Tourism Update recently ran a poll asking readers about their experience of potholes en route to the Kruger National Park, and the results predominantly showed that there are still “numerous”.

The question has been posed in response to the Mpumalanga Provincial Government’s announcement that it had purchased road-patching machinery to fix potholes on popular tourism routes such as the Hazyview-KNP road.

The results show that 63% of readers experienced ‘numerous potholes on the road’. However, 25% said the roads had ‘only partially been fixed’, and 13% did not experience any potholes. ‘The potholes have all been fixed’ received zero votes.

Onne Vegter of Wild Wings Safaris commented on the situation saying the deterioration of SA's railway system had resulted in a massive increase in coal trucks and other heavy vehicles on this popular tourism road. He was also not convinced that the fixed potholes would last for long.

“Happy to hear that potholes are getting fixed, but potholes that get patched up will typically last one dry season. By the next rainy season the potholes will be back,” he said.

Sharon Gilbert-Rivett agreed. “They don’t need patching. They need to completely resurface the roads. Which should have been done already.” 

An anonymous Tourism Update reader also gave some insight into the condition of the road between Hazyview and Klaserie.

“I wouldn't even take my worst enemy there [on the R40 road]. Potholes, waste all over, and not a single sign of law – it is the wild west of traffic laws. Especially over weekends, totally avoid this road. Took me 2.5 hours from Hazyview to Klaserie. In Limpopo not much trash spotted, however, the wide region around Tzaneen is a moon landscape, at some places the road is simply gone.”