Those Bloody Boers - A bimble round SA

[Mongoose]

Aged 9 or so, my dad took me to the cinema to see Zulu.......or it might have been Zulu Dawn. It's been a bucket list thing of mine ever since to see Isandlwhana and Rourke's Drift, so having finally retired, I started to look at organised tours. Unfortunately, none went near the battlefields, preferring to do the Cape wine route instead. Given that I no longer enjoy a tipple, that would have been wasted on me. I eventually found a 21 day tour that I was able to join after week one, Mrs M not being over thrilled with the idea of me abandoning her for over three weeks with two Springers and elderly parents.

The tour doesn't visit Rourke's Drift, but the tour company have been fantastic and incorporated it into the day given that it's what I really had an interest in.

It's a sanitised tour - all my hotels are sorted, meals and fuel included and GS800 booked. The alternatives were the XR900 or GS1250/1300 at extra cost. Given that I don't fancy trying to pick up a 1250 after dropping it on gravel roads, the 800 will do just fine......and likely sustain less deposit bashing cost!

Currently en route to the airport to see if I can get a cheapish Business class upgrade on BA. I'll update as I go along.

The itinerary looks like:

Day 0	18-Sep​	Arrive in South Africa- 1 Night pre tour accomodation in Johannesburg
Day 1	19-Sep​	Fly to Port Elizabeth- Transfer to Addo Elephant Park
Day 2	20-Sep​	Addo rest Day with Big 5 Safari
Day 3	21-Sep​	Addo to Aliwal North
Day 4	22-Sep​	Aliwal North to Semonkong, Lesotho
Day 5	23-Sep​	Semonkong Rest Day- Visit Waterfall, do donkey pub crawl or tour the village
Day 6	24-Sep​	Semonkong to Clarens
Day 7	25-Sep​	Clarens- Golden Gate- Kwazulu Natal Battlefields
Day 8	26-Sep​	Battlefields to Swaziland
Day 9	27-Sep​	Swaziland to Hazyview
Day 10	28-Sep​	Rest Day and Safari into Kruger National Park
Day 11	29-Sep​	Hazyview to Magoebaskloof
Day 12	30-Sep​	Magoesbaskloof to Pretoria
Day 13	01-Oct​	End of Tour

 

[timeandtide]

Looks great - enjoy yourself!

 

[Tinytim]

Looks great - enjoy yourself!

This

 

[Khulu]

I fancy having a ride there too but just want a bike tour as I've already been to the parks. Not many tours do that.

 

[FatAl]

I can't afford a trip to South Africa, Stu and I tried to ride our bikes around Knowsley Safari park as next best option, but the staff declined.

 

[Wapping]

I’m in, as they say.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Enjoyed a few beers in the Magoebeskloof hotel one evening after a great afternoon’s fly fishing.

Being great mates, we did not let the fact that Andrew had had a small mishap and still had a Mrs Simpson fly stuck in his neck alter our plan to have a few post fishing scoops there.

In fact we made him go to the bar to order all the drinks, fly wiggling on his Adam’s apple when he spoke.

Barman suitably amused. Happy days.

 

[adventuredon]

Well worth a visit. Not many pics...but https://www.free-me.com/fmzulu.htm

 

[Mongoose]

After a very long flight on a huuuge A380 and another 2 hour internal flight I've just landed in Port Elizabeth. Lovely beach side hotel booked by the tour company

On the ride here, the pick up driver was pointing out the electrified razor wire surrounding all of the domestic housing estates. He was also very keen to tell me not to leave the hotel after sundown as crime here is rife and the cops largely absent. The Policing Minister here is currently mired in corruption allegations and as I was arriving, the head of the local taxi union was being executed in the middle of the road just outside town

I've been heavily recommended to go to the grill restaurant Barney's just across the road, which is apparently excellent. Walking the 100 metres there though is a no no, I'm told Uber is the best idea.

I've been all over Brazil, Thailand, Romania and never had an issue, possibly because of my "Don't feck with me" shaved head, but this seems a bit 'Next level'. Shame, as the view here is gorgeous.

 

[Mongoose]

Day Two - Just a transfer day to Addo where we have a full day safari tomorrow. Lunch was in surfers paradise.........apart from the two killed last year by great white sharks that is. In order to get there, we had to cross an infamous bridge in South Africa known as Suicide Bridge for obvious reasons. After a lot of deaths, it's now covered by cameras and has mesh panels all the way across it. Sadly, someone has already removed one of the panels.

Hotel accommodation so far looks great, although ours tonight is enclosed by an electrified fence and we've been warned about crocodiles in and near to the river at the bottom of the garden. That's a moonlight walk out of the question then!

 

[Mongoose]

Does anything say 'Middle class biker' more than Springbok Carpaccio??

Orders by 7pm please....

 

[geotim]

Have a great time!

Sample the food, the wine, soak up the scenery.

Some spectacular routes through Swaziland (Eswultini??) and such.



(Watch for potholes and poor road conditions, and don’t travel at night).

 

[Mongoose]

The best part of these trips for me is the social history and the conversations with locals.

Last night, I sat in the hotel bar watching footie with a black South African who felt that his country is slowly improving and building momentum. The fact that he and I were staying in the same hotel was for him, evidence of that.

The converse side was the conversation I had this afternoon with a white South African who is planning on leaving the country, along with many of his relatives and friends. His father and grandfather were both farmers in Zimbabwe who were murdered for their land and he feels SA is on the same pathway.

We passed by two townships, which were nothing more than corrugated sheet shacks with tarpaulin rooves. The poverty here is grinding in parts. They now have running water and sanitation, however despite being on the grid for electricity, they often have none, as during power outages, some take the opportunity to strip out all the copper wiring for scrap value.

 

[Mongoose]

Day 3 A rest day for those who started the tour a week ago in Cape Town. Included in the trip for the day were an elephant safari and a full game reserve safari. A very long day, but ticked most of the big stuff off my bucket list.

Great hotel set in orange groves, so the constant smell of orange blossom was sensational and a lovely start to the day, which was offered with an 'English breakfast'.

 

[Northern jock]

Aged 9 or so, my dad took me to the cinema to see Zulu.......or it might have been Zulu Dawn. It's been a bucket list thing of mine ever since to see Isandlwhana and Rourke's Drift, so having finally retired, I started to look at organised tours. Unfortunately, none went near the battlefields, preferring to do the Cape wine route instead. Given that I no longer enjoy a tipple, that would have been wasted on me. I eventually found a 21 day tour that I was able to join after week one, Mrs M not being over thrilled with the idea of me abandoning her for over three weeks with two Springers and elderly parents.

The tour doesn't visit Rourke's Drift, but the tour company have been fantastic and incorporated it into the day given that it's what I really had an interest in.

It's a sanitised tour - all my hotels are sorted, meals and fuel included and GS800 booked. The alternatives were the XR900 or GS1250/1300 at extra cost. Given that I don't fancy trying to pick up a 1250 after dropping it on gravel roads, the 800 will do just fine......and likely sustain less deposit bashing cost!

Currently en route to the airport to see if I can get a cheapish Business class upgrade on BA. I'll update as I go along.

The itinerary looks like:

Day 0	18-Sep​	Arrive in South Africa- 1 Night pre tour accomodation in Johannesburg
Day 1	19-Sep​	Fly to Port Elizabeth- Transfer to Addo Elephant Park
Day 2	20-Sep​	Addo rest Day with Big 5 Safari
Day 3	21-Sep​	Addo to Aliwal North
Day 4	22-Sep​	Aliwal North to Semonkong, Lesotho
Day 5	23-Sep​	Semonkong Rest Day- Visit Waterfall, do donkey pub crawl or tour the village
Day 6	24-Sep​	Semonkong to Clarens
Day 7	25-Sep​	Clarens- Golden Gate- Kwazulu Natal Battlefields
Day 8	26-Sep​	Battlefields to Swaziland
Day 9	27-Sep​	Swaziland to Hazyview
Day 10	28-Sep​	Rest Day and Safari into Kruger National Park
Day 11	29-Sep​	Hazyview to Magoebaskloof
Day 12	30-Sep​	Magoesbaskloof to Pretoria
Day 13	01-Oct​	End of Tour

My ex in-laws had a farm near Clarence, nice area. Enjoy the trip

 

[Mongoose]

Day 4 Was effectively a long highway blast towards Lesotho. 455km,which given it was my first day on a new bike ( F800gs) was a great way to read me in gently. Huge electrical storms overnight, the scale of which I don't think I've ever seen before.

Day 5 broke early, the electrical storm still raging and torrential rain so dense it was hard to see more than fifteen metres outside the hotel room. Thankfully, it cleared up after breakfast and the sun came out as we rode to the border post and cleared the paperwork to ride into the kingdom of Lesotho.

Once again, the townships were eye opening in terms of the poverty and filth on display. We passed several disused rail stations, disused now as locals stole the cabling and then the rails. There's a large anti government movement at the moment here who are intent on creating social havoc. They seem to be succeeding and conversations with white locals all lead to the line "I'm emigrating to *******" next year". They are all careful how they speak about the 'New South Africa' but their views are clear- they feel that they're in a rapidly dwindling minority and fearful of "Another Zimbabwe".

The roads in Lesotho are potholed and not in great condition, but it matters little when the views are so spectacular. Folk are friendly and a posse of white bikers are the day's entertainment in some of the towns we pass.

 

[Mongoose]

More of Lesotho......and on to Clarens.

 

[King Rat]

I fancy having a ride there too but just want a bike tour as I've already been to the parks. Not many tours do that.

Try the Western Cape and winelands. Cape Point, Buffels Bay, Chapman's Peak road, Hout Bay, Camps bay, Scarborough and Kommetje Point, Simonstown, Fishoek, have a swim in the tide pool. Going north up through Blouberg and Paternoster, Langebaan lagoon... Ernie Els vineyard and museum, Stellenbosch area. Loads to go at.

 

[Khulu]

Try the Western Cape and winelands. Cape Point, Buffels Bay, Chapman's Peak road, Hout Bay, Camps bay, Scarborough and Kommetje Point, Simonstown, Fishoek, have a swim in the tide pool. Going north up through Blouberg and Paternoster, Langebaan lagoon... Ernie Els vineyard and museum, Stellenbosch area. Loads to go at.

Great suggestions.
I've visited most of these places by car including Paarl and Tulbach but I fancied a bike ride to or from Namibia and Cape Town.

 

[King Rat]

Great suggestions.
I've visited most of these places by car including Paarl and Tulbach but I fancied a bike ride to or from Namibia and Cape Town.

You can rent a bike and DIY it.... Go east to Hermanus and see the whale caller too. We went but he wasn't there, so Anna went down to the pulpit rock and a mother and calf came in to within 20 yards of her and sprayed her with snotty breath. Dazzies on the wall to entertain and street sellers/market full of tourist tat, but some nice alikrickles and ormer shells.