Grootseun
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2006
- Messages
- 4,674
- Reaction score
- 482
- Location
- The bottom... and digging
- Bike
- BMW F800GSA
I olnly realized that the crocodile rive stretches further than just the hartebeestpoort dam, while driving to friends of our’s game farm near bela-bela. When most people drive to bela-bela they take the booooooooooooring highway. I opted for the more “adventurous” route of the R511/0 on the other side of Brits, that is when i saw that the crocodile river stetches through the bushveld, and on to Thabazimbi.
While having a look around my “valley” where i live, i noticed that the crocodile river starts above the Nelson mandela botanical gardens. We often go there as a family, and the kids love it. There is an impressive waterfall and some Black eagle nests. A short distance above this waterfall is the origin of the crocodile river.
I plotted the route in mapsource to follow the river a close as i can, to where it joins the Marico River, that eventaully becomes the Limpopo river. The route worked out to about 350km one way. Which means i was looking at about a 700km round trip.
I looked at the distance and thought it may be a good indication of the timing i will be facing when travelling to the bash, in one day. There is more or less the same amount of tar to dirt ratio in my Route to boegoeberg.
The day dawned for my trip, and after my wife made me quite paranoid about travelling this route alone, i decided to post a planned route in case of emergency.
My GPS had sunrise at 6:10am. My bike and i was ready, we hit the road at 6am.
6:10 my bike and i was ready to roll, after quickly picking up bread and milk for the wife and kids from the garage. I set off to find the start of the crocodile river.
I had these ideas of the water bubbling out from the rocks and merrily flowing all the way down throught the hills etc. This is as close as i got.
Majestic gates. Somewhere on the other side of this property is the origin...
So much for getting up close and personal. I rode up to Ontdekkers road, where i could get a picture of the aparent origin of the crocodile river. The altidude is around 1750m
I got to quite a nice lookout point just above the botanical gardens.
This is the view from the top of the waterfall (taken on a previous trip to the gardens.)
The river then makes its way through the gardens all the way to the Hartebeestpoort dam. I did not spend too much time documenting this, as it is a well known area that i have ridden a thousand times, mostly i want to get it over and done with, as it is on the other side of the dam, that the fun starts.
I crossed the dam wall and throught brits (do they only speak english in Brits???), i followed the road (and the river) towards Thabazimbi. At this stage the road is all tar, and it is what makes a DS bike awesome, not having the logistical nightmare of a trailer etc.
A Couple of km’s after brits i turned of the main road, here I crossed the Cocodile river.
Then right onto some more tar. I saw a petrol station and decided to fill up. I still had about 200km to do, and i was unsure about fuel around my destination (lack of planning)
Bought a coke and a packet of chips (padkos for later)
The dirt road skirts the main tar closely, and low and behold, greenery, almost like in the cape, just not as green and without the mountains...but still not too shabby for the highveld just after winter.
I had my packet of chips and drank my coke. A nice looking “boeremeisie” passed in a 4x4 bakkie and waved enthusiastically, with a big smile...i almost choked on the chips in my mouth...
Very pretty:
Onwards i pushed. The road follows the river in fairly close proximity, farmlands between the road and the river is the norm.
There are 2 dams that the crocodile river flows into and out again, lots of birdwatchers crowding the bridges..
The farms gets left behind, and the private game reserves start appearing, loooong disrt highways and bone dry bush.
Going north, i passed Thabazimbi to the left, a lovely piece of road, with the mountains being destroyed by the mines to the left and right. Such a shame.
The temperature rose drastically, it felt like someone was blowing hot air into my helmet with a hairdryer. The roads are badly corrucated, with a soft sand “middel-mannetjie” that is high. Slower than 90km/h and it feels like the mechanical bull is gonna chuck you off any second. Speed up and its managable. There was some hard-pack patches between the soft sand that has essentially become a tweespoor road from endless farm bakkies travelling the roads.
Not far from my destination, i came to this bridge. It is the last croco-crossing of the day.
Lovely, there was even a slightly cooler breeze over the river, but i am sure it was my imagination.
The other side:
And a poser:
I wanted to stay here a while longer, but i was on a tight schedule.
One last piccy of my faithfull steed:
Then i pushed forward to my goal for the day: to see where the crocodile river joins the marico river to form the limpopo.
I was on the border of SA and botswana. And this only about 350kms from my door.
After a 20 minute ride, the GPS shows that i have arrives at my destination, and low and behold, the trip started with a gate... and ended with one.....disapointing to say the least.
The road forward towards more farms that skirt the limpopo.
I turned around.
My route planning stopped right here. I had about 200kms of fuel left, and i was not sure which way i was going to take home. I checked for the nearest fuel on my GPS, and it’s only 3km’s away....in botwsana.
Just after the last bridge there was a small petrol station i rode there only to find a sign stating: No diesel, No petrol, the shop was closed... no nothing.
I pointed my GPS to thabazimbi only a few kms away. Filled up while being stared at like an alien...
Took the tar home, stopped at beestekraal stasie for 2 Zamaleks nice place.
Got home just before 3pm.
What a day. Awesome riding, on my ace.
GPS Stats:
PS. I love my Dakar.
While having a look around my “valley” where i live, i noticed that the crocodile river starts above the Nelson mandela botanical gardens. We often go there as a family, and the kids love it. There is an impressive waterfall and some Black eagle nests. A short distance above this waterfall is the origin of the crocodile river.
I plotted the route in mapsource to follow the river a close as i can, to where it joins the Marico River, that eventaully becomes the Limpopo river. The route worked out to about 350km one way. Which means i was looking at about a 700km round trip.
I looked at the distance and thought it may be a good indication of the timing i will be facing when travelling to the bash, in one day. There is more or less the same amount of tar to dirt ratio in my Route to boegoeberg.
The day dawned for my trip, and after my wife made me quite paranoid about travelling this route alone, i decided to post a planned route in case of emergency.
My GPS had sunrise at 6:10am. My bike and i was ready, we hit the road at 6am.
6:10 my bike and i was ready to roll, after quickly picking up bread and milk for the wife and kids from the garage. I set off to find the start of the crocodile river.
I had these ideas of the water bubbling out from the rocks and merrily flowing all the way down throught the hills etc. This is as close as i got.
Majestic gates. Somewhere on the other side of this property is the origin...
So much for getting up close and personal. I rode up to Ontdekkers road, where i could get a picture of the aparent origin of the crocodile river. The altidude is around 1750m
I got to quite a nice lookout point just above the botanical gardens.
This is the view from the top of the waterfall (taken on a previous trip to the gardens.)
The river then makes its way through the gardens all the way to the Hartebeestpoort dam. I did not spend too much time documenting this, as it is a well known area that i have ridden a thousand times, mostly i want to get it over and done with, as it is on the other side of the dam, that the fun starts.
I crossed the dam wall and throught brits (do they only speak english in Brits???), i followed the road (and the river) towards Thabazimbi. At this stage the road is all tar, and it is what makes a DS bike awesome, not having the logistical nightmare of a trailer etc.
A Couple of km’s after brits i turned of the main road, here I crossed the Cocodile river.
Then right onto some more tar. I saw a petrol station and decided to fill up. I still had about 200km to do, and i was unsure about fuel around my destination (lack of planning)
Bought a coke and a packet of chips (padkos for later)
The dirt road skirts the main tar closely, and low and behold, greenery, almost like in the cape, just not as green and without the mountains...but still not too shabby for the highveld just after winter.
I had my packet of chips and drank my coke. A nice looking “boeremeisie” passed in a 4x4 bakkie and waved enthusiastically, with a big smile...i almost choked on the chips in my mouth...
Very pretty:
Onwards i pushed. The road follows the river in fairly close proximity, farmlands between the road and the river is the norm.
There are 2 dams that the crocodile river flows into and out again, lots of birdwatchers crowding the bridges..
The farms gets left behind, and the private game reserves start appearing, loooong disrt highways and bone dry bush.
Going north, i passed Thabazimbi to the left, a lovely piece of road, with the mountains being destroyed by the mines to the left and right. Such a shame.
The temperature rose drastically, it felt like someone was blowing hot air into my helmet with a hairdryer. The roads are badly corrucated, with a soft sand “middel-mannetjie” that is high. Slower than 90km/h and it feels like the mechanical bull is gonna chuck you off any second. Speed up and its managable. There was some hard-pack patches between the soft sand that has essentially become a tweespoor road from endless farm bakkies travelling the roads.
Not far from my destination, i came to this bridge. It is the last croco-crossing of the day.
Lovely, there was even a slightly cooler breeze over the river, but i am sure it was my imagination.
The other side:
And a poser:
I wanted to stay here a while longer, but i was on a tight schedule.
One last piccy of my faithfull steed:
Then i pushed forward to my goal for the day: to see where the crocodile river joins the marico river to form the limpopo.
I was on the border of SA and botswana. And this only about 350kms from my door.
After a 20 minute ride, the GPS shows that i have arrives at my destination, and low and behold, the trip started with a gate... and ended with one.....disapointing to say the least.
The road forward towards more farms that skirt the limpopo.
I turned around.
My route planning stopped right here. I had about 200kms of fuel left, and i was not sure which way i was going to take home. I checked for the nearest fuel on my GPS, and it’s only 3km’s away....in botwsana.
Just after the last bridge there was a small petrol station i rode there only to find a sign stating: No diesel, No petrol, the shop was closed... no nothing.
I pointed my GPS to thabazimbi only a few kms away. Filled up while being stared at like an alien...
Took the tar home, stopped at beestekraal stasie for 2 Zamaleks nice place.
Got home just before 3pm.
What a day. Awesome riding, on my ace.
GPS Stats:
PS. I love my Dakar.
