I bow to the Mountain God of Ngudlintaba, and admit defeat and declare that GundaGunda, and probably no other dual-sport bike rider, will get to the point S29 36.192 E30 50.696 by bike.
In fact if anyone gets up there on a DS bike I would be delighted to buy him or her dinner at the restaurant of their choice in Durban.
But that’s the only bad news, other than almost getting beaten up (with full justification I may add) by a grumpy home owner – but I’ll get to that.
Just four bikes today. Mr and Mrs BabyBeemer on a 650Gs, and myself, OffSide and Mrs OffSide (Whose forum name I regret I can’t remember) on XTs of different vintages. We stuck pretty much to the route I published in the planning thread – Up to Kloof, down to Inanda Dam and then up onto Nanda Mountain as Mr and Mrs BB had not been there. From there we headed up North towards Ngudlintaba, took one look at my planned track, ditched the plan, and decided to push on via a scenic route to the Nagle area to another mountain top I wanted to try and ride. I had never been that far North, but the road we took was really pretty – especially after some nice rains in the last fortnight.
Up on the mountain the track I had plotted to the top took us through a small village. There was no sign of anyone there at all to ask to go through, so I just rode. The road went nowhere, and as we were about to U-turn the owner of the huts came out and karked all over us from a dizzy height – “This is a house, not a bush – you UNDERSTAND” I said I did, apologised and we high-tailed it away.
I should know better, but I thought the place was empty, and that’s a feeble excuse. Practise the courtesy that you preach Gunda.
We then tried a different route, and this time I followed Zulu custom of stopping outside a group of huts, walking in and asking the owner if it would be okay to ride up the hill. “No Problem”, he showed us the track and off we went.
This one was a little trickier than Ufudu or Ngilanyoni in that for a few hundred metres it was bumpy and rocky. After that it was okay and we could have ridden the mountain top but BB, two up on the 650 with roady tyres, wisely decided to stop, so we went back. (we got to about S29 33.692 E30 41.397)
Then off to find a waterfall. YeeHaa we found it, and wow – it’s impressive. Unfortunately we could not get a clear view down the falls from the top without hanging over a major cliff. In mapsource it is a drop of about 120m , but I don’t know how vertical it is. (it’s at S29 31.592 E30 42.679) I have already been looking for a way to get to a point for a clear view of the falls.
Reason to go back! Who’s coming?
From there we took the Wartburg/Cato Ridge road to the Hacienda on the Comrades Route near Drummond for a well-deserved drink.
All in all a great day out there – thanks to the pack for coming exploring !
A couple of picks – Elize (Mrs BB) takes a great shot from the pillion so I am looking forward to her posting.
The MoMab stadium arch from the Mgeni river.
North of Nanda mountain.
A compulsory stop at a shabeen on the way.
One of the waterfall guides.
From the lip of the falls.
Even the dog got vertigo.
Lots more exploring to do up there !!!!
In fact if anyone gets up there on a DS bike I would be delighted to buy him or her dinner at the restaurant of their choice in Durban.
But that’s the only bad news, other than almost getting beaten up (with full justification I may add) by a grumpy home owner – but I’ll get to that.
Just four bikes today. Mr and Mrs BabyBeemer on a 650Gs, and myself, OffSide and Mrs OffSide (Whose forum name I regret I can’t remember) on XTs of different vintages. We stuck pretty much to the route I published in the planning thread – Up to Kloof, down to Inanda Dam and then up onto Nanda Mountain as Mr and Mrs BB had not been there. From there we headed up North towards Ngudlintaba, took one look at my planned track, ditched the plan, and decided to push on via a scenic route to the Nagle area to another mountain top I wanted to try and ride. I had never been that far North, but the road we took was really pretty – especially after some nice rains in the last fortnight.
Up on the mountain the track I had plotted to the top took us through a small village. There was no sign of anyone there at all to ask to go through, so I just rode. The road went nowhere, and as we were about to U-turn the owner of the huts came out and karked all over us from a dizzy height – “This is a house, not a bush – you UNDERSTAND” I said I did, apologised and we high-tailed it away.
I should know better, but I thought the place was empty, and that’s a feeble excuse. Practise the courtesy that you preach Gunda.
We then tried a different route, and this time I followed Zulu custom of stopping outside a group of huts, walking in and asking the owner if it would be okay to ride up the hill. “No Problem”, he showed us the track and off we went.
This one was a little trickier than Ufudu or Ngilanyoni in that for a few hundred metres it was bumpy and rocky. After that it was okay and we could have ridden the mountain top but BB, two up on the 650 with roady tyres, wisely decided to stop, so we went back. (we got to about S29 33.692 E30 41.397)
Then off to find a waterfall. YeeHaa we found it, and wow – it’s impressive. Unfortunately we could not get a clear view down the falls from the top without hanging over a major cliff. In mapsource it is a drop of about 120m , but I don’t know how vertical it is. (it’s at S29 31.592 E30 42.679) I have already been looking for a way to get to a point for a clear view of the falls.
Reason to go back! Who’s coming?
From there we took the Wartburg/Cato Ridge road to the Hacienda on the Comrades Route near Drummond for a well-deserved drink.
All in all a great day out there – thanks to the pack for coming exploring !
A couple of picks – Elize (Mrs BB) takes a great shot from the pillion so I am looking forward to her posting.
The MoMab stadium arch from the Mgeni river.
North of Nanda mountain.
A compulsory stop at a shabeen on the way.
One of the waterfall guides.
From the lip of the falls.
Even the dog got vertigo.
Lots more exploring to do up there !!!!
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