Middle-aged flash packers

I have never wanted to go to South Africa. Anything I have ever read or seen about It portrays the country as one giant basket case, full of horrible crimes, corrupt governments and inequality.

However S has been very keen to go and everyone I have spoken to (apart from people who have actually lived there and decided to relocate to the UK) love it and can’t sing its praises highly enough. Hence here I am, sitting on a plane that just made the most bone-shaking, terrifying takeoff from Johannesburg, heading for Capetown.

I have put my foot down and refused to go anywhere but the well trodden, beaten track , so we are starting in Capetown, visiting Franschhoek and Hermanus, on to the Garden Route and then some walking in the Drakensberg mountain range. I must admit to being excited about seeing the Drakensberg – it looks fabulous.

The view from the plane is initially of vast areas of what looks like farmed land with virtually no population, just the odd homestead. It eventually becomes a brown, Wrinkled landscape with sharp mountainous edges occasionally bursting out of it. It’s unlike any other landscape I’ve seen. We are flying above the clouds as the turbulence is severe. The clouds are spectacular: massive bundles of mushroomy fluff.

Our landing is as erratic as our takeoff. Is this going to be our theme for South Africa? Wild, slightly out of control but geographically outstanding?

We shall see.