RossCalder
Puppy
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2009
- Messages
- 47
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Constantia, Cape Town
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
Im sitting at Hole in the Wall Hotel, FUMING ... we arrived here 80 days into a 90 day trip circumnavigating Southern Africa ... Cape Town to Ais-Ais - Aus - Sesrien and Sossusvlei - Swakopmund - Windhoek - Otju - Etosha - Rundu - Shakawe - Maun - Makgadigadi Pans - Chobe - Vic Falls - Kariba Lake (Zambia side) - Chirrodzi - Laungwa - Chipata - Lake Malawi Tete _ Chimoio Chimoio - Gorongoza - Vilankulos - Inhassoro - Tofo - Inhambane - Xai Xai - Maputo - Ponta Do Ouro - Kosi Mouth - HluHluwe Game Reserve - Umhlanga - Port St Johns - Coffee Bay/Hole in the Wall ...
And here I sit as miserable and as I said earlier "FUMING" and pretty f%$#ed Off ... I'm hoping the police will bring they that cause me such venom so I may plunge the tyre rasp that has served us so well into their thick skulls ...
We have had an amazing trip ... we left Cape Town on 4 F800 GS' (my two sons and a mate and I) and two Landrover Defenders ably driven by a three good friends and my wife (she is also a good friend by the way!!).
We reveled in the challenges of the gravel and sandy tests through Namibia, the 350km ride from Aus to Sesriem will give me cold shivers for many years to come. The dunes and Etosha Pan National Park are indelibly etched into my psyche. After nearly 1800km of beautiful dirt we dropped into Botswana at Shakawe for some tiger fishing, then down to Maun for a good clean up and to replenish the food stuffs ... Then it was the sheer beauty and serenity of the Makgadikgadi Pans ... Chobe National Park was superb and our stopover for some whitewater rafting at Vic Falls was epic ... you just have to do it at the low water season!
Zambians are super friendly, we met a lot of "When We's" ... "When We" used to live in South Africa - Not the traditional "Rhodesia When We's"... most of the places we stayed at were owned by Saffers ... the food is flippen expensive - never mind the fuel!!! and I mean R20 to R22 a liter). We stayed a few days at Kariba Bush Club on Lake Kariba ... sublime, GO THERE!!!!!
None of us had been to Malawi ... the name conjures up colonial type environs with a plethora of diligent houseboys ... and it didn't disappoint!! We found a mooi private house on the edge of the lake, near Cape Mclear ... 5 days of sun, clear water and ... houseboys, we had 5 of them working at the house, all bedecked in white bermuda shorts and lime green t shirts. SADLY they all want to come to South Africa, as did nearly everyone we met there. It was with great pains that we explained that the grass isn't greener on the other side ... just ask our new president in the making Julius!!!
We had to tear ourselves away from Lake Malawi and the Malawian people ... despite the poor state of the nation they smile, they greet, they communicate for the sake of conversation not to beg and plead!
And so it came to pass that we entered Mozambique ... the border was chaotic, trucks line both sides of the no-mans land between the two countries with barely enough space to allow our Landys through. But it all went smoothly, as had ALL the border posts - other than the odd "I am so hungry/thirsty" from hopeful border officials it was pretty painless. We stayed in Tete for a night, found a Radison Park Hotel, none of us thought we would be riding in elevators on this trip ... but it was a welcome island of normality amongst the madness in the city of Tete ... where every SA mining house is competing with the 100's of Chinese companies raping this poor country of its raw material.
Mozambique is an absolute pleasure to visit, stay below the speed limit then act stupid when stopped by the errant police and all will be well. We spent nearly 2 weeks wandering down the coastline from Inhasoro to Ponta Do Ouro ... our last day in the country was something else ... we decided to do the ride from Maputo, across on the ferry to Catembe and the straight South to Kosi ... Well its not that simple ... The first 50km is good hard gravel, as we progress there are more frequent sandy patches where 4x4's have slithered and gouged their way through. The Landys are behind us as we tear up the first 50km, stand up - head up - throttle up ... classic. Then the road becomes a little testy and the sandy spots become more of the norn and we swerve through happy to reach the harder gravel ... Kenzogs - a WildDog had forewarned us of the last 20km from the Ponta Do Ouro turn off to Kosi Bay border post.
It was worse than I had ever imagined, my two sons and I toiled through the 20km for almost an hour ... it was over 40 degrees, thick deep sand and we were doing it on a Sunday of a public holiday when every Maputan (?) makes his drunken way home from Ponta Do Ouro ... it was "special" in its own way and the 3 of us will remember it forever . (we had lost our 4th bike to a clutch issue in the sands of Inhassoro - it was loaded into a bakkie and taken to Pinetown ... Ryders BMW - good service and great people).
It was a joy arriving back inSA, a sense of pride when we walked into the Total Fuel Station shop and spend an hour just walking up and down the isles seeing all the stuff we couldn't find in "Africa" ... after a gentle introduction at the Total shop we were ready to take on the SuperSpar ... slowly does it, talk about retail therapy overdose!! Mmmmm they just don't know how to clean chicken or make a wors in Malawi and Mozam ...
And now ... after a few days in Umhlanga cleaning Southern Africa out from our fingernails and bearded faces we meandered down to the Transkei. afar a pleasant stay at Cremorne Estate, Port St Johns we rode one of the highlight rides of the trip ... Port St Johns to Hole in the Wall as close to the beach as is humanly possible - despite the POURING rain and muddy roads it was specatular, after the rain abated some 30km into the trip the splendor of the Transkei lay before us like a rumpled green blanket, the muddy road like a skidmak before us. 140km in 5 hours!!!! Ok so it was muddy, and we stopped and waited for the Landys, and took photos, and watched whales and and and ... then we arrived at Hole in The Wall, hotel (my temper begins to heat up as I write these words!!)
We arrived after a very muddy decent into the bay, found some 1200GS's on the back of bakes ... houding manne!!! Heading for the GS Eco Challenge no less - I guess.
We had cooked a great meal of lamb and the toppings, felt like Christmas dinner, around 10:30 we crashed after a long soggy day. The alarm on one of the Landys woke us up at 2am, we had been "visited" by the locals ... they actually came into the dwelling and took all the mobile phones, the 5 Garmins (#$%^%$#@#$%^&*() and were in the process of stealing the car when the alarm went off. By the time we had gotten outside they were gone, the cars were still there, immobilizers in tact!!! The had been through all our kit and were packing it to head off when the alarm set us about.
The had taken all the keys, both bikes and Landys from off the inside table. We chased after them but they were off into the darkness like the rats they are ... we found most of the keys, thrown into the bushes. It was dark and raining a bitch so you can imagine the mood. Around 2:30 we had ascertained the damages - only the mobile phones, the 5 Garmins, Two Richa Jackets and a watch ... ffffffffff. The police were busy on their lines until 5. The Hotel management didn't answer their emergency phones ... and only made a cursory visit at about 9am ... no apology about none of the 6 security guards seeing anything ...
Agh anyway - lesson learned ... we decided that we would let the insurance company worry about the phones, we will replace the Garmins, the watch was crap anyway ... we had our keys and all was well - OR WAS IT?????
I had stupidly left my key in the bike, one of them snapped it off at the hilt ... the rubber finger grip twisted with a pliers, Agh well, I can still get it to start and I can ride it ok .... NOOOOOO not so fast - the f#$%^&^%$#ers had also slashed our tyres - two front tyres and two back tyres had been stabbed by these little p%$#ks
We spent today repairing the tyres instead of fishing and fostering the economy in the bar, we will cut our visit short and not spend another cent here, we won't let it get us down, we still have 10 days of riding ahead of us through Gods country ... but I will post this message and I hope that you will all take head ...
This hotel and its management couldn't give a toss! The owner hasn't bothered to even come see us, the manager said "this is unacceptable" woooooooowooooo!! what a man! They fixed the hole in the fence ... they should have left it and remained the place
Well, thanks for listening, I'm not fuming anymore ... I will have a sleep this afternoon - and tonight I will be waiting, wishing, hoping and preying that the one who slashed the tyres returns so I can plunge the tyre rasp into his glutius maximus ...
Watch the press for details!!
HEY!!! on another note .... 11 020km of riding the wildest roads in Southern Africa and we saw 1 Spaniard and 2 Frenchie WildDog types on the road - where are you all?????
Live life today men (and woman) when we left we thought the world was going to end ... we back and it still the same! Only Julius is back ... back again ... I feel a song coming on ... better sign off!!! Be well
And here I sit as miserable and as I said earlier "FUMING" and pretty f%$#ed Off ... I'm hoping the police will bring they that cause me such venom so I may plunge the tyre rasp that has served us so well into their thick skulls ...
We have had an amazing trip ... we left Cape Town on 4 F800 GS' (my two sons and a mate and I) and two Landrover Defenders ably driven by a three good friends and my wife (she is also a good friend by the way!!).
We reveled in the challenges of the gravel and sandy tests through Namibia, the 350km ride from Aus to Sesriem will give me cold shivers for many years to come. The dunes and Etosha Pan National Park are indelibly etched into my psyche. After nearly 1800km of beautiful dirt we dropped into Botswana at Shakawe for some tiger fishing, then down to Maun for a good clean up and to replenish the food stuffs ... Then it was the sheer beauty and serenity of the Makgadikgadi Pans ... Chobe National Park was superb and our stopover for some whitewater rafting at Vic Falls was epic ... you just have to do it at the low water season!
Zambians are super friendly, we met a lot of "When We's" ... "When We" used to live in South Africa - Not the traditional "Rhodesia When We's"... most of the places we stayed at were owned by Saffers ... the food is flippen expensive - never mind the fuel!!! and I mean R20 to R22 a liter). We stayed a few days at Kariba Bush Club on Lake Kariba ... sublime, GO THERE!!!!!
None of us had been to Malawi ... the name conjures up colonial type environs with a plethora of diligent houseboys ... and it didn't disappoint!! We found a mooi private house on the edge of the lake, near Cape Mclear ... 5 days of sun, clear water and ... houseboys, we had 5 of them working at the house, all bedecked in white bermuda shorts and lime green t shirts. SADLY they all want to come to South Africa, as did nearly everyone we met there. It was with great pains that we explained that the grass isn't greener on the other side ... just ask our new president in the making Julius!!!
We had to tear ourselves away from Lake Malawi and the Malawian people ... despite the poor state of the nation they smile, they greet, they communicate for the sake of conversation not to beg and plead!
And so it came to pass that we entered Mozambique ... the border was chaotic, trucks line both sides of the no-mans land between the two countries with barely enough space to allow our Landys through. But it all went smoothly, as had ALL the border posts - other than the odd "I am so hungry/thirsty" from hopeful border officials it was pretty painless. We stayed in Tete for a night, found a Radison Park Hotel, none of us thought we would be riding in elevators on this trip ... but it was a welcome island of normality amongst the madness in the city of Tete ... where every SA mining house is competing with the 100's of Chinese companies raping this poor country of its raw material.
Mozambique is an absolute pleasure to visit, stay below the speed limit then act stupid when stopped by the errant police and all will be well. We spent nearly 2 weeks wandering down the coastline from Inhasoro to Ponta Do Ouro ... our last day in the country was something else ... we decided to do the ride from Maputo, across on the ferry to Catembe and the straight South to Kosi ... Well its not that simple ... The first 50km is good hard gravel, as we progress there are more frequent sandy patches where 4x4's have slithered and gouged their way through. The Landys are behind us as we tear up the first 50km, stand up - head up - throttle up ... classic. Then the road becomes a little testy and the sandy spots become more of the norn and we swerve through happy to reach the harder gravel ... Kenzogs - a WildDog had forewarned us of the last 20km from the Ponta Do Ouro turn off to Kosi Bay border post.
It was worse than I had ever imagined, my two sons and I toiled through the 20km for almost an hour ... it was over 40 degrees, thick deep sand and we were doing it on a Sunday of a public holiday when every Maputan (?) makes his drunken way home from Ponta Do Ouro ... it was "special" in its own way and the 3 of us will remember it forever . (we had lost our 4th bike to a clutch issue in the sands of Inhassoro - it was loaded into a bakkie and taken to Pinetown ... Ryders BMW - good service and great people).
It was a joy arriving back inSA, a sense of pride when we walked into the Total Fuel Station shop and spend an hour just walking up and down the isles seeing all the stuff we couldn't find in "Africa" ... after a gentle introduction at the Total shop we were ready to take on the SuperSpar ... slowly does it, talk about retail therapy overdose!! Mmmmm they just don't know how to clean chicken or make a wors in Malawi and Mozam ...
And now ... after a few days in Umhlanga cleaning Southern Africa out from our fingernails and bearded faces we meandered down to the Transkei. afar a pleasant stay at Cremorne Estate, Port St Johns we rode one of the highlight rides of the trip ... Port St Johns to Hole in the Wall as close to the beach as is humanly possible - despite the POURING rain and muddy roads it was specatular, after the rain abated some 30km into the trip the splendor of the Transkei lay before us like a rumpled green blanket, the muddy road like a skidmak before us. 140km in 5 hours!!!! Ok so it was muddy, and we stopped and waited for the Landys, and took photos, and watched whales and and and ... then we arrived at Hole in The Wall, hotel (my temper begins to heat up as I write these words!!)
We arrived after a very muddy decent into the bay, found some 1200GS's on the back of bakes ... houding manne!!! Heading for the GS Eco Challenge no less - I guess.
We had cooked a great meal of lamb and the toppings, felt like Christmas dinner, around 10:30 we crashed after a long soggy day. The alarm on one of the Landys woke us up at 2am, we had been "visited" by the locals ... they actually came into the dwelling and took all the mobile phones, the 5 Garmins (#$%^%$#@#$%^&*() and were in the process of stealing the car when the alarm went off. By the time we had gotten outside they were gone, the cars were still there, immobilizers in tact!!! The had been through all our kit and were packing it to head off when the alarm set us about.
The had taken all the keys, both bikes and Landys from off the inside table. We chased after them but they were off into the darkness like the rats they are ... we found most of the keys, thrown into the bushes. It was dark and raining a bitch so you can imagine the mood. Around 2:30 we had ascertained the damages - only the mobile phones, the 5 Garmins, Two Richa Jackets and a watch ... ffffffffff. The police were busy on their lines until 5. The Hotel management didn't answer their emergency phones ... and only made a cursory visit at about 9am ... no apology about none of the 6 security guards seeing anything ...
Agh anyway - lesson learned ... we decided that we would let the insurance company worry about the phones, we will replace the Garmins, the watch was crap anyway ... we had our keys and all was well - OR WAS IT?????
I had stupidly left my key in the bike, one of them snapped it off at the hilt ... the rubber finger grip twisted with a pliers, Agh well, I can still get it to start and I can ride it ok .... NOOOOOO not so fast - the f#$%^&^%$#ers had also slashed our tyres - two front tyres and two back tyres had been stabbed by these little p%$#ks
We spent today repairing the tyres instead of fishing and fostering the economy in the bar, we will cut our visit short and not spend another cent here, we won't let it get us down, we still have 10 days of riding ahead of us through Gods country ... but I will post this message and I hope that you will all take head ...
This hotel and its management couldn't give a toss! The owner hasn't bothered to even come see us, the manager said "this is unacceptable" woooooooowooooo!! what a man! They fixed the hole in the fence ... they should have left it and remained the place
Well, thanks for listening, I'm not fuming anymore ... I will have a sleep this afternoon - and tonight I will be waiting, wishing, hoping and preying that the one who slashed the tyres returns so I can plunge the tyre rasp into his glutius maximus ...
Watch the press for details!!
HEY!!! on another note .... 11 020km of riding the wildest roads in Southern Africa and we saw 1 Spaniard and 2 Frenchie WildDog types on the road - where are you all?????
Live life today men (and woman) when we left we thought the world was going to end ... we back and it still the same! Only Julius is back ... back again ... I feel a song coming on ... better sign off!!! Be well
