ADV South Africa 2014

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Proposed route for a pencilled-in moto 'adventure' to South Africa by the Derbyshire/Yorkshire/Staffordshire MotoMates in the spring - September 2014:

Boksburg-Vryburg-Kathu-Upington-Grunau-Springbok-Calvinia-Carnarvon-Kimberley-Bloemfontein-Clarens-Ladysmith-Barberton-Boksburg.

Total: 4,000km (2,485miles)/60h
10 days riding. About 400km/6h per day.
Route/itinerary flexible.
Accommodation TBA.

Alternative Route:

View ADV South Africa 2014. Barberton, Phalaborwa, Thabazimbi, Gaborone, Rustenburg, Boksburg. in a larger map

This alternative route is about 2,000km (1,242miles) and about 20 hours riding:
Boksburg-Barberton-Nelspruit-Phalaborwa-Tzaneen-Thabazimbi-Gaborone-Rustenburg-Boksburg.

Here are a few photos to help you make up your mind:

SA/Namibia 2011 - Day 9. Grunau to Springbok.

View 9th Sept: Grunau to Springbok in a larger map

I woke quite early. The early morning sunshine in Southern Africa makes it very easy to get up and get out. Also I had to turn over my clothes and stuff on the water pylon. By the time breakfast was over my clothes would be dry. That was the plan - and also to take my mates a cup of tea. I'm like that. Tea at dawn whether you want it or not!

Dawn - for sure.

We packed our stuff - it didn't take long! I found this scoundrel trying to make off with my bike.......

Possession is nine-tenths of the law, but we settled the ownership quickly. He is R5 better off and I have a motorbike to ride.

We headed for the security gate. Nestor the guard (17 years old and speaks five languages) saluted us. Just one thing Nestor .......... the gate!

Any excuse to stop at a stopping pace and to enjoy a brief chat in the sunshine. Mike F is checking his oil level. The bikes never missed a beat. I'll put some stats at the end re fuel consumption - which was excellent.

Mike F, Tony E, Graeme W, Andy M and John K. John M taking the picture! These stopping places are brilliant. Nowhere else in the world have I seen such excellent roadside rest facilities. South Africa and Namibia, I congratulate you.

It looks like I am travelling excessively light. Actually I also had a backpack - a Kriega R25 and a Kriega US-10 - the US -10 is on the bike. When we got to Cape Town I sent some stuff back with Andy which had proved to be excess baggage on the trip. Besides my motorbike kit - helmet, jacket, pants, boots and gloves, I ended up with three shirts, three u/pants, one jeans, three socks, one fleece, one shoes and one Crocs. The Crocs were specifically for walking on the beach at Durban!!

We reached the Orange River after 138 km, and once again entered beautiful South Africa. Namibia had been brilliant and we are kind of sad to be leaving such a wonderful country behind. I am sure that we will be back. As I said at Luderitz, maybe we can ship our own motorcycles into Walvis Bay next time and start the journey from there. Zambia (?) Zimbabwe (??) Botswana (???). I will start saving my pension for the NEXT Southern African Adventure. Anyone else want to come with?

I have seen the Vaal, the Limpopo, the Zambesi, and recently the Fish rivers, but my favourite river remains the Orange.

This view is looking east.

It had been our intention to photograph this impressive koppie of rocks northbound. We did not miss the opportunity this time. Aren't these rocks just amazing?

We are through the hills lining the Orange River now and, having climbed several hundred metres, we are now shooting straight for Springbok 121 km from the border.

Springbok ahead .......

....... just beyond those hills is Steinkopf and then only 52 km to go!

The vegetation (and wild life) is increasing by the mile.

The flowers are starting to appear again.

The colours are brighter.

We can't resist stopping for a closer look.

I could spend weeks here.

Finally we ride into Springbok. We have booked ahead (from Luderitz) for three rooms at the Springbok Lodge where we stayed before. Mr Jopie Kotze (Receptionist of the Year 19??) was obviously just as pleased to see us this time as he was the first time we rolled up at his establishment and requested rooms 'in the middle of the flower season!' 

Jopie is owner, manager, receptionist and most importantly cashier. He always has a ready smile for his favourite guests!

We were assigned three rooms in Die Stoor 75 m up the road. Same as before. It was good to be back in Springbok. Tomorrow we would be riding south and then east to Calvinia, but tonight it was time for some Klippies and some Kingklip or Kudu followed by a few Witblitzes from Jopie Kotze.

Distance Today: 259 km. 161 miles.

Total Trip: 2 310 km. 1 435 miles.

SA/Namibia 2011 - Day 8. Luderitz to Grunau.

View 8th Sept: Luderitz to Grunau in a larger map

Its Thursday and we really have to leave Luderitz. On the ride north and west we liked Grunau and Springbok so much that we phoned back yesterday and made reservations for accommodation at both places. It is 489 km to Grunau. We plan to refuel and have coffee at Aus and then refuel and get some lunch at Keetmanshoop. It is only 123 km to Aus.

The weather is not so brilliant when we set out.

Very cool and low overcast. But we know that as we progress eastwards the temperature will increase and the sun will burn off the clouds.

Sand and Stratus ...... thanks Andy, you can get back on your motorbike now.

Somewhere over the horizon are blue skies and warm temperatures ... 

It DID warm up after about 100 km. Soon after that we turned off the highway into the charming little village of Aus. We refuelled and then pulled in to the Bahnhof Hotel - jewel of the Sperrgebiet.

Our parking needs more practise. I usually insist on herring-bone, but nobody listens!

Coffee and sun on the beautiful deck. What's not to like?

If you have a plane and want to land there, here are the co-ordinates: S 26 40 078 E 016 17 628 - I just thought you would like to know.

'Raus raus - we have to leave Aus!' Next stop KMH. Some of our group can't say 'Keetmanshoop', but they CAN say KayEmAitch!

We passed a lovely Quiver tree..........

....... and the group stopped to take a picture. Tony E, being very observant, looked at not only the tree, but also at the sand under his motorcycle. It should have been dry and dusty, but it was slightly black and oily! Oooops - the BMW had thrown a clutch-housing bolt! Japan 1. Germany 0.

Andrew, being a skilled dentist, and used to plugging horrible holes with sharpened wood, effected a repair before you could say 'Aaaaagh........'

BMW 650 Clutch-Housing.

....... and a beautiful job too I'm sure you will agree. If his glamourous nurse had been assisting him, I am confident that the blood oil would have been carefully and sensitively wiped away!

Onwards and eastwards - with a 5-degree turn onto 085 ahead I see! But I get very tired at about noon and my concentration (poor at best) starts to wain. A ten minute nap does it for me. The guys are very patient and they understand completely. While I sleep they walk around in the dust kicking rocks and muttering stuff like, 'He should be shot at the first available dawn.'

Any questions ........ ?

The road to Keetmanshoop.

We got back on the road. Tony E and Graeme W decided to go ahead to KMH and look for a garage with a bolt for the BMW. There they are racing off towards the horizon. We would RV with them at the refuelling stop on the B1 3 km south of KMH.

About an hour later, at the Keetmanshoop Engen, Tony and Graeme roared in with big grins on their faces. On entering the outskirts of the town they spotted a scrap yard. It was closed and as Graeme said, 'Even the scrap yard dog didn't make an appearance.' However, a few minutes later a woman pulled up and said that the yard was her brother's place. She phoned him and soon the gate was unchained, the dog barked, and the owner was very helpful. He found a likely looking bolt - wrong length and wrong thread! No problem. He cut it and re-threaded it and fitted it. No charge! What a bonzer bloke!! I think Tony insisted on R50 changing hands.

This is the sort of thing that makes your day and puts a smile on your face every time you think of it. I bet you anything that bolt will be on that bike until the bike ends up in a scrapyard.

Soon we were back at Grunau (still no umlauts you'll notice) at the Shell refuelling station. We are now just five minutes from R&R at the Country House and a Castle Lager. It has been another great day.

Distance Today: 489 kilometers. 304 miles.

Total Trip: 2 051 kilometers. 1 274 miles.

SA/Namibia 2011 - Day 6. Grunau to Luderitz.

View 6th Sept: Grunau to Luderitz in a larger map

Every place that we stay at we find ourselves reluctant to leave. Grunau's Country House (click) was special (Thank you Altus & Izane) and, for me, epitomized this trip in the best possible way.

"Au revoir Country House." I have a feeling that we will be back!

The tar B1 was about 600m away from the hotel. We intrepid bikers managed the sand with no mishaps! - Well maybe a slight tank-slappy skid!

But we all made it to the asphalt and the north!

The wide open spaces, blue skies, good visibility and virtually traffic-free roads are, to me, perfect motorcycling conditions. I don't need twisties, traffic, hedges and wet. Purring along at about 110 kph (4000 rpm on the Tenere) and being almost at one with the environment is as close to pure contentment as one can get. Save the Earth; it's the only planet with motorcycles!

The initial intention for today was to overnight in Keetmanshoop. I had heard that it was an interesting town and that the German Club was a good place to visit, if not to stay. So, KMH, here we come!

Just outside KMH we pulled into an Engen for fuel for the motorbikes and for ourselves. 95 Octane for the bikes, Hashbrown Splashdown and coffee for us! Just as we were leaving two motorbikers pulled in - a Kawasaki KLR and a BMW F650GS Dakar. We got chatting, as one does, and I said, 'Have you and your girlfriend come far?' or something to that effect. He said, 'Cairo. And that is not my girlfriend, it's my daughter.' They were great. We learnt that they had had the motorcycles flown to Cairo from South Africa and were now on the penultimate last leg back to Cape Town. Rivak Bunce is the Dad's name. His daughter is Brittany. They were riding for a charity called Earth Child Project. The link is on Rivak's bike, but I will make it easy for you to check out their brilliant blog - just click on this Earthchild Project!

Rivak's KLR

We rode the few remaining kilometers into Keetmanshoop and found the German Club which is actually called the Schutzenhaus. Click HERE for the link.

The German Club or Schutzenhaus

Unfortunately the place was fully booked. The receptionist was very kind and phoned around, but there was nothing to be had because there was some kind of event taking place in the town. There was, however, Backpacker-type sleeping arrangements at the Schutzenhaus which we had a quick look at (about a micro-second). At our (advanced) time of life we don't do backpackers. We DO do serious riding though. My Garmin said (only) 300 kilometers direct - straight line - to Luderitz  - sorry about the abysmal lack of umlauts in this story - for my German readers; would you mind interpolating? OR perhaps someone will tell me how to get it RIGHT! - and so Dr John K (serious long distance guru - remember from our introductions!) said, 'We can do that! It is only 13h45 now. We can be in Luderitz by 17h30 if we get a move on!' The actual road distance is 324 kilometers, but what the heck?


2 out of 6 = a 'Yes' vote, so off we all went, now heading more or less due west for Luderitz and the Atlantic - and, hopefully, accommodation!

The road to Luderitz.

Near Seeheim we crossed the Fish River.

What a great name for a river - FISH. 

My daughter once said to me, 'Dad, what do you call a fish with no eyes?' 'Don't know!' 'Fsh!'

Heading westwards on the B4 towards Luderitz.

I am moved by Namibian scenery. Isn't this beautiful?

Yup! - Still heading west. Nice road.

This is Goageb. We could have done with some fuel, but were not sure Goageb would have some ........

......... so we rode another 98 kilometers to Aus - a charming little place, with a garage and everything.

We wanted to reach Luderitz before nightfall and find some accommodation so we stayed only long enough to refuel and to buy some water - Litchi Flavour for me!

About 50 kilometers out from Luderitz the temperature dropped dramatically. We must have crossed a warm front into a cold air mass. as we got nearer to the port clouds appeared and the portents were not good for our arrival. However, on arrival, the coast was clear (literally) and the cloud was way out over the ocean. It was cool, but fine - like us!

We tried a place called Kratz Platz but they were fully booked. Graeme W kindly went off in search of somewhere one way, whilst Andrew M and John K headed another. Both parties came back with positive results. We opted for the Bay View Hotel at which John K had negotiated excellent rates which included breakfast.

The Bay View Hotel

On checking in, we liked the look and the 'feel' of the Bay View, so we decided to stay for two nights - good group decision!

Very soon we had parked the bikes in the secure parking and made ourselves at home. Here is the link for the Bay View Hotel.

Our trusty bikes clicking and clacking as they cool down after the long ride from Grunau of 489 kms.

In the evening, after refreshing shaves, showers, changes of clothes etc., we had a drink in the bar and then walked to a very good restaurant on the harbour. We had a very pleasant evening and strolled back to the hotel for a comfortable night's sleep. We had 'lucked-in' AGAIN!


Distance Today: 489 kilometers. 304 miles.
Total Trip: 1 562 kilometers. 970 miles.