Our itinerary summary : Knysna to Kruger : with stop overs at Smithfield (Free State), Swaziland, Pilgrims Rest and finally Kruger. Estimated km - 5000.

Packing for this trip was a piece of old tacky! We were now old hands with all the PT involved in stocking a trailer especially after our epic Bush Jol of 2014 where we started out as greenhorns! We had 3 days in Bontebok National Park and a day's outing to Keurbooms with Granny Joan to test out all the equipment and make adjustments!

After much deliberation and discussion with various knowledgeable fellow campers/bush wackers and fortuitously finding buyers for our unsuitable "rubber duck dinghy", the Wildearth roof top tent and our old trailer, this paved the way for TK's new "toy"! 3 = cost of 1 plus RR for a shiny new "Metalian maxi trailer ", completely kitted out with all the bells and whistles and fitted with an Ultimate Overland Tent . No surprises for those who know COPK! So gone was the double bed, Liz's funnel, treacherous ladder and ammo boxes! In came the King XL bed, fitted kitchen with all the various gadgets and compartments to house our camping gear and food and it was baboon proof ! Yippee says Lizzie!!

6 Months of testing and trial runs to get us up to speed with erecting and dismantling this awesome new camping outfit now saw the planning of our Kruger trip with Carol & Pete Emmanuel from Thesen Island, come to fruition.

Our early morning start with a Seattle coffee at Caltex got us going at 6.30 en route to our overnight stop in Free State at Smithfield B&B some 890 Kms via PE and Cradock. The N10 is a pretty route with little traffic and interesting scenery to make the 11 hour drive seem effortless. Going thru Hofmeyr, TK recalled his visit there some years back when Bossie and mates undertook some down-time on his parents farm!
The end result for TK aka FOMO was a bruised liver and a bagful of game biltong - but thankfully no horns - and two days to recover on the couch at Fife Road ! For the record, Lizzie was NOT sympathetic and most of the game biltong ended up with Clifford & Jason . The town of Hofmeyr today is in disrepair and not much happening on the farms in this once thriving sheep and cattle area of bygone years.

Smithfield was founded in 1849 where SIr Harry Smith was the Cape Colony Governor. The racial makeup is 91.4% black African and balance made up of Asian, Coloured and 3.1% whites (2011) with a population of 4500. It is a prosperous wool-growing area with Bushman paintings, cattle farming and Stone Age artifacts having been discovered in the surrounding caves and hillsides.

There were three highlights of our visit to this funny little town that seems to be living in the dark ages. Firstly the Purple House B&B - and boy was it Purple and more! The Pink Loerie Festival in Knysna would 'die' for this house to accommodate its annual visitors ! A real bright spark amidst a dull landscape of dilapidated and unkempt buildings and homes of Smithfield. Next up was our B&B, Nicks Place & Restaurant probably from the 50's era and the best on offer as far as an inclusive overnight stop. Nick's home was filled with a myriad of antiques and artifacts with cupboards of blue Spode from Grandma's kist and two hosts who were warm and welcoming but as different as you can get with their individual talents!! The 3rd was an unexpected faux par which had Carol, Terry and I in fits of laughter! Pete's red cheeks were eventually very visible in his silver dinner underplate! He has sworn us to secrecy so what goes on tour, stays on tour!! After a very pleasant meal cooked by our hosts, we gladly crept into our comfortable and warmly heated bed after a nice hot shower.