Drakensberg Grand Traverse – by motorcycle

[Xpat]

Thank you - didn't recognize that 530.

 

[TinusBez]

Thanks for the share Ian, great trip.

 

[Slim Jim]

:thumleft:

 

[charliepappa]

I like those threads!!  :thumleft:

 

[billy-joe]

so was this just a day trip?  please don't misunderstand the 'just' in the sentence, I just perceived it to be further and more technical than a day's ride?

maybe I should go read the report again!  how many km was the trip?  would a 4x4 be able to do the trip?  sorry for all the questions!

 

[Bokveld]

  Not my cup of tea, but fantastic pictures.Thanks for sharing!

 

[SchalkL]

The chap with the WHITE face... was he suppose to be at work ? :laughing4:

:imaposer: :laughing4: :imaposer:

 

[TinusBez]

I phoned Ian about The Croft. It is a privately owned place.

Sehlabathebe do have accommodation/camping and he also mentioned Jonathan's lodge which is inside the park.

 

[ianhogg]

so was this just a day trip?  please don't misunderstand the 'just' in the sentence, I just perceived it to be further and more technical than a day's ride?

maybe I should go read the report again!  how many km was the trip?  would a 4x4 be able to do the trip?  sorry for all the questions!

Yes. this was a "day trip." If it wasn't we would have spent a miserable night under a rock crag wrapped in our space blankets. My speedo on return said 78.5km and on a 250 4 stroke I used 6.5 liters to give you some idea of what the going was like. My guesstimate from Iain & Stuart's recce rides was 7.5 hours but Iain had pretty good idea where we needed to go in the uncharted bit and it turned out he was spot on each time so that shrunk to an actual 6 hours. It may have been a bit easier if I had re-jetted like Fred did but probably not quicker.

4x4 drive. I would imagine that you could get from Sani Top to Rhino Peak in a 4x4. It won't do much for your resale value and take a sleeping bag because it will take you more than a day. Mashai ridge and Tsoelike catchment I think you would be building your own roads, however you would not be the first, Adam Kok  and his Griquas took 300 ox wagon over pretty similar territory.


Adam Kok's Road. The last big adventure ride to be completed in Lesotho. Iain & Stuart tried once and finished up sleeping in the mountains. He thinks he's got it right now. Any takers?


The only problem concerning this proposed exodus was to find a suitable route over the mighty Basutoland Mountains and the Drakensberg that lay between Philippolis and Nomansland. In 1859, Adam Kok set off with a hundred armed men to find a suitable route around the south of Moshoeshoe’s territory. They passed through what is now Dordrecht then to Tsomo and finally to somewhere near present day Matatiele. During this exploratory journey, they encountered tribes hostile to the Griquas and so Kok decided not to use this route but rather to trek over Basutoland. They therefore returned to Philippolis through Moshoeshoe’s country marking out a workable route over the precipitous mountains. On the way, someone was accidentally shot on the pass leading into Basutoland from the south. To this day, the route is known as Ongeluk’s Nek. Kok carved his name on a rock at the spot where the accident happened and it is still clearly visible. Kok then visited Moeshoeshe to get his permission to trek across his territory.

Kok and about 2000 followers; about 20 000 head of stock; something like 300 wagons and numerous donkey carts set off, early in 1861 to cross the mighty, uncharted and the most incredibly precipitous mountains to reach Nomansland on the eastern side of the Drakensberg range.

Having trekked past Smithfield and Zastron they camped for some time below Hangklip in the Mohales Hoek District of Basutoland. On the old Dobson map there is a village marked ‘Adam’, possibly where Kok camped. Near a place called Mekaling there are grooves chipped into a sandstone slab where the trekkers set and tightened their iron wagon wheel bands. There was a serious drought during 1961/62 and the trekkers suffered severe stock losses. They crossed the Orange River at Seaka and then trekked up the south bank of the Orange as far as Mt Mooroosi. This in itself is an arduous journey crossing many streams and gullies, valleys and steep mountains. It was, however, nothing compared to what lay ahead.

Much is written about the historical events leading up to this trek, but very little, if anything is recorded about the arduous and harrowing trek itself. Near Mt Moroosi, the Dobson Map clearly shows ‘Adam Kok’s Road’. It climbs the steep Mkochomela range near Tosing. It is said that when traversing such steep slopes throughout the trek, they fixed the two smaller front wheels of the wagon to the topside of the wagon and the two larger rear wheels to the lower side in order to level out the wagon making it less likely to tip over. (One wonders how they did this?—they must have devised an ingenious way of adapting the axles or the story may not be fact!). However, they often did dig trenches across the slope in which the upper side of the wagon ran thus levelling off the wagons.

 

[billy-joe]

very interesting, thanks Ian!  sounds like a pretty tough ride!

 

[Roxtar]

I sense a sick note is threaded into this tale somehow......... :biggrin: :imaposer:

 

[McSack]

Jeez that is a serious ride and you old bullets still seem to be goers hey

Shot for sharing Ian.

 

[ianhogg]

Hope it goes well with your big adventure Grant. Come and show us the trophy afterwards.

 

[ianhogg]

While I was trying to hunt down a copy of Capt. Dobson's 1909 map showing Adam Kok's road I came across this classic prayer attributed to Adam Kok.

In the last paragraph of her book “World Blackout” Sarah Gertrude Millin writes that in a discussion about the war situation with General Smuts in September 1940, the General said…”she (America) will come in, believe me, with us. Even then, the war remains a serious affair – yes, even with all my hopes. Did I ever tell you the prayer of Adam Kok, of the Griquas?

“He said ‘God, in spite of all our prayers, we keep on losing our battles. Tomorrow we are fighting a big battle. We need help very badly, God, and there is something I must say to you: the battle tomorrow will be a most serious affair. It will be no place, I can tell you, for children. I ask you therefore, God, not to send your Son to help us. Come yourself.”

 

[King Louis]

Orsum ... thanks for sharing! :thumleft:

 

[CUZZY]

Nice Ian. Fookin cold !

 

[Ryderod]

The chap with the WHITE face... was he suppose to be at work ? :laughing4:

Yep, was also thinking that!  :laughing4:

 

[ianhogg]

Found this nice clip of Iain McDonald and Stuart Joyner on the top of Hodgson's Peaks. Bit windy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILxuCvDX9KA&feature=youtu.be

 

[ianhogg]

Seeing as there has been a bit of interest in this over the last few days I thought I would post the actual GPS tracks and the GPS tracks I cut from it of the day trip from Sani Pass to Rhino Peak.

 

[wilfwalk]

Thanks for the historical angle. If we all knew a bit more of these historical events perhaps we’ d understand things in a better light. Wonderfully informative. Thanks