Having travelled the first stretch from Cape Town to Johannesburg via rail through the barren beauty of the Karoo we set out from Johannesburg with our neat little Hyundai i10 to tackle the rest of the country beginning at 6am on a busy morning! In Jozi the land is blanketed by highways and for that first hour the cars lined up behind each other as far as the eye can see.

Eventually however as the beeping of E-Toll’s grew softer and the industrial area’s thinned out the buildings were replaced by trees and office parks by farmlands with windmills. Hundreds of sheep grazed near the road like balls of cotton amongst the dry blades of grass.

We stopped for breakfast and a welcome coffee at a petrol station along the N4 somewhere outside of Dwarsfontein and met several locals hanging out under the shade of a tree with flowers like pink and white tissue. It wasn’t long before the sweeping trees of the Sappi Forest set our eyes ablaze with magnificent views of thousands of tall greens trees in plantations to the extent that I had never before seen.  Soon after we saw cows graze under the graceful Acacias and stopped to take photo.

The N4 is an incredible road with what must be some of the scenic views in the country and apart from stopping at the three Toll Plaza’s we traversed the “just short of five hour” drive in what seemed like no time at all.

Entering the Kruger National Park was undoubtedly one the most exciting moments of our lives and everything from the smell of bush thick with animal’s to the lions chasing warthog and crocodiles lazing in the river have had us smiling ever since.

Click here to read Road Tripping South Africa Part 2: Kruger to Drakensberg