XT-treme XT 500 Pans- a Wildcat, a Straatkat and the cats from Kent.

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Armpie

Pack Dog
Joined
Apr 30, 2013
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Location
Pretoria
Bike
Kawasaki KLR 650
XT-reme fun on the pans.
Three days on the Botswana pans with vintage Yamaha XT500’s


It had to come.  The sequel of the Pannekatte 2014 trip to the pans.
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=150455.msg2862120#msg2862120
Martyn, the English enduro rider
By March I realized that the planners of the last year trip have different plans for this year.  The ride will not take place end of April- unless I arranged something myself.
My daughter is married to a Soutie of Ingeland, that came here to South Africa  to play some rugby. They said they would be visiting us from London by end of April.  There goes the trip!  But I have a plan.  Chris can ride a bit.  So can my son with his KLR.  So I suggested that we hire a bike for him prom Pierre van der Bol at Moriti Adventures in Botswana, and he goes with us.  He was keen.  Chris told his brother Martyn, who is an enduro fanatic in Ingeland.  So Matyn said he also wanted  to come.  They told their father, Peter.  Peter was never before on a bike but wanted to come along.  I phoned Pierre and arranged the bikes and the trip with him.  We would only use his bikes.

Pierre was some enduro, off road, rally, bush champion in Botswana in the 80’s, and Pierre and his father-in-law Andries Kruger buy Yamaha XT500’s up in South Africa.  They then restore them to roadworthiness and hire the bikes out on their adventure business in Botswana.

The plan was to drive 850km to Moriti wa Selemo, Andries’s Lodge just south of Sua Pan, then go north over the pans, past Nata up to Elephant Sands where we will end and set off for home.  Peter will drive the my Pajero behind us.  But the plan did not work.  The pans were to wet and my son injured his shoulder in  a Rugby match.  No biking for 6 weeks.  
The new plan is we would start at Moriti wa Selemo and end there.  We would ride to the pans and see what is up, then we decide where to camp and where to ride.  To accommodate Peter I would tow  along my trailer with  my Rusler 260 quad.


My Ingilse family arrived on the Friday afternoon.  They should have been here the morning but they first went to Full Throttle were they spend some  Great British Pound Sterling.  The next afternoon we left for my brother’s farm between Naboom and Vaalwater.  To shorten the ride the next day.  Here we walked to see the new zebra’s.  But the zebra’s were wild and except for walking the Ingilse family for two hours over rough mountain we did not see anything but spoor.  We ended with a traditional braai and a traditional brandy on the coke.

The old an the young- Peter and Juandre, Pierre's son.  For a 10 year old this boy can ride like a man
Early the next morning we left.  At Marken we took the first chips from the fying pan for breakfast.  Then onto the Groblersbrug borderpost and beyond into Botswana.
At Palapye we put in affordable Botswana fuel. 8 Pula per liter.(R9.60 per liter).  Then between Serowe and Lethlakane we decided to give first Peter and then Chris a chance to do the driving.  At the cattle checkpoint about 50km before Lethlakane, the only one where we were stopped.  Chris got a 200 Pula fine for not having his license with him.  We talked the policeman down from a 1000 Pula and settled for 200.
 
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