Gift ideas for your favourite road tripper

THE ULTIMATE PASS

South Africa is so replete with protected wild places that a road trip anywhere is guaranteed to wend close to at least one wonderful park or reserve. Nature lovers will no doubt love a SANParks Wild Card, which gives members a year’s access to more than 80 parks and reserves around South Africa and Eswatini.

The top-tier option gives members access to all SANParks, Msinsi, EKZNWildlife, CapeNature and “Swazi Clusters” parks. It is R790 for one person, R1,300 for a couple and R1,590 for a family (with up to five children). The SanParks Cluster, with access to all 21 of South Africa’s national parks, is R760 for one, R1,230 for a couple and R1,475 for a family. See sanparks.org

SUPREME SNACKS

For chilled drinks and fresh treats on the move, an ice-filled cooler box will work, but the perk of a plug-in cooler is that you won’t have to deal with melted ice and soggy food at the end of a long day’s drive. Plus, ditching those big bags of ice means more space for the snacks you actually want to pack. This one, the Natural Instincts 25L Thermo Electric Cooler, cools to between 18°C-22°C below the ambient temperature and also has a heating function. R1,999 from Outdoor Warehouse

LOTS OF LAUGHS

A sort of board game without the board, Shotgun The Road Trip Game is designed to be played in the car with two players or more and promises hours of devicefree fun. Players draw cards and must answer the questions or complete the dares on them for a point. Whoever ends up with the most points wins. R259 from takealot.com

BEAUTIFUL ROUTES

Naturally, navigation is all-important. A GPS will get you there but those truly sold on the romance of the road will love a paper map. For local travel, our favourite road-tripping aficionado Nick Yell swears by Slingsby Maps. Cartographer Peter Slingsby has been building on his series of delightful, highly detailed maps of the Western Cape since 2000. His touring maps now include Baviaanskloof, Wild Coast, Tankwa Karoo, Overberg, Garden Route and wonderful Day Drives from Cape Town. Not only do they offer clear, accurate information about the routes, including accommodation and “whimsical sights they’re also, as one customer comments on the website, “masterful works of art”. Priced from R175 to R200.

See

A CHAOS KILLER

A key to comfort on long trips is quick and easy access to all the things you might want or need. Here, an organiser strapped to the back seat will keep the floor clear of clutter and make finding things a breeze. This one has 10 pockets for everything from electronics accessories to a water bottle to a pen. It also has a water-repellent coating — in case the children are on board. R599 from Leroy Merlin