By Zolile Sibiya

Mpumalanga is by far one of my favourite destinations in our country, it just has so much to offer. Going on a road trip with the Kia Sonet to my favourite provinces, icing on the cake!

Day one

Our morning started off at O.R Tambo International Airport where we were warmly welcomed by the lovely Kia team, and had a delicious breakfast at the Intercontinental Hotel. Soon thereafter, it was time to hit to the road. Rainy as it was, that didn’t stop us from looking forward to our entire trip. Our convoy was smooth sailing in the Kia Sonet. It proved to be comfortable and stable car to drive even in rainy and misty weather conditions.

After a few hours of driving, we stopped for a comfort and snack break near eMalahleni. We also used the opportunity to sneak in some pictures as we couldn’t resist the beauty of the Kia Sonet. My co-driver and I were in the attractive Intense Red Sonet with Aurora Black Pearl coated Sonet, a perfect colour combination.

One of the best road trip essentials is music, and one of my favourite features in the Kia Sonet was the 8.0-inch HD touchscreen infotainment with AppleCarPlay and Android Auto. Easy to use, this became an essential part of the road trip as we pumped our favourite jams.

Our adventure continued as we headed to our lunch spot in Kaapsehoop, a tiny but pretty town with huge amounts of personality, and a lovely location for a delicious lunch with great company and conversations (the impressive Sonet and scenic Mpumalanga being key drivers of our chat).

The adventure continued, as we headed to Misty Mountain Lodge, which was where we were going to do our activity of the day. The lodge is situated on the spectacular Long Tom Pass.

The drive through Long Tom Pass offers the most breathtaking views, and it was amazing in the Kia Sonet. The compact SUV climbed up effortlessly and handled the twisty roads well. Such a relaxed driving experience afforded me an opportunity to soak in the incredible beauty of the country. Not long after making our drive in the pass, we arrived a Misty Mountain Lodge for our exciting activity, the Long Tom Toboggan. What an awesome activity for adrenaline junkies, doing this in the misty weather made it even better. This was a true definition of #StartLiving for me!

After a fun-filled day in the Kia Sonet, driving through the gorgeous landscapes of the Panorama Route, we arrived safely at our destination, the stunning Angels View Hotel which is situated in Graskop. The hotel offers a tranquil setting and is luxurious 4-star graded accommodation. The dinner did not disappoint and lived up to expectation. Having had a long day, we retired to our pristine rooms for the evening’s rest.

Day two

On the second and last day of our #KiaTsamaya trip in the Sonet, we were all well rested and excited to continue exploring Mpumalanga. After a leisurely morning, we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do our activities at the Graskop Lift Co. due to the rainy weather. Safety first!

As an alternative, we headed to Sudwala Caves which are renowned as a discovery site for some of the first pieces of evidence of human habitation in the world. The caves have seen the surfacing of many artefacts and historic relics which tell a story of how mankind came to be. It was an amazing experience touring the caves.

All good things unfortunately have to come to an end and we headed out to the Nelspruit Kruger Airport for a short flight back to Johannesburg. A big shout out to the amazing Kia SA team for a great trip in the beautiful Sonet. This was definitely a #MovementThatInspires.

Kia Sonet Turbo impressions for the petrol heads

The Kia Sonet is such a spacious compact SUV with a beautiful interior and exterior. The car also comes with a good number of niceties like the rear-view camera and rear park distance control (PDC), folding electronic side mirrors, and cruise control (which made our trip enjoyable). It gets its power from the gusty 1.0-litre turbo engine that makes 88kW and 172Nm. The 7-speed DCT automatic works perfectly with this engine and it made our trip effortless.

Pricing for the Kia Sonet start from R316,995.