Sehlabathebe to Sani Top Traverse

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JonW

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This is an off-road trip from Sehlabathebe Nature Reserve to Sani Top in Lesotho. There are no paths or tracks that you can follow, you are entirely reliant on following your GPS through the valleys and mountains that lie between the start at Sehlabathebe and the finish at Sani Top.

As far as I know this trip has only ever been done twice before, the first time by IanTheTooth and the second time by Highsider and Xpat. The common denominator that connected their trips were the Matat riding gods Iain Macdonald and Stuart Joyner who accompanied both parties on their rides.

Ever since reading Ian's ride report I have wanted to and not wanted to do this trip.

Wanted to, because it looks like an amazingly irresistible challenge, and not wanted to because at the back of my mind I have always had doubts as to whether either my bike or I were up to it. No-one has to tell me that IanTheTooth is a better rider than I am, I have ridden with him enough to know this for myself. So when I read in his report that he needed help on his WR 250 on certain sections of the ride, I knew that I was going to battle.

Now I love my KTM520 and while it has yet to let me down out on a ride, perhaps this 20 year old bike was not the ideal machine for this trip, but it's the only bike I have got so it would have to do.

Over the past few months I had put together a few trips into Lesotho, one up into the Sehlabathebe area so we could have a look at the first part of the trip without actually having to commit to the whole traverse, and another from Sani Top to Rhino Peak and back which would allow us to look at the last part of the ride. Both these trips went well and we didn't encounter anything unmanageable. However I was well aware of the fact that we hadn't yet attempted the really difficult parts of the ride.

The initial group that I invited to do the ride with me was 5 riders, however this quickly escalated to 12 as others asked if they could join in, and then asked if they could bring their friends with. I was not too comfortable with this number of riders in the group, but was assured that the more people in the group the more to help carry bikes up hills and over rocks.....yeah right  :)

By the time of the ride the number had dropped down to 10, 3 of us from Pmb, Highsider, Beebob and I, 2 from Bloemfontein, Losper and Lourens 2 from Jhb, Campbell and Robert and 3 from Pretoria, Shaun, Dawie and Carel.

The plan was to make our way to Sehlabathebe in 3 groups on the Saturday, then meet up at Thamatu Lodge on Saturday afternoon, then do the traverse together on the Sunday. The actual traverse itself is not far in terms of distance, it's only about 70 odd km long. Except for me on my 520 and Highsider on his slightly newer 525, everyone else was on newish KTM500's.

 
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