Jors Troelie
Race Dog
The long weekend of 8 August was the ideal time to venture into Swaziland which was on my bucket list for a while now. The plan was to leave at 05:00 on Saturday, and all was going according to plan until I tried to start the bike – nothing, battery dead. So, waited until the shops opened to get a new battery, gave it some 45 minutes on the charger, and eventually managed to get away just before 10am. I was now seriously late, considering the planned distance for the day.
Outside Bethal, came across this signboard. One wonders what the inmates think of it.
The remains of the old cableway between the old Havelock mine in Swaziland and Barberton can still be seen. This 20km cableway was built in the 1930’s to carry ore to Barberton. I heard from an unreliable source that people also hitched rides into Barberton in the ore buckets.
The base station in Belembu, Swaziland.
Approaching Maguga dam.
A few km’s after the dam I left the tar for the remaining 200-odd km to my destination for the evening. There was only about 3 hours of daylight left, and therefore no time to be wasted.
It was seriously getting late, and I realised I was going to drive at night. Animals stray into the roads all the time, and one has to be extra vigilant.
The sun went down with about 40km’s remaining.
After losing my way in a sugar plantation, I eventually arrived in the dark but safely at the Simunye Country Club. What the Garmin Topo map indicates as passable roads, turned out to be farm roads on private property in the sugarcane fields. After rehydrating myself with a few Sibebe’s, I had a nice T-bone steak and retired for the night. I was so impressed with my digs that I booked for the Sunday night as well. On Sunday Night I saw Biker Boy and his crew in one of the bigger timber huts, only realising it was them after reading his RR.
On Sunday my route took me with a wide loop to the South of Manzini. This is a bridge over the Lusutfu river.
…….and the Lusushwana river.
Sibebe rock to the north of Mbabane (ala Wikipedia) is the second-largest monolith in the world and the largest exposed granite pluton. In geology, a pluton is a body of intrusive igneous rock (called a plutonic rock) that is crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth.
In true African style, the road leading from the King’s residence to the international airport is top-class, even with floodlights. This is in stark contrast with the dilapidated roads in the rest of the country. Eish.
I did close to 1,600km’s in 3 days through a beautiful country with the friendliest people. For the first time in my life an immigration officer greeted me with a smile, and at no time did I feel uncomfortable. Swaziland is a stone-throw away from Gauteng, and it will certainly see me again.
Outside Bethal, came across this signboard. One wonders what the inmates think of it.
The remains of the old cableway between the old Havelock mine in Swaziland and Barberton can still be seen. This 20km cableway was built in the 1930’s to carry ore to Barberton. I heard from an unreliable source that people also hitched rides into Barberton in the ore buckets.
The base station in Belembu, Swaziland.
Approaching Maguga dam.
A few km’s after the dam I left the tar for the remaining 200-odd km to my destination for the evening. There was only about 3 hours of daylight left, and therefore no time to be wasted.
It was seriously getting late, and I realised I was going to drive at night. Animals stray into the roads all the time, and one has to be extra vigilant.
The sun went down with about 40km’s remaining.
After losing my way in a sugar plantation, I eventually arrived in the dark but safely at the Simunye Country Club. What the Garmin Topo map indicates as passable roads, turned out to be farm roads on private property in the sugarcane fields. After rehydrating myself with a few Sibebe’s, I had a nice T-bone steak and retired for the night. I was so impressed with my digs that I booked for the Sunday night as well. On Sunday Night I saw Biker Boy and his crew in one of the bigger timber huts, only realising it was them after reading his RR.
On Sunday my route took me with a wide loop to the South of Manzini. This is a bridge over the Lusutfu river.
…….and the Lusushwana river.
Sibebe rock to the north of Mbabane (ala Wikipedia) is the second-largest monolith in the world and the largest exposed granite pluton. In geology, a pluton is a body of intrusive igneous rock (called a plutonic rock) that is crystallized from magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth.
In true African style, the road leading from the King’s residence to the international airport is top-class, even with floodlights. This is in stark contrast with the dilapidated roads in the rest of the country. Eish.
I did close to 1,600km’s in 3 days through a beautiful country with the friendliest people. For the first time in my life an immigration officer greeted me with a smile, and at no time did I feel uncomfortable. Swaziland is a stone-throw away from Gauteng, and it will certainly see me again.
