Living their Passion

Travel is our hobby, our passion and pleasure”, says Dr Paulo Fernandes from Pretoria, “and winning this epic prize is helping our family to realise a lifetime dream.”

Dr Fernandes, his wife Paula and daughters Daniela (16) and Emma (12) set out from the Jacaranda City in a new topof-the-range Toyota Fortuner 2.8 GD-6 VX at the end of March as winners of our Epic Road Trip competition in association with Toyota South Africa.

When I joined them at the Narries Namakwa Retreat outside Springbok, they were just a few days into their trip and enthused about the experience and vehicle. “Paula and I have been doing overland journeys and safaris for the past 20 years… around the world and throughout Africa,” he said.

“Both girls did their first road trips when they were about four months old. We took Daniela to Khutse Game Reserve in Botswana and Emma to the Richtersveld.” The Covid-19 lockdown “has been a bit hard for us,” he said, adding that “we have been trying to travel as much as possible in South Africa. We are discovering so many places we’d never heard of… let alone visited.”

Their “local” explorations have taken them to 16 of South Africa’s 18 national parks; the exceptions being Tankwa Karoo and Blesbok. “Maybe we will do those in July,” he quipped.

Turning to his motivation for entering the Roadtrip Epic competition, Dr Fernandes said he had toyed with the idea of visiting “seven corners”* of South Africa – spots where this country shares borders with its neighbours – in a single marathon overland trek.

The day before meeting up with me, the Fernandes family journeyed to Unions End in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park where the borders of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia intersect. “It was a very, very long day driving but I was extremely happy because I have never been to Unions End before.

“The Fortuner has been extremely comfortable. We have already done about 3000km and the fuel-efficiency is running at around 9.8l/100km across all kinds of road surfaces including sand, which I think is really good for a heavily laden vehicle.

“There is lots of space for the passengers, though I feel the packing space for such a long trip is a bit constrained by the two ‘jump’ seats.” Their next stop after overnighting at Narries was Alexander Bay where South Africa and Namibia share the mouth of the Gariep River as it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

“We have taken a zillion pictures,” Dr Fernandes said, explaining that Daniela was a particularly keen photographer. Had she ever done any vehicle shots? I asked. She had not but was keen to learn, so we set out early for Kleinzee with her in the back of “my” Fortuner, scrambling from side to side to shoot “their” vehicle… She had a great time, and her pictures are stunning, too.

*The other “corners” as well as details of the family’s adventures will be featured in the next edition of Roadtrip.