A Couple Of Mates In South Africa

This entry is part 11 of 21 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #13

Adventure Motorcycle Equipment’s Darin Rowley grabbed the chance for a ride in South Africa. In a twist, loose planning was a big plus.

A lan ‘Blue’ Henriksen was on the phone with a perceptible edge of excitement in his voice. As Blue was generally uncontactable through electronic media, it could mean only one thing: he must’ve had a grouse idea for a ride. Excellent.

The organisation

The phone pleasantries were wrapped up in three seconds and Blue finally got to the point. It went something along the lines of, “Hey you little bald-headed bike-riding menace, I’m in South Africa in late May. Why don’t you get your arse there too? We can hire a couple of F800GSs and go for a wander.”

Instant answers came into my mind that can be summarised as, ‘I can’t because of every fat, middle-aged, white-bastard, first-world problem excuse I could think of’. But that felt a bit lame. So, I answered Blue in my deep, masculine, Rambo-style voice, “Yeah.

I’m in”.

Further details were sorted out in a number of one-line emails.

Getting started

When the time came we were sitting on a pair of Motorrad Executive rental F800GSs in Pretoria, South Africa, ready to head off into the wild blue yonder.

We looked at each other and Blue said, “We probably didn’t need the third roady last night, did we? Which way are we going?”

I cracked up laughing as several events from bike trips we’d shared over the past 25 years or so flashed through my mind.

“Let’s head to the highest mountains,” I suggested.

We fired up the bikes, programmed the GPS not to put us on main roads, blipped the throttle for peace of mind, grinned like a pair of under-aged teenagers with their first case of beer and a box of condoms, and rode off with unknown horizons beckoning.

The author planning a day’s riding.

Rhodes rules

During the first few kilometres, the typical personal insecurities of any adventure ride manifested themselves. What if..?

South Africa had a reputation for land pirates. Some of the animals considered humans food. We didn’t have a gun.

We had a South Africa map very loosely marked with crosses showing areas not to go and ticks on areas which were ‘safe’. This was done at the bar and during the signing of the F800GS rental agreements, so we had no real plan of where we were going, and therefore no one else knew where we were.

With all the negative possibilities out, I started thinking, ‘Let’s enjoy this! There are 50 million people in an area the size of NSW and Victoria. It can’t be that dangerous, or else these people wouldn’t be alive. As long as we exercise a bit of common sense, we can deal with whatever pops up’.

A quick crank of the throttle had the Beemer motors singing, and that made me remember, ‘Damn it. I still haven’t paid that speeding ticket in Spain’.

Programming the GPS not to take motorways had us feeling very white and vulnerable in the back streets of Johannesburg. After about 40km of traffic and keeping our eyes peeled, we were out in the countryside chewing up some road miles. It was delightful not to have to worry about traffic infringements.

Apparently, road rules are just guidelines in South Africa.

We arrived in Bethlehem just on dark to find guesthouse accommodation, food and beer at good, clean, value for money.

Getting started with F800GS rentals in Pretoria.

Getting in the groove

The next morning was crisp, clear and filled with trees showing their autumn colours as we departed Bethlehem for the country of Lesotho.

Lesotho has the biggest mountains in South Africa and is populated by the Sotho people who still lead their traditional lifestyles. We ended up taking an old track into Lesotho, crossing the border at a slippery river crossing where the GS had a lay down.

We rode through the northern part of Lesotho marvelling at the escarpment scenery and the friendliness of the locals.

The border crossing leaving Lesotho was unmanned and we flew through at a fair rate of knots. We may have had some issues at this checkpoint as we’d entered the country without a visa or passport, so we considered ourselves lucky and motored on.

The Naudes Neck mountain pass. At 2500m it shows some far horizons.

Zulu

We wicked up the throttles and proceeded south through a patchwork of friendly Zulu communities, agricultural land, pine plantations and escarpment country.

As luck would have it, we happened upon the White Mountain Lodge just on dark and it provided superb amenities and fluffed pillows for us weary motorcycle riders.

The highlight of the White Mountain Lodge stay was joining a Zulu birthday party.

Those Zulus seem to absorb the music and then release it in completely choreographed booty shaking. My hamstrings were sore from just watching. It was great to have been a part of it.

Mountain passes

Again completely refreshed, and with perfect blue skies, we motored south to Rhodes.

The route to Rhodes took us over Naudes Neck, a superb mountain pass that required the GS traction control to be turned off for the mandatory toothy-grinned powerslides.

The 800 motor was singing – albeit a little wheezy – as the air became thinner and the wind was howling strong enough to blow the bikes completely off line. The view and feel at Naudes Neck, about 2500m up, is what adventure riding is about. We could see the unknown horizons beckoning, and we were free to explore them. We soaked up the view and bee lined it down the rocky dirt roads and again found good accommodation just on dark. That rejuvenated us for more riding.

Heading through Lesotho (passports and visas not shown).
The White Clay Guesthouse couldn’t get much closer to the ocean.

The Indian Ocean

Another beautiful crisp morning awaited us the next day. We looked at the map and thought, ‘Let’s have a coffee at Coffee Bay on the Indian Ocean’.

Our route took us down through large spaces of escarpment country and into the area where Nelson Mandela was born.

The fig and blue-cheese pizza at the Stone Junction Cafe in MaClear was a superb refreshment for a weary traveller. Further south towards Mthata the scenery became a hopscotch of funny little round and rectangle houses in different colours.

These were the homes of tribal people and all sorts of things were flying onto the potholed dirt roads. It was a relief to get to the White Clay guest house right on the beach of the Indian Ocean, wash the dust out of the throat with a cold bevvy, and sate the hunger with some local seafood.

South African high country.
White Mountain Lodge in Lesotho. A good place to re-hydrate.

After another leisurely breakfast the next morning we headed north along a number of dirt roads with open scenery in all directions. We saw lots of tribal shepherds tending their flocks and had to keep waving to excited children.

Once we got to the top of the escarpment near Ugie, we were amazed at the difference. We were certainly in white-man’s land with first-world agricultural and forestry practices in place.

The escarpment geographic border may as well have been a country border.

A little oasis of a café – The Cock And The Cat café – provided a superb meal in a relaxing environment.

None of the dirt rides are very technically difficult.

The blast back

We headed through Elliot and over the Barkly Pass on bitumen. It was bloody great fun! The GSs were on the stops, the sweepers and road surface were perfect and the huge relief of the escarpment scenery under a clear blue sky was superb. We pulled up at Sterkspruit to find it was very obviously a Sotho-people-only community. We managed to rent a house and slept with the motorcycles in the lounge room after being advised to do so.

The ‘out of sight out of mind’ ploy worked, and we got going early in the morning. We didn’t look back on this stop. I don’t think a Leatherman held by my stumpy little arm would have been much defence against a gun.

Luxury

Time was running out as we punched north at high cruising speeds up a network of bitumen and gravel roads towards Johannesburg and we happened on a five-star farm stay called Die Kuierhuis, west of Ventersburg. We were spoilt with old-world hospitality from Andrius and Amanda who offered absolutely tasty home-cooked meals, serenity, and great accommodation. All this at really good value for money.

It was our last night on the trip and we couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend it.

We awoke to some great coffee and a first-class breakfast, then motored trouble-free into Johannesburg where we returned our noble steeds to Motorrad Executive Rentals.

The journey home began, and before we knew it we were in our respective homes and domestic lives.

In summary

• South Africa offers superb adventure riding, scenery and diverse cultures
• Motorcycle riders do not appear to be targets of violent crime
• Most people speak reasonable English or better
• There wasn’t a lot of wildlife where we travelled and that made for safe roads. The nearest miss was running over a meerkat, ducking under some bush turkeys and an evil look from an Alpha male baboon
• We covered 2600km in six days, roughly half of which was dirt
• We mainly required intermediate-level riding skills. Tar roads were generally better than Australian roads
• We couldn’t fault the BMW F800GS
• Hard luggage secures gear
• A South African salad is chicken
• Don’t attempt to explain a vegetarian meal, let alone order one
• We spent about AUD$130 per day for fuel, restaurant food, accommodation and beer
• Bikes were about AUD$1200 each for seven days with a GPS, hard luggage and top insurance cover
• We mostly used our credit cards for purchases
• Take dental floss as you’ll have meat stuck in your teeth
• South Africa can be ridden without too much planning
• There is a massive difference between white and black South African cultures
• This was a nine-day trip with all connecting travel included
• If you want to do it, make it happen

“This was taken on Walkers Crossing between Innamincka and Birdsville,” Dallas O’Sullivan explained. “Myself on the Tiger 800XC and my best mate Ben on his 690. We left north-east Victoria and went to Birdsville across the Simpson Desert via the French Line, up to Finke and Alice Springs, then up the Tanami to Halls Creek, the Gibb River Road and across to Derby. From there we followed the coast to Perth and across the Nullarbor to home. We’re already planning next year’s trip.” Geez. That’s a big ride. Dallas scores an Adventure Rider Magazine T-shirt for sharing the pic and the story. You could win one, too. Send your pic, and some information about it and yourself, to tom@maynemedia.com.au.