BOTSWANA 28/3 TO 1/4,,,,mgadipans and tuli block

[LuckyStriker]

watch this space

I'll be watching

 

[Lourens]

the smell of sweat and chilly pilchards mixed with tabbard is evil,

I can only imagine.  ;D ;D ;D 

Keep it coming! I love this. :thumright:

 

[iep_kruger]

part 2

rather rattled by the elephant i stop at the turnoff for platjan border post,,,this house exist along the road and was someones dream of a stopover place, but hasnt been used for a long time,,,,,theres no water and my heart is still pounding,,,,i check my gps and consider taking thge platjan border post,,,but then again i do want to see pontdrift,,,as a kid i was at pontdrift with my grandfather who built all the border posts(pontdrift, platjan, zanzibar and all the way to martins drift),,,i remember that as a child i had to climb in the tree as the elephants would come and drink water and stay there for 2 hours,,,my grandfather would sometimes just chase the loner bulls away by whipping them on their trunks with a whip,,,regular Indiana Jones

anyway i havent seen any people for miles and at some stage i get to what seems to be a farm settlement,,,,i actually see a maize field but thats protected by electric fences,,,also what seems to be a tomato land,,,,this time its fenced in with game fencing and lotsa white sacking all around the fences,,,i suppose to chase away the animals,,,

some times the road is very dusty with a very powdery blackness about them,,,othertimes its very gravelly with lotsa slippery peddles,,,all the time i see game,,,,no more elephants thank goodness,,,been there, got the skrik

pics

someones dream for a restaurant at the platjan turnoff

my kinda road,,,,notice the soft shoulders,,,surely u dont want to make a quick 180 degree turn in that


lotsa impalas,,,,,by the time i got the camera started they had all left except for some straglers

some more roads,,,always changing,,,this is very powdery black fine dust



after 20 minutes i carry on with the road to pontdrift,,,,its a great road in the sense that its being scraped all the time but the sidewalks are high and powdery,,defnite hiding place for sandmonster,,,,

 

[iep_kruger]

i approach a 90 degree turn and the sign says to respect the river crossing and not ride on the river bed,,,,am i there already,,,what river crossing,,,my gps showed nothing,,,i love the signs that say,,,,,no animals , no tourist, no money,,,makes sense

anyway i make the turn and in front is a huge dry river bed,,,,,not sure whats its called but defnite sign that at some time water does run through here,,,maybe its a spillover if the limpopo is in flood,,,,,at least the river will be crossable at the border,,,or so i think

pics
up river,,,,note the huge island on the left,,,its humungous and obviously water runs on both side past

river crossing,,,still dont know its name

down river,,,some kudu way down

 

[iep_kruger]

sorrie,,,,
pics

 

[iep_kruger]

i cross the river and impala scurry ahead as im back onto the road,,,still 2 kms to pontdrift,,,i forgot to take water and thinking about spending my last pulas on cooldrinks ,,,and then im there,,,,i see the botswana side,,,get off, get my passport and start looking for the rsa side,,,,,they show me a cablecar thats busy moving croceries from rsa to botswana,,,,,,naaah, this cannot be,,,dont tell me here isnt a bridge,,,,dont tell me i have to go back,,,


naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

no bridge,,,u can only cross by riding in the 1 metre by half metere cage across the river driven by a array of motors,,,i sit and watch in horror,,,its 3 o clock,,,,i will never make it goin back to the nearest crossing which closes anyway at 16h00,,,,im buggered,,,,

or am i,,,like a true salesman i start chatting the cablecar guys up,,,really sucking up big time,,,asking them if a bike has ever crossed,,,naaah, never they say,,,i have to go back,,,its not possible,,,it hasnt been done ever

anyway i see a sign that says max weight is 4 people,,,i bullshit them that the honda is only 2 people's weight,,,,i tell it weighs 190 kgs,,,,and they start negotiating with the other side,,,someone comes across and says i can put the bike but have to sign complete imdemity,,,which i happily do,,,the idea is that we send the honda across and i and the baggage afterwards,,,,this can work,,,i  pay all my pulas and rsa rands as well as my jack daniels tshirt ,,,the shirt clenches the deal

so i push the bike on the landing zone and push it into the trolley,,,,lotsa problems,,,cage equals 1 meter and honda equals 1.5 metres,,,,the front of the cage must close for landing on the other side meaning my back wheel hangs precariously over the edge,,,i put it in gear and tie up back,,,my back wheel dangling dangerous and the biking luying on its sumpguard i stand back and ask,,,,who will unload it on da other side,,,,,???? ja , who??? another big problem???

so then they say i must ride with,,,its the bikes 200 kgs and my 120 kgs,,,hier komma ding , my skat,,,im desperate and leave my baggage behind hoping they send it over as promised and ride the cage over the limpopo with my bike as well,,,we make it except that the landing on the otherside and the excessive weight makes that the front part of the cage can't land as its supposed,,,so im dangling in mid air,,,some guys come to my rescue and they all grab my front wheel and thank goodness the bike lands asafely on the rsa side,,,what a relief

10 minutes later my baggage arrives , all safe and sound,,,,i go to the rsa border post, stamp my book and i leave for louis trichardt where my parents have arranged a huge venison potjie for the guys,,,,,i ride throuh alldauys, vivo and straight to louis trichardt all on tar road,,,,my trip is  over,,,,

thanx legend for staying with me through thick and thin,,,thanks my friend,,,its always a honour to ride you....

thanx all the other manne,,,,,was a pleasure riding with yous all and especially to blazes for his perfect route plannings

sorrie hasta that u werent with,,,next time bru

pics

pontdrift border post,,,the botswana side

the only way across is in this cage,,,the river is full

 

[iep_kruger]

pics

here we go,,,leaving botswana and across is rsa,,,in the middle the mighty limpopo

im in the middle,,,this is upriver shot

still hanging precariously  looking downriver

goodbye botswana

 

[iep_kruger]

pics

while im going across the otherside cage must be empty,,,note the size, not meant for a bike

safely at the rsa side,,,sorrie wished i had photos of the landing but it was rather touch and go or i lost the bike to the rivergod

helloooooo rsa

 

[iep_kruger]

some more pics of my grandfathers work who built all of the border posts

 

[iep_kruger]

and last but not least,,,one very happy but tired man

after action, satisfaction

legend we made it,,,thanx

 

[iep_kruger]

ok,,,,,,

questions???????????????

 

[l3oK]

Malgat this is one of the of the best if not theeee best RR :notworthy: :wav: :wav:

 

[iep_kruger]

Malgat this is one of the of the best if not theeee best RR :notworthy: :wav: :wav:

thanx

 

[Lourens]

Malgat, your name suits you!  ;D

Great report!  Love it!

 

[blazes]

Ja Malgat Nice one Lekker Mal huh. ;D

 

[JourneyMan]

Great trip and report!

Makes me sommer lekker jaloers!

 

[tok-tokkie]

That was great.  I so like it when a report is written like this.  It can only be a South African who writes English like that.  Brilliant.  All those ,,, work for me.
Great adventure, great creative writing.

 

[CrazyPorra]

Malgat, Platjan Border post has a bridge to cross the mighty Limpopo.

But great report.

 

[Zeff Cowboy]

Baie nice

 

[GIDEON]

BEVANGE
GREAT
AWESOME