Swaziland - fully charged!

Marnus · May 6, 2012

Swaziland - fully charged!

Last year December a couple of pelle went to Swaziland and I was regretting every moment of not being able to go along. The baby wasn't even 6 months old and mommy wasn't in a mood to negotiate. Four months make a lot of difference, so when Deon made the slightest mention of wanting to go back it was all-systems-go! I wasn't going to miss out again...

Soon after the group was taking shape. For the sake of a more technical weekend and to keep logistics to a minimum (I'm not big on the planning part), the group was going to be small. We ended up sending quite a lot of e-mails between us, but it turned out to be more k@kpraat than planning. With about a week to go before departure, we had a route or two to Swaziland and a track or two over there. We also only had accommodation booked for 2 of the 4 nights we would be spending there. A couple of days before departure, Drix made a plan to join us for the 1st half of the trip and Martin sorted out my soft luggage solution. And just because there wasn't enough excitement to contend with, I had a small oil leak problem sorted out in record time the day before we were to leave for Swaziland.

So we would be a party of 6:
Deon - F800GS
Quintin - F650GS Dakar
Martin - R1200GS
Daleen - F650GS twin
Drix - F800GS
Me - 990R

We arranged to meet up at BP Olympus at 07:00. Martin and Daleen was a bit late (she still had to pack the hair dryer and probably some more crap). Drix was also leaving his packing for the very last moment and was running around looking for straps and stuff. He would meet us at the Engen/Shell/whatever Ultra City One Stop something just after Witbank. So we were on our way...

Departing from BP Olympus

It was a chilly morning and I was glad I opted for my winter gloves and jacket inners. It was also the last time I would use it on this trip. We took the old road to miss the first toll gate and were on the N4 soon enough hacking our way towards Witbank for our first cup of coffee. At the One Stop, it was clear that they didn't expect the number of visitors - no coffee available. So a Coke had to do instead. Drix joined up with the rest of the group and he mentioned that he suspects some battery-related issue on his bike. He had the battery on a charger and hoped it would last.

At the toll gate after Witbank, I really wanted to pay, but the truck in front of me was taking forever to pay and go. I eventually decided to take a short detour through the toll gate office building garden. Most scenic

At Belfast we turned off the N4 - our plan to take a scenic route that included two dirt passes. But in town Drix's battery called it a day and we were stuck in a chilly breeze with hardly any shops open on a national holiday. Not that we would have been able to buy that specific battery in town anyway. A couple of minutes for logic to kick in and a plan was made. Drix suspected that somehow his battery is not getting charged. So we decided to go back to the N4 one stop, have breakfast and sort out the problem there. This one was also packed to the brim. No chance in hell to get a breakfast at the Wimpy before lunchtime. So a pie and coke it was. Deon and Drix decided to swap batteries. Deon can charge Drix's battery while Drix drains Deon's. This battery swapping exercise would happen daily from that point on.

Houston, we have a problem! Daleen was charging her battery in the sun

Jumpstarting the red 800 to get back to the N4 one stop.

Drix's bike getting a battery transplant.

With Drix up and running again we pointed towards Badplaas and stopped there at some Golf Club pub/restaurant for lunch. Interesting folk in that part of our country. Quintin realised that a side bag on his luggage came loose and fell off on the way there. Minus all his toiletries. After a beer at the bar and a cheese burger we were sorted and ready to go. Quintin and I popped in at the resort to buy him a new toothbrush. He would borrow the rest from dad (Deon).

Only missing some toiletries at the lunch stop.

Off for a beer and cheese burger.

We took an awesomely pretty gravel road through the Songimvelo game reserve towards the Josefsdal/Bulembu border post. At some point I stopped to check if all my stuff were still tied down properly and realised it was 15:50. 10 minutes before the border closes. Pity we had to rush this part, because it was really beautiful in the late afternoon. With a groot ge-jaag of the last part we ended up at the border post just in time. Quiet, efficient, friendly, no-fuss - just as I like my border posts. We stamped into Swaziland and went searching for our accommodation for the night.

Taking in some scenery on the way to the border post.

She likes the gravel more than the tar. And so do I.

We booked at the Bulembu Country Lodge. It's quite a fancy designation for an abandoned asbestos mining town in the process of being restored. It seems as if the whole place was purchased by the Bulembu Ministries organisation and now provides food, shelter and education for around 300 orphans and abandoned children. Through their logde accommodation, honey industry and lumber interests, they are aiming to be self-sufficient by 2018. Great to see how they are making it work. They don't sell alcohol there, but you are welcome to take your own... so we did

After checking in with the friendly staff (and I've seen a lot of friendliness in that country!), we were showed to our self-catering house. They have a couple of these old big houses that have been renovated for guests. Our house, Windsor Park 9 (nogal!) had something like 10 beds. This old house really reminded back to the times when we spent school holidays on the farm. They also offer very neat lodge accommodation and even have a hostel that doubles as a backpackers. Drix, Deon and Quintin were off to ravage the local shop of all the coke and other soft drinks they had. It must be quite unsual for someone to buy in bulk there, because the local shopkeeper was having difficulty relinquishing all her stock to us.

Windsor Park 9.

Our accommodation for 2 nights.

The stable full of horses.

It's like taking a trip back in time.

We decided to have their dinner for that night. Mainly because we didn't run across any shops to buy meat and stuff, or even some roadkill to braai. Dinner consisted of some nice filled chicken roll something and what can be described as potato pancakes and veggies. Only soft drinks (or milk in Deon's case) to wash it down. Martin was quite taken aback by his small portion of chicken compared to the rest of ours. He would even get a discount on his meal for the laughs we had at his expense. We retired later the night after a couple of rum/brandy & cokes, and after Drix had the flattery back on the charger.

Up next: The valley of grass and rivers

DD650 · May 6, 2012

Yes, as soon as we heard there was a trip planned for Swaziland, we cancelled all our other plans and joined this group. All the emails flying around before the time, made us very excited and we couldn’t wait for the long weekend to arrive! Friday the 27th was finally here and it was a nice cold morning. We got lazy a bit the previous night with packing and decided to finish the next morning, making us a bit late meeting the rest of the group (nothing to do with my hair dryer Marnus! ;D ).

My bike looking very sexy with its new soft luggage system.

At the kuierplek in Badplaas.

On top of the little pass – Diepgezet school.

We can see Swaziland!

Would love to ride that little road to see the views from up there – next time!

Wheels · May 6, 2012

My old home, lived at Windsor Park 9 in the 70s where my DS riding began on a Honda XL 125.

Marnus · May 7, 2012

The valley of grass and rivers

The next morning we reported for a nice english breakfast and set off towards Piggs Peak for fuel. Some guy approached Martin asking him if he was a smoker. Martin said no, to which the guy replied that he had some 'good stuff' if that was the case. I realised Martin was quite a selfish guy, not introducing his new friend to rest of us! We went north and soon hit some beautiful forestry tracks - some of the 'roads' have not seen traffic in quite a while.

Beautiful forest roads.

Catching our breaths.

The biggest pencils I've ever seen.

The little mud we encountered gives you an idea of this place in the rainy season.

I'm quite impressed with the Pirreli Scorpion ATs - but then again this was only a little patch.

Deon scaring the trees

After some rest stops, we were going to tackle a 'road' through a valley in some sort of conservation area further north. We soon realised it's pretty pointless to evaluate the condition of a specific road based on the GPS data. Except for the national roads that are tarred and shows as a red road on the GPS, anything that showed as a yellow road can either be a good gravel road or worse. Black and dotted lines can be left to the imagination. Also, Tracks4Africa's classification of roads also seems very random. Gravel, off-road and 4x4 grading seems to have little relevance to the actual state of the 'road' in question. Not that we'd minded at all, but it was nearly impossible to complete any of our planned excursions, because we kept running out of time.

Admiring the view.

A different angle.

So we took this path north through the valley. There were a number of water crossings - initially small streams feeding the Lomati river and eventually the river itself. We were soon engulfed in thick, tall grass - the kind that still towers over your head if you're up on the pegs. At places it was so thick you couldn't see the rider a couple of meters in front of you, or even the 2-spoor you were trying to follow. Here and there were little mealie fields and the occasional mud hut village. At a couple of places we lost the road completely and had to back-track to find it again.

We lost the road again and only had a foot path down a hill to get back to the track. There was a huge rock making it difficult for Deon's 800 to get past - a definite no-go for the 1200. Quintin decided to take a path around the rock and ended up getting stuck in the rocky grassy hillside. I opted for the same line and at some point ran out of talent. It was moments while the bike was leaning over to the downside with no footing to stop the bike from going down. I ended up running a couple of meters down the hill before making my way back to pick her up. Drix took another option alltogether, tracking back to try and locate the original path. He was gone a long time and eventually joined up with us again - all his energy spent and full of black jacks from his bushwacking. I guess he couldn't find the path, so he created one! Martin, noticing that the other bikes were having a lot of difficulty getting down the hill did the most sensible thing - he simply removed the rocks. It took some effort to move the huge rock, but he had a clear path down the hill. Necessity is the mother of invention...

Drix being escourted back to the group after his little detour.

Oops!

The river crossings started becoming wider and rockier. Not those little pebble rocks either - soccer ball size and bigger! And due to the complete lack of traffic on this trail, the submerged rocks were mostly covered in a slippery slime. It was challenging to ride the bikes through the rougher sections, so we had to resort to unflattering duck paddling - pointing, giving gas and legs kicking wildly to get the bikes to the other side. The wide crossings were relatively shallow, but still the water was flowing rather fast. It would be most interesting to try this again in the rainy season!

A wide and rocky crossing

Some big lurkers. And the scenerey was 1st class.

Taking a rest on the other side.

This madala caught up with us at about 3 crossings. He must have thought walking must be better if the bikes go so slow!

We were running out of time and as we exited the valley we decided to cut the orignal route short and head back to Piggs Peak for more fuel and supplies. We planned a braai for the evening, so Quintin and I went off to find some meat, while the others got stuff for braai broodjies. Even in the late Saturday afternoon, the shops were open and busy. I walked into the butchery and didn't have much hope - buckets full of intestines and worse, liver, some frozen fish, chicken parts of all sorts. But right in the corner was a tray with thinly sliced t-bone steaks and boerewors. We ordered 10 steaks and a roll of boerewors. Everything being weighed on the same scale where the previous customers' fish and binnegoed were also weighed. We would be having our steaks well done tonight

Also not expensive either - R130 for the lot. But I guess they don't have too much overheads and packaging expenses - everything got shoved into a plastic bag with some bones peeking out and all.

As we left Piggs Peak for Bulembu, it was already starting to grow dark. Drix disconnected his headlight earlier to save the battery, so he only had a parking light to negotiate the road with. Fortunately the road isn't that bad, but there are some nice ruts and sharp corners to keep you busy. I chased him down and ended up riding just behind him in the dust-free zone to help with some light on the road. We all made it safely back to Bulembu in the dark, welcomed by a braaier with wood that Deon had arranged before we had left. We didn't have firelighters, so we sacrificed a box instead. Soon enough the fire was blazing and dinner was getting ready over some more Captains & cokes. We were tired and after a hot shower I retired for some reading by candle light. This was also the last night at Bulembu and we haven't booked or paid for the next two nights. Tomorrow we will have to find a place to stay...

Next up: The dam

night ride

DD650 · May 8, 2012

So Deon warned as this morning that we should maybe take dry socks with as we will cross a few rivers. We only had 2 pairs of socks each for the weekend and thought “nah… it can’t be that bad’. Little did we know! >

As Marnus said, the day started out with some stunning forest roads with lots of twisties and switchbacks and the first bid of mud – great fun!

Drix coming through.

Martin.

Marnus first tackled the mud standing up….

But then realized it is more slippery than he thought.

Enough of the mud, let’s get going again. Marnus.

Quintin.

Time for a smoke break.

Martin.

Marnus.

Nice forest roads.

Even though we rode in shade most of time, it was still very hot! Deon taking a break.

Lots of mud and dirt – fun!

Stunning views over Swaziland!

Another little river crossing. At least this one had a bridge.

At this point the grass was still fairly short, but soon it became higher than us, even standing on the pegs. At one stage the only thing I could see, was Quintin’s tail lights – as long as I stayed within 10 meters behind him.

Riding through this grass reminded me a lot of the song “Uit op ‘n leeujag…” 8)

This little hill was quite steep and as Marnus said, he ran out of talent. Ok, I have to admit, exactly the same thing happened to me about 30 meters higher up in the path. There was just simply nothing when I tried to put my foot down.

The path was so steep, that there was just not place to put out a side stand, resulting in us having to put the bike down on the ground while lifting Marnus’ bike again. This was a purely sympathetic lie down from my bike. :biggrin:

That KTM must be very heavy as it took 4 men to lift it!

Quintin walking back up the path to help with Martin’s bike – very steep!

Stunning Swaziland!

Martin coming down the path after moving the infamous rock.

Waiting for Drix to return from his expedition.

Deon found this chain of worms, almost looking like one long snake.

And worms trying to beat each other to the top of the plant…

Drix is there somewhere in the bushes in front of Quintin.

Martin and Quintin helping Drix down the path.

The little river crossings started out small, but grew bigger and bigger until we eventually had to cross the Lomati river for the first time.

Deon crossing over.

Drix doing his thing.

I looked at how the guys with much longer legs than mine struggled and just decided there is no way I will get my bike through by myself, so graciously accepted when first Martin and then later Marnus offered to take my bike through.

Martin taking my bike through.

Drix had to lend a helping hand to get it over some of the rocks.

Quintin taking on the river.

Quintin trying to get some of the water out of his boots.

Martin and Drix trying to get the 1200 through.

Daddy long legs, AKA Marnus offering to help.

And yet another crossing.

Thanks Marnus for taking my bike.

Marnus and Quintin helping Martin with the 1200.

Quintin dashing through.

Beautiful memories.

From here it was a quick stop at one of the local shops for a nice cold Coke and then on to first Piggs Peak and then Bulembu. This was my first time riding dirt in the dark and luckily Martin fitted the HID lights on my bike before the trip. We enjoyed our braai the evening with good friends, tired but happy and looking forward to another adventure the next day, wondering what Marnus had planned for us.