By John Cockayne
The route is possibly one of the busiest in Africa , both in commercial terms ( the lines of trucks winding their way to and from Durban ’ s port ) and the traffic ‘ rushes ’ over any school , national or public holidays . The toll road is good , albeit that in October and November there is a scramble to complete repair works and upgrades before the festive season , so there are more lane closures than one would like . However , most of the highways service station companies need to up their game as the majority of stops ’ offerings are prosaic at best . The burger I had at a Wimpy at the Engen Vaal Stop during our return journey on Gauteng ’ s border , looked more like flattened road kill ( the taste was not much better either I imagine ) and did not even vaguely resemble the photo on the menu .
My first stop was in the Drakensberg ( dragon ’ s teeth ) mountains at the Drakensberg Sun Resort , which is adjacent to Champagne Sports and its 18 holes golf course . This is a breathtakingly scenic part of the region and the non-golfer is well catered to with plenty to see and do from wine estates and walking trails , to Boer and Zulu wars ’ battle-grounds for the history buffs , on to just taking a dip in the hotel swimming pool or a leisurely stroll around the grounds for the less energetic . Golfers can also use the Drakensberg Sun as a base from which to drive to Gowrie Farm ( two hour round trip ) and or Bosch Hoek , although the latter features as a staging post in the return leg of our journey .
Stage two took us past the province ’ s capital at Pietermaritzburg , down to the coast of KZN and then south to the Wild Coast Sun Resort ( WCS ). Geography buffs wondering why I even mention this resort in a KZN context are right to wonder as the WCS is in the Eastern Cape . However , by being only five minutes from Port Edward while East London is a seven hour , 600 plus kilometre drive to the South , this resort has become an adopted part of KZN ’ s golfing family . The resort ’ s emphasis is on family and it is a real beach style venue with all the associated fun and games . If the Indian Ocean is not ‘ wet ’ enough , the extensive Wild Waves water park will keep youngsters entertained for hours .
40 DestinationGolf . travel