To the East and to the West, don’t ask what was best! COMPLETE!

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Mark Hardy

Grey Hound
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
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Location
Gauteng
Bike
KTM 950 Adventure
Written by Malibu, Commented on by Mark, Photo’s mostly by Mark.

I know Mark probably has much to say about the planning of our trip, so I’ll just say that he phoned me a lot about ideas he had had… and like any good woman, I agreed, while storing info on what we may need if we follow the latest route idea.  In the end, we pretty much just rode by the seat of our pants and used our internal compass for direction.  First, go East, as far as possible, and then go West, as far as possible while still making Kenhardt for New Year.  Seemed like a great plan to me.  

Malibu and I decided quite sometime ago to ride Swaziland, We had heard a lot of good things about the little land locked country and wanted to go explore the place ourselves. I started planning a ride and as some of you know…plans change…..many many times. To give you an idea how things change, a one week ride in Swaziland became 2 days ride to Swaziland via Blyderiver canyon, scraped, for the ride along the Kruger fence line then spend 5 days in Swazi…..mmmmm 3am brain fart…..lets go for a swim in the Indian Ocean at Punto somewhere. Then Mother started the “Kenhardt for New Years” thread. So a one week trip east became a two week trip to the east and back to the west with the Botswana fence line thrown in for fun.

Malibu has a much better command of the English language so she can tell you the story of our trip. I hope my photos will capture some of what we saw and experienced, the splendor and beauty of the small part of our country and our neighbors that we rode.


Saturday the 18th was spent getting new rubber and loading the bikes.  Obviously, we packed a little too much, but as we knew Dakota was returning from Barberton with the car, we could unload on her.  
Sunday morning could not come fast enough, and soon enough, we were on the road, off to the farm in the Barberton Valley.  That would be our base till after Christmas.  With Mark starting a new job in January, our previously planned route via the Blyde River Canyon area was scrapped, our budget was just a little too tight for that.  No worries, we’d still run the Kruger fence line.  

Malibu and I ready to start our trip…wif pimp suits and all
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This would the last bit of sun shine for the day, we seemed to ride just behind the main storm front so did not get too wet on the way to Barberton.
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Waterfall alongside the wonderful windy road to Babplass
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Closer look
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We dropped out the low cloud along an interesting pass, some fun cornering to be had.
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Monday, for some reason, we both just bunked.  I think we both just needed a day to relax, completely.  We did the Christmas shopping in Nelspruit and rode the area a little, and that was perfect.

I love the riding in and around the farm and after all the rain the day before, 42mm in 2 hours, the Sappi roads and track to the farm were fun to ride. A good way to get the holiday started.
Malibu crossing a small track of water

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Some pics of the Sappi roads through the area. Plenty traction on the wet gravel.
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Malibu having to do the water crossing again….I heard no complaints….just insane giggles coming out from the helmet
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Looking across the valley at the distant hills.
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Tuesday dawned bright and sunny.  We planned a shake-down run along the Kruger fence line, and decided to include the Barberton/Belembu road taking off along to Louw’s Creek and then Kaapmuiden… what a stunning piece of road, with the best part, probably, riding through a section of indigenous forest.  The sights, smells and sounds of that section are so vastly different from the plantations that you could be in a parallel universe.  The monkey-ropes trailing from the canopy could so easily unseat an in-attentive rider, especially as the dappled light seemed to camouflage them rather well at times, and with the dark glades on either sides calling to be explored, we stopped and rather just enjoyed.  Oddly, Mark who is generally taking pictures at a rate of knots, took only a few.  I guess these untouched areas really do affect all.  

Malibu and I bought a new camera for xmas, thanks love, so I was in happy snappy mode for most of the ride. But as Malibu said, sometimes  you just need to sit back and take in all the splendor and wonders of the area. My skills don’t allow me to try and even capture a small percentage of the beauty whereas the mind can.

Refueled in Barbaton and ready for the days ride.
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Quick smoke break at the top of one section of the pass to Belembu. This pass is 41km’s of twisties and an absolute blast to ride.
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Looking down at the little town of Barberton and it’s valleys.
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This is the sappie road to Louw’s Creek
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Looking towards Swaziland…..we will be that side of the mountains tomorrow.
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Our Little bikes of choice, aren’t they pretty.
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Malibu has a tendency to stroll off somewhere and have a look at things, then come strolling back with a daft  smile on her face. Maybe sorting out world politics or just enjoying nature. I think the latter.
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The indigenous forest was a mind warp and the monkey ropes brought back a funny memory of my MTB riding days. I was zooting downs this track in the Ingoya forest (KZN) when I got a monkey rode attached to the handle bar, will no worries, it would just slid over my hand and bars and all would be well. Needless to say this monkey rope was rooted into the ground and firmly attached to the trees. I have yet to experience a sudden change in handle bar direction combined with an instant stop like that before. So this time I gave the monkey ropes their due respect and steered well clear.
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The sappie roads wound along the hill sides full of turns, climbs, and descents.
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Artsie farksie pic
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So far two very happy travelers
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The road down to the mine was the high light of this particular gravel road. Due to the recent rain there were some rutting and slippery corners making the ride FUN. It drops rather quickly down to the valley floor with a couple of hairpin turns too keep you interested.
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We moved on and really enjoyed the road out past the mine, really good hill-side riding.
We reached Kaapmuiden, and Mark actually bought me some biltong, the first time and probably the last!  Vegetarians are weird that way!  We shot off to find the railway line service road.  Mark took off on a funny 2-spoor road and eventually found himself in the middle of a banana plantation.  The plantation overseer was on a battered little bike and he volunteered to take us to the road.  He took off with a blast of noise and nearly unseated himself hitting a lurker, throwing him all over the place, but he recovered admirably and made a huge show of indicating the tar!  Like that was where we wanted to be.  

Plantation tour guide
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