Driving in South Africa

 This is one of my very favourite subjects.  As a tourist guide and road user I find that I commonly speak to fellow drivers on the road - although they clearly can't hear what I'm saying. 

One of the 'conversations' I have is why there is the need to be there first - no matter where you are going to and where 'there' is.  So I normally shake my head when a driver past me just to squeeze infront of my vehicle to be stuck behind the truck I was stuck behind too.  "How could you not see that the truck was the reason for my patient driving?  The fact that the wheels are picking up pebbles like shrapnel seem not to bother you.  And you only past me.  Now you also realise that the truck is 22 meters long and that the traffic from the opposite direction comes in drips and drabs."

Another 'conversation' is why a taxi driver seem not to know the difference between hazard lights and normal indicators.  "Why, for the life of me, do you use the hazards?  Is there an emergency on board?  Are you turning left or right? Oh, there you...  Just picking up somebody!"  I do hope that somebody in some taxi association will someday come up with the bright idea that first you use your indicators and once you are almost stopping you put the hazards on.  Then we will love your driving just a little bit more.  We already appreciate the fact that as a taxi driver you perform a public service and have to be 'there' first.

For now, the last 'conversation' is "Why are you overtaking that or my vehicle when you clearly can't see if there is any traffic coming your way?!  Yikes!  That can't be good.. oh no! Eish! Playing chicken in broad daylight isn't fun!"

So?  The next time you are driving and you see some 'crazy' person shaking her head and talking animatedly to you, it might be me...

Save driving!

Starting something new

Good day fellow travellers, tourist, bloggers and subscribers,

My is, am and are's might not always be in the right places but my love of touring and passion for guiding will certainly make up for it.

Starting something new is always exciting and at first seems very easy.  Then the realisation sets in that you might have signed up for something way above your abilities and you start to doubt yourself - which by the way is quite normal! I always try to remember the following three things:

1.  When you feel like giving up, just keep on going:  You are just one step away from success;

2.  The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary;  and

3.  How do you eat an elephant?  Bite for bite.

This brings me to my next thought:  Starting something new is wonderful but how do you go on from there?  The answer is:  I am still finding out.  Trying everything along the way and keeping the best parts of it.  Most days seems like an uphill battle.  As that great inspirational song says:  "It's the climb!"


Hartbeespoort Dam Wall from the waterside.  This photo was taken on Thursday, 8 September 2011, while out on a Hartbeespoort Day Tour with a wonderful Saudi Arabian family. 

 I have started my company, DOT Leisure Travel & Tours, in January 2011.  The dotty part of the name comes from the fact that little dorpe (towns) or big cities is always a dot on a map.  As a tour operator and a national tourist guide, I love taking you to that dot on the map for you to experience the true beauty of South Africa and its people.

So?  From starting something new to going forward:

It's life!  Go for it!  There is no rewind button to it!