Day VIII \u2013 Springbok to Stonehenge<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
This would be the longest riding day of the tour at approximately 485 km with a mix of gravel and pavement \u2013 many of the days were around 300 to 350 km, with our shortest riding day pegged at close to 175 km.<\/p>\n
Lunch was at the summit of a huge tabletop mountain, but more importantly for Emily, John and me, it was a chance to enjoy the twisty ride down and back up the mountain on immaculate pavement.<\/p>\n
Today we would be on the longest gravel road between two towns in South Africa, and with no risk of getting lost, we were able to go at our own pace and stop when we liked. Gwen and I were riding alone when we passed a large, copper-coloured snake on the road. By the time I turned around for a better look, Bob had already stopped and was taking video of it. I slowed down beside it and it reared up, proving with its large, flat head that it was a cobra. By the time Chuckie (one of our guides) arrived in the chase van, it had slithered off into the brush.<\/p>\n
Chuckie loves snakes and will drive for hours to rescue one from someone\u2019s house. He has been bitten many times, spent weeks in hospitals and has almost died, but he continues to rescue them. When he saw Bob\u2019s video he knew it was a Cape Cobra, the second deadliest snake in southern Africa. He noticed in the video that it appeared to have been injured, and this caused concern for Chuckie. Fearless, he walked into the brush wearing just shoes and shorts and started to pull back the bushes looking for it; his hope was to capture it and nurse it back to health. He didn\u2019t find it, but told us that death comes about two hours after you are bitten by one of these snakes, if help is not sought immediately. He then informed us that we were much more than two hours away from anywhere We later found out that Cathy, one of our group, had run over it.<\/p>\n
Of all the places we stayed on this trip, Stonehenge was by far the most unique, albeit a little rough around the edges in comparison to the other beautiful and luxurious resorts. Riding on a very rough road across three farms, and past the edge of a small cemetery with rock piles signifying the graves, we came to the edge of more than 8000 acres that house the Tankwa Tented Camp \u2013 aka Stonehenge, and the home of AfrikaBurn (similar to Nevada\u2019s Burning Man festival). Bordering the Tankwa Karoo National Park, the tented camp, partly owned by Henk, our tail gunner, contains permanent safari tents with comfortable memory-foam beds, shower and washroom facilities, bar area, restaurant, fire pits and fire-heated hot tub. Interestingly, the vehicle seats surrounding one of the fire pits were taken from the actual vehicles used in Fury Road, a new Mad Max movie, which was partly filmed in Namibia.<\/p>\n
Sunsets are a big deal during Renedian Adventures tours, and we ventured off many times to view them. Part of the grandeur of the Stonehenge sunset was the speech that Henk gave just before the sun went down, making it the most moving sunset that I, or any of the other guests, had ever experienced.<\/p>\n
Of all the places we had stayed up to that point, the tented camp was the most memorable, partly because it was a late departure the next morning, so we could stay up a bit later in the distinctive bar area, but mostly because of the camaraderie that the evening offered.<\/p>\n
Day IX \u2013 Stonehenge to Aquila<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter stopping for coffee at Tankwa Padstal, a small coffee shop in the middle of nowhere that sold everything from pregnancy tests to horseshoes, we proceeded over the Katbakkies Pass on the gravel and paved \u2013 but rough \u2013 road. The top of the pass offered views of the massive valley far below and the next set of mountains beyond that.<\/p>\n
Henk and Chuckie prepared the day\u2019s safari-style lunch at a scenic look-off on top of Gydo Pass, high above the town of Ceres. Henk told us of the importance to the world\u2019s fruit and juice supply of the valley far below, an area called Africa\u2019s fruit basket.<\/p>\n
Our stop for the night was at Aquila Private Game Reserve. This game reserve was the only place in our travels where we saw Africa\u2019s \u201cbig five.\u201d This doesn\u2019t refer to actual size, but rather, it reflects how difficult and dangerous the lion, leopard, elephant, Cape buffalo and black rhino are to hunt on foot. Being on foot in a place like this is extremely dangerous, so getting out of the safari vehicle is not permitted. That doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t get close to the action; at times, we were only three metres away from hippos, rhinos, lions and elephants. It was here where two elephants forced us to reverse down the road as they walked toward us and showed no signs of backing down.<\/p>\n
Aquila is one of the more extravagant places we stayed at during the tour. The patio of our stone cabin looked into the fenced game reserve, and just five metres away were Cape buffalo grazing at the river\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n
This was the last day with any gravel, and it was discussed at dinner how everyone would miss the excitement that gravel offered; even those who came on the trip with no previous gravel experience. I should also note that no one went down, even in the most harrowing road conditions. I have to say, congratulations to all of the riders on the tour.<\/p>\n
Day X \u2013 Aquila to Arniston<\/strong><\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t surprising that our weather was perfect in a region of Africa that enjoys 300 days of sunshine annually, but it was our turn to hit one of the other 65 days. This was the only day we had rain on the whole trip, but it only lasted for about two hours.<\/p>\n
We wound our way down to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point on the African continent and the official dividing line that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Indian Ocean. It wasn\u2019t particularly windy as we stood on the rugged coastline, but the waters were extremely turbulent as the currents of the two oceans clashed.<\/p>\n
Half an hour away was Arniston, which is half traditional fishing village and half seasonal holiday resort. There is no wharf in town, as the seas are too rough; instead, all of the small fishing boats are brought up on shore after each day\u2019s outing. The original fishing village is a clutter of small, whitewashed houses with thatched roofs, the style of which seems to be unique to the immediate area. Our evening meal was in a small house-turned-restaurant that served traditional dishes, including the catch of the day. The jumbled network of streets didn\u2019t follow any rhyme or reason, but instead, just wound in and out between houses. A few of us got very misplaced in the dark on the way back to our hotel, trudging through backyards and getting turned around many times.<\/p>\n
Day XI \u2013 Arniston to Stellenbosch<\/strong><\/p>\nThe southern regions boast a healthy economy, as evidenced by the hustle and bustle of the towns. This is largely from the tourist trade, but the farms with cash crops and livestock are far more plentiful, and the foliage is green and vibrant. With first-world culture comes a difference in food as well. What was game in Namibia and northern South Africa gradually vanished from menus, and beef and chicken became the norm as we travelled farther south.<\/p>\n
Our first stop of the day was lunch in the town of Hermanus, a pretty town and a tourist hot spot, full of caf\u00e9s and upscale shops. The centre of town is perched high atop cliffs that look out onto the South Atlantic, and it\u2019s one of the best places in the world to watch southern right whales as they frolic just off shore. In addition to whale watching, the area is rife with beaches up and down the shoreline.<\/p>\n
We hugged the coast after Hermanus, cliffs on one side of the road and the most amazing blue ocean on the other, eventually arriving at Monkey Town, a private primate sanctuary where Rene\u2019s wife, Colette, grew up.<\/p>\n
As detailed in his book, The University of Gravel Roads, Rene spent four years travelling around the world on his BMW 650 Dakar and fell in love with southern Africa, and with Colette. They kept in touch while he continued his world excursion, and the rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n
Colette\u2019s mother started Monkey Town as a primate rescue about 20 years ago, and over the years, it has developed according to a concept where the people are enclosed in fenced walkways and the monkeys can freely roam the property\u2019s forested area. Monkey Town features about 300 types of monkeys, baboons and apes, including three chimpanzees.<\/p>\n
We finished our day\u2019s ride in downtown Stellenbosch, a region that produces 17 percent of South Africa\u2019s wine. Our accommodation was the Stellenbosch Hotel; whitewashed with black trim, it was built in 1876 and has been declared a national monument.<\/p>\n
Day XII \u2013 Stellenbosch<\/strong><\/p>\nThis was our second-last day of the trip, and a non-riding day. Stellenbosch is South Africa\u2019s second-oldest town, and the hotel is located in an old, but diverse neighbourhood; there are lots of unique shops, pubs and restaurants for those wishing to just hang around. Gwen tagged along on a wine-tasting tour, while others went on a spirited ride around the local mountain passes with Henk as their guide. Bob, Ian, Paul, Emily and I chose to go cage-diving with great white sharks at Gansbaai, the great white shark capital of the world. It was an exhilarating but menacing feeling, having 4.5-metre meat-eating predators with open mouths \u2013 displaying razor-sharp teeth \u2013 swimming within arm\u2019s length of the cage.<\/p>\n
Day XIII \u2013 Stellenbosch to Cape Town<\/strong><\/p>\nOur last day on the tour was bittersweet, but the day also held some of the most amazing riding. Although it is only 50 km to Cape Town by main roads, we made it a day of riding by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Chapman\u2019s Peak Drive. The day also took a little longer, as Cathy, Jeni and Gwen and I got misplaced in traffic and roundabouts leaving Stellenbosch. One of Rene\u2019s rules at our initial rider\u2019s meeting was that if anyone loses the group, they should go back to the last place the group was together. And the rule works. The four of us went back to the Stellenbosch Hotel and waited for Henk to arrive to lead us to the rest of the group.<\/p>\n
We stopped briefly at Boulder Beach to witness endangered African penguins in one of their natural habitats, amongst the long grasses beside the boardwalk and sunning themselves on the beach.<\/p>\n
Our trip was nearing an end, and one of our last roads to ride was magnificent. Chapman\u2019s Peak Drive, built between 1915 and 1922, was once regarded as a major feat of engineering, as its 114 curves over nine km were carved out of the mountainside, and it features a sheer cliff face on one side and very long drop to the water on the other side. Before arriving at the tollbooth at the end of the road, many of us turned around for another trip up and down the coast to repeat the thrill of this spectacular ribbon of tarmac.<\/p>\n
As we pulled into our final destination, the Protea Hotel on Cape Town\u2019s waterfront, we were all a little melancholy, knowing that when we dismounted our bikes, it would mark the end of 13 days of the most amazing roads and scenery we could ever have imagined.<\/p>\n
Bob had it right when he said, \u201cThis trip has been like the Cabot Trail, Rocky Mountains and Niagara on the Lake all rolled into one.\u201d Although he did fail to mention the amazing Namib Desert that we experienced.<\/p>\n
Ending the Trip of a Lifetime<\/strong><\/p>\nSomewhere along the trip, Henk said, \u201cThis isn\u2019t a culinary tour, nor is it a photography tour, it\u2019s a motorcycle tour.\u201d He could have added that it isn\u2019t a resort tour. I agree to disagree. While it is first and foremost a motorcycle tour, it could easily pass as any of the others. The food was as outstanding as the accommodation and the photo opportunities.<\/p>\n
None of us went on this trip with any defined expectations other than to ride motorcycles in a foreign land and to have fun doing it. Every day seemed to exceed the previous day in sights and experiences and the excitement of the road. By the time we reached each day\u2019s destination, we were completely satisfied with the day\u2019s events and the experiences we were fortunate enough to have witnessed.<\/p>\n
Jeff mentioned, \u201cThe places we stayed and ate at were uniformly great, very often with a unique aspect in the setting, or local experience. The highlights though, were the biking itself and the great places we got to see \u2013 there is a huge diversity in a relatively short travel distance in this part of the world, and the combination of all this made for a trip of a lifetime for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are always water- and food-quality concerns when travelling. While you must get appropriate shots regardless of where you travel, not one of our group had problems. In fact, Paul said, \u201cThe food was great and there were no issues with water; despite all the horror stories I heard before I left, none of that was true.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is something about Africa that gets into your blood and it just doesn\u2019t let go, drawing you back. After 20 days, we didn\u2019t want to leave. Rene, Henk and Chuckie were perfect hosts \u2013 very professional and accommodating \u2013 and since this trip was so successful, we will be returning. Motorcycle Mojo will host another Renedian Adventure, the Waterfalls and Wildlife tour, in August 2014. This tour is 99% pavement, takes in six game safaris and includes an overnight stay at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. For more information, visit motorcyclemojo.com or renedian.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From dust to diamonds, cobras to kudu, Namibian desert to high mountain passes, the last half of the tour offers a varied landscape, spectacular riding and a wide cross-section of African culture Part One, in the March 2014 issue, described our visit to Etosha National Park and our first few days of riding in Namibia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":29361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[326,228],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Motorcycle Touring Trip Across the African Continent<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n