Darkest Africa (Minxy's Video Added)

[JonW]

Did a very enjoyable ride this weekend with Bullet, Dawie Roos, Minxy, HSK and my brother, Epilot aka Evan.

All of them travelled down from Gauteng, trailering their bikes. Evan stayed with me in Hilton while the others all checked into Zingela Lodge on the Tugela River. The plan was to meet them in Middelrus at 08h00 on Saturday morning and then spend the rest of the day riding in the area. Having to get to Middelrus from Hilton by 08h00 meant an early start, so Evan and I set off at 06h30, riding one of my favourite routes tthrough Karkloof to Muden where I needed fuel and then on to Middelrus, Evan on his 690 and me on my 520.

We arrived at Middelrus a bit late to find the others already there, all of them on KTM 500's, Dawie's being brand new for this ride.

First stop was a quick visit to Mooi River / Zulu Falls, then a short dirt road ride to where the first of the rocky tracks started.

We had just got onto the trail when Evan let us know that his 690's fan wasn't coming on and the bikes temperature was edging into the red. There was no way Evan could continue the trip without a fan, there was going to be plenty slow technical riding coming up. Luckily Dawie knew what to do and by-passed the thermostat switch, which meant that the fan ran all the time, but that was great and the 690 was sorted for the rest of the trip. In fact none of the bikes gave any issues at all on the ride after that.

Some pics:

 

[BIGMAC]

Nice One Jon i need to join you sometime been very slack 

 

[Minxy]

What a ride this was! Will add in some pics as we go along

 

[JonW]

What a ride this was! Will add in some pics as we go along

Thanks Minxy, glad you enjoyed it, please add your pics.
I was very impressed with the way you handled your KTM 500 in the rocks  :ricky:

 

[BIGMAC]

Jon you take them up the Rocky Horror Road ???

 

[JonW]

The KTM 500 was definitely the weapon of choice on this trip

 

[JonW]

Jon you take them up the Rocky Horror Road ???

Not this time Blake  :biggrin:

 

[JonW]

Some nice rocky hills getting out the valley

 

[JonW]

We were lucky we did this trip in mid winter, we still sweated buckets though. Summer temperatures in this area are something else.

 

[JonW]

And then we were out of the valley and had a relaxed ride into Muden for beers and cheeseburgers at the famous Uncle Bucks.

 

[JonW]

And then after a quick re-fuel in Muden it was off to the bushveld tracks of Darkest Africa.

 

[JonW]

And then finally down to the Bushmans River that runs through the Darkest Africa campsite.

My brother Evan and I had family commitments back in Hilton so we weren't able to join the others staying overnight at Zingela Lodge, so we had a fast 2 hour ride back to Pmb, getting home just as the sun was setting.

Thanks all for another awesome ride  :ricky:

 

[mtr89]

Looks like a big jol!
Damn i need a 500 in my garage

 

[Minxy]

What a ride this was! Will add in some pics as we go along

Thanks Minxy, glad you enjoyed it, please add your pics.
I was very impressed with the way you handled your KTM 500 in the rocks  :ricky:

I was so sore on Sunday though it felt like the rocks handled me hahahahaha :imaposer:
But awww thanks Jon! I love that 500, I think I would have died taking anything else up there. It is an incredible bike It feels like it has opened new doors into the world of "extreme" adventure riding for us. I'm no enduro rider, but the 500 made this ride possible for me, and rewarding and fun!

 

[Sheepman]

Lekker report on the big singles Jon  :thumleft: The more I see what they are capable of, the more I realise the need for one 

 

[JonW]

I sometimes feel that I am "cheating" on my 520 because it makes tech riding such a pleasure, but I think the 500's are just in another league.

 

[JonW]

Here are some pics that Bullet took of our trip, i'm sure he won't mind me posting them here.

 

[JonW]

And some more taken by Bullet

 

[JonW]

More of Bullet's pics, taken at Zingela Lodge

You can see he really loves his 500

 

[Epilot]

Thanks Jon, awesome ride. I really have to get fit and do this more often. Really glad Dawie managed to sort out the 690 and I didn’t hold everyone up too much.