to the beach again next day. Nah! Why spend on a hotel? I already had spent 160R on the toll (which meant another 160R while going back). Let me go back to my hotel, to Johannesburg!
So I leave from Anstey. My car’s windshield is hazy. The car’s wipers can’t clean it. They only make it worse. I hope that the haze disappears as I go on, so I continue. By the time I hit N3, it is 6 pm and is totally dark. And my windshield is still hazy. I can only see the tail lights of the vehicles behind me. And some vehicles don’t even have functioning tail lights. This is recipe for disaster and I am not on a suicide mission. I have to find a petrol bunk now. I need to take a leak too. I see a few petrol bunks by the motorway, but by the time I see them, I have already crossed the exit. I am getting more and more irritated, so I simply take an exit into some town and drive around. No petrol bunks. Heck! Then it strikes me. OH! GPS can show me petrol bunks! I find one, and get all the things done, and get back on the motorway.
I am convinced that the cops here don’t have night radars to track overspeeding vehicles. So I keep a constant speed of 140 to 160 kmph. As a toll booth approaches, I forget to slow down. And there is a lightning. Oh, no. that’ wasn’t lightning. That was a camera flash. Someone took my photo. Hehehe. So there are automated cameras, at least near toll booths (where there always are people). I want to get hold of that photo. That is my only photo from this trip!
Then I see a crashed city taxi. This one seems to have toppled multiple times. It is totally damaged and is being loaded into a tow truck. There are a few ambulances, which means there were many people inside.
Then I stop for dinner near Drakenburg. I walk out of the car wearing my t shirt. All the people there are wearing sweaters, mufflers and all. It is very cold. Like a big shot, I walk into the restaurant, and place my order. Now I realize how cold it is. I start to shiver. Still, I wait till my food comes (grilled prawns and rice), eat and then leave.
The moment I get in the car, I switch on the heater and wait till I am warm again, before I even move the car. After that, I drive non-stop and reach my hotel at 11. I had travelled 1195 km in less than 16 hours, and yet I had so much energy left within me. so, I start writing this travelogue within a few minutes of reaching my room…