Under African Skies

From First Class To Off Road

When someone says that you’ll be travelling to South Africa, you picture Table Mountain with all the surrounding beaches and vineyards. You picture first class travel to an affordable country that has so much to do and experience. That is what Regina thought but boy was she wrong.

Flying in economy was something she had never done before, never mind the fact that she landed in the early hours on the 28th of May, right smack in the middle of winter. Now South African winters were not as cold as other parts of the world, but it was not the time of year that people usually visited the place.

Regina was exhausted after the flight and she couldn’t wait to get to the stinking place already. As she walked through arrivals at O.R. Thambo International, she started looking for someone holding a sign with her name on it. All her parents had said was that a shuttle service would pick her up. She still knew nothing of the lodge she would be working at.

She followed the crowd and scanned the sea of faces, all there to fetch a loved one. She was suddenly overcome with melancholy as she realised that she was completely alone in a foreign country. She was just about to turn around and make a run for it when she saw an elderly man, near the back, with a hand-written sign that said “MILLS.”

“I’m Regina Mills,” she said to the man.

He smiled his biggest smile, showing the gaps where he was missing teeth.

“Hello miss, my name is Petrus, everyone calls me Oupa Petrus. I take you to the lodge,” he replied with a thick African Accent.

“What does Oupa mean?” Regina asked.

“It mean grandfather, I am very old you see.” Petrus said while giving his signature smile.

Well at least the people are nice, she thought. He helped her with her bags and together they walked, in silence, to where his shuttle was parked.

The moment she realised what vehicle he was leading her to she stopped. In front of her was an old, beat up, pick-up truck. The ugly brown paint was chipped and rusted and it seemed unlucky to be safe on the roads.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she said.

“Miss, she is old but she goes far and will not break,” Oupa Petrus said, again with his gummy smile.

“Petrus if you kill me in this thing, I will haunt you forever,” Regina threatened.

Oupa Petrus just shook his head and climbed inside the vehicle. He did not even wait for her before he started the car. Regina jumped inside and grabbed hold of anything she could hold on to.

“We have far to go miss, you get sleep and I wake you up later,” he said.

Regina was staring out the window as they drove out of the airport parking and merged onto the highway. When she finally registered his words she whipped her head around to look at him.

“Petrus, when you say far, what does “far” mean?”

Petrus just shook his head again and took a deep breath. “Miss we are in Gauteng province, we are going to Mpumalanga. It is about 5 hours’ drive.”

Regina just stared as if he had grown a second head. She could not believe her parents were doing this to her. She was so not going to make it here; she could barely understand what he was saying.