Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

I've never been and want to go pretty badly.

How is it nowadays with the bribing and cops? I heard It's quite bad and that you should have extra money just for this...

There has been a lot of discussion you can find on the internet.

Some people have had bad experiences and vow never to go back, some have just had good experiences. Personally I have had a fair mix of both.

We have been there twice in recent years. The firs time we entered and exited through Giriyondo Border post in Kruger NP and made our way through the Transfrontier Park towards Chidenquele. Lovely holiday - No issues. Also made use of the opportunity to stay in Kruger for a few days. If you HAVE to go - this would be my recommendation.

The second time we had a lovely stay at Bilene, but this time we used Komatipoort. Each and every cop along the route waved us down but we found that they got very irritated when the whole convoy of 4 vehicles with caravans pulled over! We were thus told to carry on in all instances without further issues.

On our return through Komatipoort however some scumbag tried to confiscate my caravan on something that I had apparently filled in incorrectly on the form. It was clear that he was only looking for a bribe. Given my generous natural dozing of patience I however managed to "out-retard" him after 2 hours and left without paying a cent.

Did leave a sower taste though and we will not be returning soon.

You can also try the southern areas - entering at Kosi Bay. I'm not sure of the current conditions there however - last visit was in 2002!

Kosi Bay is fine, but they are getting more interested in "smoothing" the way. Had to pay R 180 to import a case of beer. (Wine and spirit is fine) The customs official was keen on taking a cash settlement for less, but I insisted on going the official route. Then anywhere else, act dumb and have more time than he has. Last time in Maputo the police tried to fine me for having more than 4 people in the car. I just kept asking why, and pointing at every local vehicle with more passengers. Incidentally, the guys in black and white are the traffic cops and the rest are not, and cannot "officially" pull you over for a traffic offence. Learnt that when I had a local in the car and got pulled over. Problem is, if you don't speak Portuguese, you struggle to argue that.

Long run it pays to be polite and just make sure you have your paperwork and reflective vests...

Hi
We just got back from Moz on saturday - went in thru Giriyondo, down to Xai-Xai (spent 8 nights there) and out thru Komatipoort. Not stopped once, roads were great. Borders are borders - make sire you have everything that is needed & be patient!. NB NB - stick to speed limits - they can be painful at times but the cops trap everywhere. Join DriveMoz on facebook - full of fantastic info.