One week - three countries

Week 3

Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?
(Hint look carefully at the sign) 

A lots happened this week. Last week it was lots of hanging around Johannesburg, this week has instead seen lots of travel, I've left South Africa, travelled through Swaziland and I'm writing this drinking a beer at a beach resort in Mozambique.

In Swaziland (trivia fact - Africa's last absolute monarchy) I spent the nights staying in three different national parks.

Traditional houses

The first two parks didn't have any large predators so I could simply walk (and ride my bike) around them  without restriction. I had a couple of really enjoyable morning hikes as a result and it felt both good to be getting some exercise again and bring able to get up close to the animals.

A cute lookin Honey Badger
(Google Honey Badger fights Lion to see what they are really like )

The third park however had hippos, rhinos and lions - not good walking or riding territory - so I went on an organized early morning game drive instead and was rewarded with these.

Mozambique hadn't initially been in my plans but after talking to the guy who fitted my new shock in Johannnesburg I was convinced it would be worth a visit. The border was crossed at Wednesday lunchtime and I approached it with some trepidation as it was the first time I would use my "carnet" the document that assists temporary importation of the bike into some countries. As it was it all went really smoothly,  queue up at a few counters, hand over the paperwork, stamp stamp and suddenly out of one country and safely into the next.

After South Africa, Mozambique feels a lot more chaotic, there's lots more hustle and bustle on the streets, crowds swarm, traffic rules are looser (lots looser), but perversely it also in many ways feels safer. I can't really explain why but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that, unlike SA, people are not forever telling you how bad crime is and how dangerous things are plus every house is not wrapped in razor wire; after awhile those things just sink into your psyche and you begin to feel there are risks everywhere. It probably also has do with me just getting more comfortable traveling again.

I spent the first night in Maputo, the capital, which has a run down charm and an energy that reminds me of Asian cities but there was not enough of it to keep me there so I  moved on the next day. I'm now moving up the east coast stopping at beach resorts as I go. Tonight I'm at Tofo a small town that positively reminds me of Bali thirty years ago: Beautiful beaches,  simple but effective tourist infrastructure and little hassle from touts - get here before it all disappears in mass market tourism.

There is always a silver lining.

Week 2 started with me making a very bouncy trip up to Johannesburg thanks to the failed shock. Until you try it you don't realize how hard it is to ride with no damping, the bike was like an uncontrolled pogo stick on occasions as it leapt from pothole to pothole. Needless to say speed was low.

The down side of the failed shock was I had to pull out of a 5 day ride that Kobus, our superb host from the weekend meeting, had invited me on. That was a bit of a downer as I got on really well with all the people going on it.

The initial part of my search for a solution in JB continued the downer feeling, local suspension specialists said the shock was not easily rebuildable and a new shock (if available) was going to be hugely expensive. My mood that afternoon was not good and the weather promptly matched it by putting on a huge hail storm. Fortunately I had seen it coming and checked into a hotel 15 minutes in front of its arrival. The hotel staffs priorities were excellent, my bike and the owners Jag got parked in the foyer for protection, everyone else's cars had to take pot luck outside.

Next days sunshine also brought a solution. A contact called "Dr KLR", I'm sure Africa's only specialist for my type of bike,  sourced and fitted a good second hand shock for me at a very reasonable price - I had been incredibly fortunate to have the failure only 200 kms from his workshop; I can only imagine how much more time consuming and expensive it would have been if it had happened further north up the continent.

Since I was in JB I decided to make the most of it, staying a couple of nights in Soweto absorbing some of the history of the apartheid struggle - a part that resonated with me since it occcured when I was at university and first started to have some political awareness. A visit to the Heater Pierterson museum, a memorial to a child who died in the riots of 1976, but also to all who suffered during the turmoil of the ending of apartheid brought me too tears, and reminded me strongly that systems you live within can so easily appear right and proper at the time, but when you look back with hindsight can be seen to be intolerably cruel.

This week also saw me undertaking the bane of all travelers - obtaining visas for onward travel - in this case for Mozambique which after hearing very positive reports is my destination next week (after Swaziland this weekend)

Underway

Week 1 on the bike and it's been a time of readjustment. Getting used to the bike again, and more crucially traveling on my own.  Departure from Cape Town was not without drama: within 30 kilometres I had a puncture,  fortunately conveniently outside a local bike shop so I didn't need to do the repairs myself.

From Cape Town it was initially a couple of very lazy days in Stellenbosch (scene of the puncture) South Africa's second oldest town. It really was quite charming full of beautiful old colonial era buildings and it would have been easy to stay longer but aware I was very aware I was still only 30 kilometres from Cape Town with a long way to go so I thought I I'd better move on.

Next halt was on many ways the true start of the journey-  Cape Agulhas - the southernmost tip of the continent and where Indian and Atlantic oceans (theoretically) join.  The aim of this journey is to eventually to finish in Nordkapp,  Norway to have done the full south,  north of the African Europe landmass.

Onwards from there was over the Swartberg Pass, a dirt road rising and then dropping a thousand metres over 20 hairpin filled  kilometres;  challenging and extremely beautiful riding.

After there I locked upon an old village called Niue Bethesda,  it had had its heyday around 1910,and seem to be almost preserved in aspic since then,all dirt streets, quirky advertising signs and we'll maintained buildings. It is of course a bit of an illusion being in fact a major tourist destination, primarily for the Owl House the quirky, and very kitsch, residence of an eccentric (and note deceased)artist.

The plan from there was to head north west into Lesotho and I got two thirds of the way there reaching the town of Burgersdorp in the Free State, a strongly Africaan area full of old buildings and Boer war relics. Intriguing place to walk around.

A change of plan happened at this point, because when I woke up on the Thursday morning my tablet announced that the annual South African meeting of the international motor cycle group I belong to was happening 600km further north, so using the flexibility inherent to single travelers I decide to head there instead.

One of my better decisions. Meeting was fantastic. Held on a private resort come game lodge owned by the organiser we were all treated royally well, with an incredibly interesting mix of both local and international travelers there, several that quickly became good friends.

Also turned out there was a second reason that going to the meeting was a good choice, my rear shock choose there to suddenly fail.  The advantage of being at the meeting was lots of local knowledge as to who to contact and the closeness to Johannesburg, where, fingers crossed, the solution lies. Tomorrow (Monday)is going to see me have a very bouncy ride there to find out if that is the case.  The plan from there was to head north west into Lesotho and I got two thirds of the way there reaching the town of Burgersdorp in the Free State, a strongly Africaan area full of old buildings and Boer war relics. Intriguing place to walk around.

A change of plan happened at this point, because when I woke up on the Thursday morning my tablet announced that the annual South African meeting of the international motor cycle group I belong to was happening 600km further north, so using the flexibility inherent to single travelers I decide to head there instead.

One of my better decisions. Meeting was fantastic. Held on a private resort come game lodge owned by the organiser we were all treated royally well, with an incredibly interesting mix of both local and international travelers there, several that quickly became good friends.

Also turned out there was a second reason that going to the meeting was a good choice, my rear shock choose there to suddenly fail.  The advantage of being at the meeting was lots of local knowledge as to who to contact and the closeness to Johannesburg, where, fingers crossed, the solution lies. Tomorrow (Monday)is going to see me have a very bouncy ride there to find out if that is the case.

A Very Successful Plan B (except for the gearbox)

Plan B consisted of us extending the hire of the 4x4 by a week and deciding to visit Lesotho on an extended trip back to Cape Town. When we had been planning our travels we'd been sorry we didn't have time to get there together, so this was a good opportunity to grab.

On our way south we stopped at the Golden Gate National Park. Arriving, fortuitously, at dusk we found the reason for the name; huge red rock cliffs glowing brilliantly in the setting sun.

Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa. It is a sort of kingdom in the clouds, a high plateau region above the plains of South Africa and lots of mountains on top of this. It's, we discovered, very poor and extremely friendly; full of those traditonal farming scenes (oxen drawn ploughs, boys on donkeys, hand tended fields) that look so beautiful but you know that mean a really tough life for the inhabitants.  It is also full of some very, very bad roads, we took the main road across the country and whilst much was fine one 45km section took nearly 3 hours, much of it in low range 4 wheel drive as we clamored up what seemed never ending boulders rises.

It  also featured some bizarre EU sponsored signs.  I presume money was also being spent on better thinngo but to be honest there wasn't much sign of it.

 For more 4 wheel drive fun we left Lesotho by the Sani Pass (which has some fame after featuring on Top Gear ), a dirtroad that starts at 2870m and then plunges by a series of alarmingly steep, full lock, hairpins, back down to the plains of South Africa.

After that it was a quick dash the 1500km back to Cape Town - meeting some incredible hospitality on the way when, as we passed through the small town of Butterworth and discovering there was no caravan park, some locals, Annan, Loretto and family, insisted we stay the night with them.

All to soon we were back in Cape Town, a couple of days R and R for both us including a trip on the cable car up Table Mountain and the sunset over Cape Town and suddenly after five and a half weeks and 11,500km of travel over.

Its been a great experience. Megans now off to Zanzibar and various other adventurous places whilst I collect my bike and start to ride north.


(And why did I write "except the gearbox" in the title, we'll it decided it didn't like the last week and that last 1500 km was done virtually stuck in fifth (of six) gear with any other selection sounding as it was about to explode - it added to the interest of the drive but we made it.

A final postscript, I've just heard back from Avis the cost of our extra hire is waived in turn for us bringing the camper back as it was - a wonderful example of customer service)