Leo and friends in Mozambique

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Leo

Grey Hound
WD Supporter
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
5,158
Reaction score
345
Location
Brakpan, South Africa
Bike
BMW R1200GS HP2
?I?m not quite sure how it came about, but suddenly I found myself sitting astride the 950, as I hit the starter it burst into life with a magnificent roar from the twin Leo Vince pipes and settled at, what sounded like, an uncomfortable idle. I pointed the beast towards the dune, grabbed a handful of throttle and it snarled like a mountain lion that was just bitten in the balls by a bloodthirsty tick. As soon as I hit second it planed on the sand and off we went. As we were tip toeing up the dune I could not help but feel amazed at how well this bike was handling the sand on this very steep dune. About 30 minutes earlier I was trying to get my overweight GSA up the same dune, and although it has similar power and throttle response; the weight factor became immediately noticeable. I could not help but think it would be a pleasure to own such a bike, but suddenly common sense kicked in and I thought of how often I actually ride these extreme conditions - not really since last years GSC, so to change to the ?dark side? just to have a bike capable of handling these conditions which I encounter maybe twice a year, was not on.
As usual I?m getting carried away - what to me was one of the highlight of the trip, so let me start from the front.
Extended long weekends calls for trips to Mozambique, and the past long weekend was no exception. All my regular riding mates were keen and soon we had a plan sorted. Amazing how simple things seem when one had a few cold ones. Well all that really had to happen was time had to past as the rest was all in place. With excuses on how, when why and who could make it and NOT, the group finally consisted of Excalibur (R1200GS) no pic,
Debbie ? a riding mate from CT (950),
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Stef (R1200GS)pic later,
Nino (Larrysleguana) & Sibhon (R1200GS)
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and myself (R1200GSA).
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We met up at the Shell Ultra city between Witbank and Middelburg at 07:00 on Friday morning, an arrangement that actually works very well and will be used again in future, as it get everybody up and going early, no having to wait after just getting started, and the late comers has some time to catch up if / when they have overslept ? obviously within limits of course. By 07:00 the early risers had their coffee, and the late comers were awake, so we could do like cow dung and ?fall in the road?. Gauteng was drained from every conceivable corner and the highway was a complete mess. Fortunately travelling on a bike does allow for faster travel, so we pulled into the filling station at Komatipoort at around 11:30 to fill up, exchange some money, have a cold one and work up the reserves to tackle the queue which was about 50 metres away from where we were standing and extended for about 4 km?s up the road to the actual border post.
Out of the blue a SARS bakkie pulled up and out jumped a few customs officials who wanted to ?check out our bikes?. Deon and friends were keen bikers, all riding 650 GSs? and claimed to know all the available dirt roads from Komatipoort all the way to Vilanculous in Mozambique. We chit chatted and bla bla bla?s about bikes and the GSC they want to attend next year, etc and eventually gave us all the papers we had to complete plus offered to escort us past all the awaiting cars till the front of the queue. Deon you and your two friends ROCK!! Thanks a mil. Next time we meet, the beers are on me!
Despite being escorted to the front we still spend an hour and a half inside the buildings. I was standing about 5 metres from the desk, and about two metres from the door entrance, through which, despite my best efforts to try and stop, many fcukers jumped the queue and submitted their passports ahead of us. Apart from that the border post is situated on top of a very high mountain, so with the son only 2 light years away, she was burning down on us with force, therefore the temperature was hitting the low 40?s. Smelly bodies were smelt some more and we were working up a nice sweat ourselves and soon our rider gear got character. Our presence was invaded with this red shirted fcuker who insisted on doing the officialdom on our behalf, but because we had been queuing for about an hour we decided fcuk him as he also wanted to charge us ridiculous price for this. Excalibur took it upon himself to negotiate with this soul and soon found out - all this low life scum bag was doing was to distract him while his affirmative shopping friend relieved Excalibur of his wallet with some R3.5 k in it ? right from his riding jacket!
Once I had managed to reach the door I stood in such a way that no smelly fucker could jump the queue and within 10 minutes we were past this seemingly endless process. By now we were well and truly soaked and with temperatures flaring in the red we headed for the nearest pub ? about 5 km?s up the road. Here in a more organized environment we could reflect on the events, gather our composure, sort some money for Excalibur and have a few cold ones. We needed to hit some quiet roads away from stealing fuckers so it was decided to abandon our original plan of eating in Maputo and head for the gravel road via Moamba.
The road to Moamba
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Old Ruins
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...and more
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Turnoff to Mogude
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Late afternoon
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This road would cut 70 km?s from our itinerary and it would be on gravel, which left us all ecstatic, except for Stef who had never ventured off road. Last year we were told the bridge had been washed away and was impassable, so we had to go via Maputo, but after actually riding it I saw there were no bridges. Remember this in future. We encountered three cars along this road and soon we were sitting at a shebeen washing down the dust with a cold Doice M (2M).

Excalibur & Debbie after eating some serious dust :D
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Leo explaining how he missed that @#$% goat :?
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Shebeen
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Stef had done very well and in some places managed 80 km?h which, for a novice I consider an excellent achievement. We arrived in Bilene well after sunset ? by 17:30 it?s as dark as it?s ever going to get, only to be told the campsite is chock a block. I refused to accept this, and managed to convince management that 5 little tents would not take up a lot of space. Last year we stayed on the south western side of the campsite and were kept awake at night by the neighbouring disco that ranted well into the early hours of the morning. This year we were place about 10 metres from last year?s spot, but I decided to keep this from my friends.

First nite ? camping site

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I had asked all to bring some meat as we could struggle to find fish when arriving so late, so we sat around a fire eating meat and guzzling our gifkanne.
After what was apparently a very noisy night we arouse to a clouded sky with a definite threat of rain.

First morning
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Our neighbour commented that the ?fcuking disco stopped playing at 03:15? and promptly started packing his tent and stuff and were off. He was in a prime spot, so with him definitely NOT returning I cleared with management and soon our tents were occupying the prime spot.

New campsite with natural cazebo

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Beachfront and chalets at Palmeiras
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Stef was on sleeping tablets, so he was unaffected by the noise, Nino & Sibhon, Excalibur and myself trusted the pass out theory while Debbie didn?t mention a thing about the disco noise, so we were in heaven. The remainder of the day was spend consuming liquid fluids while it rained several times during the course of the day, but being BMW riders, well at least most of us, we had raincoats and actually enjoyed the chill. Soon we needed some exercise else we?d all have to take a power nap, so we went pub crawling at all the various resorts along the beachfront returning late afternoon to do the prawn and fish thing.
View from Complexa Aquarius
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Lotsa SA's around
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Collecting firewood
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Stef was our cook for the night and I might add that he excelled in that department. The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur but I vaguely remember Excalibur playing the bongo drums on a gifkan, while the rest of us added other special affects and song. Sunday morning I noticed that I was well into my second gifkan, and the two cases of coke we bought for mix was nearing its end.
I suggested a visit to Xai Xai about 20 km?s north for sight seeing purposes AFTER we had visited the Bilene main beach which was accessible via a road marked 4X4 only on my T4A map. With tyres deflated, water stocked and spirits high we set off on this very sandy, very twisty and rather challenging route.
Deflating tyres and getting syked... :wink:
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Huffing and puffing like the bad wolf who blew away the little pig?s house we reached our first resting point after about 3 km?s of some definite red route material.
Where's the rest........ :?
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Serious pedalling :D
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Open plains
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View towartds Bilene
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Stef crossing some water
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Excalibur having some fun
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Unbelievably Stef was hanging in there and although I had mentioned to him that a mere hint from his side would send us back, he insisted on continuing with this insane suffering.
Stef was quite exhausted - like all of us :D
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We had passed the road section and were coming towards the dunes where we?d definitely be tested to the max.

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As I was navigating I could ride at a comfortable paste and was somewhat unaware of all the pain and suffering going on behind me. Bikes were getting buried alive, human resources were bled to the dry soil and I was enjoying every moment of it.
Excalibur digging deep :D
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Suddenly out of the blue a gate appeared and the guard informed me the road was closed to traffic and we?d have to turn back.
No entry........ :?
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This was about 1 km from the beach which was hidden behind a large dune. Well there was no sense in arguing the imbecile, so I turned back, then noticed a ?mother? of a dune to my left with a path going over it, which according to the T4A map, would lead us back on to our original route. No sense in riding the same route twice so I promptly turned left and followed this sandy track.
Debbie in the water
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Excalibur...
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In retrospect I have to admit I was rather optimistic thinking I could ride the GSA up there, but it was fun trying, none the less. I was stuck about one third up the way and was trying various ways of capturing the gradient on camera, as camera?s generally flattens things out.

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Some idea of the slope :?
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The rest of the group had managed to catch up and from the expressions on their faces I could see they though I had gone completely mad. ?You want us to go up there? Which part of ?Go Fcuk yourself don?t you understand?? While lying there gasping for breath and having some water the terrain ability of the 950 was mentioned, to which I was summoned to show the rest how to ?ride the sand?. Suddenly I found myself sitting astride the 950, as I hit the starter it burst into life with a magnificent roar from the twin Leo Vince pipes and settled at, what sounded like, an uncomfortable idle. I pointed the beast towards the dune, grabbed a handful of throttle and it snarled like a mountain lion that was just bitten in the balls by a bloodthirsty tick. As soon as I hit second it planed on the sand so as we were tip toeing up the dune I could not help but feel amazed at how well this bike was handling the sand on this very steep dune. Admittedly I was on a different track, on a much lighter bike fitted with knobblies, but this 950 and I were cruising. Grin factor = 100%.
Leo tackling the beast :D :D
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Seeing that the 950 got up there with such ease, it was decided the way to go. Stef who was still hanging in there like a bullterrier with ?Don?t leave me alone syndrome?, was not going to turn back and neither was I. Excalibur lead the way, with the rest following and as I watched them spinning the loose sand even looser I could not help but think how difficult they were making it for the guys following.
Stef in the water
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Nino & Sibhon.. :D
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Debbie...
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At the top of that dune I was well and truly fcuked, so while the smokers sucked on some cancer I made sure I got my bike to the front as I was not going to ride in ploughed dune sand with the little reserves I had left in my body. Half an hour later we were down on the flat section after the dunes and heading towards our initial route with lots of sweat and the load voices of calling 2M ringing in our ears. Next smoke break, up pulls this bloke in a Toyota, trying to force his way in between our bikes. ?Complete assholes? was the word jumping to mind, till he got out and asked : ?Anybody for a cold beer?? This blessing from above, Johan, had a moerse big fridge on the back of his bakkie filled with ice cold 2M and Laurentina cerveija (beer).
Leo & Johan
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Happy faces all round :D :D
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Man that well and truly gave us the much needed energy for that last section back to Bilene and before you could say ?Hell this is fun? we were at the Costa Del Sol sucking on quite a few cerveija?s while discussing the adventures of the morning.
Excalibur turnng up the revs :D :D
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Stef getting assistance from Debbie & Nino 8)
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Honey hitting the deck :?
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We had covered about 12 km?s and it had taken us just short of 3 hours.
Stef has worked up a nice sweat :lol:
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Nino needed a nap to regain strenght :D
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Excalibur: "This is how I flew off my bike...... :D "
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Nino: "Check where I got burnt..... :D "
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Now as we sat in our comfortable chairs we had time to reflect on what we had accomplished. Stef amazed me the most. He is just short of overweight and for a first time rode some of the most extreme roads that country had to offer. Hat?s off to you mate! I also have mention Nino who?s not the tallest of 1200 riders I know and had a pillion. Yes OK I know she only weights 50 kg?s but a pillion is a pillion my friend.
Siphon was really thirsty after all that sand :D
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So many spices - where's the seafood :?
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Supper... :D :D
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Debbie, who had her 950 for about 4 years now (I guess), didn?t seem to encounter these conditions in CT, but she was having the time of her life. Excalibur and myself both had some serious fun. Thanks for coming along mater and never complain.
Nino and Stef in the local botlle store :D :D
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Downtown Bilene :D
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Never mind the rust :roll:
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After a rip-off of a lunch, three of us ordered calamari and I kid you not there we no more that 6 rings of calamari, we abandoned the though of going to Xai Xai, and returned to our campsite for some chilling, drinking and laughter. Sunday night we opted to eat at the restaurant at the Complexa Palmeira - Stef and I went for a full chicken each, but I have to admit it was more than I could handle.
This couple has two of those tents that pitch within 3 seconds = his & hers. Took them the best part of 20 min to get it back in the bag - we had to assist them :?
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Stef made no big deal of his. Monday morning we woke to what has to be considered a perfect day. We had several options, (1) was to do the sand route north east of Bilene that leads to the beach, (2) ride to Xai Xai or (3)take a boat across to the main beach and have a ball there. We decided on the ?not mentioned above? option. Carried our cooler boxes and stuff to the beach in front of Palmeiras and chilled with the rest of the campers.
Nino found a treasure :D :D
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Celebrating life :D
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Soaking up the sunshine
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Boats, jet ski?s etc were up and down the estuary while we swam, snorkelled and just had a great time ? giving our muscle aches and pains from the previous day some time to recuperate.
Excalibur & Nino diving :?
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Nino & Leo celebrating a good time
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Palmeiras...
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For lunch we had some grunters (fish), which was a winner, and that evening we extended our stay on the beach with a beach party. No wind, moon was up, lots of good food and wonderful friends. Life was great.
Las Vegas cleaning our fish
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Directions to Palmeiras
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Lotsa sand in the main road
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Playing frisbee
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Early moon
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This couple got married on the beach
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For the return on Monday we opted to leave Bilene by 08:00, ride to Maputo for lunch and head home at best speed. Little did we know that all the Gautengers were also heading back!
Ultra City outside Maputo
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Fuel stop
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Taking a break
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Queues of cars towing boats, quads on trailers, camping trailers and whatever were heading south towards t Maputo and on to Komatipoort, so over lunch at Mundo?s in Maputo we decided to head home via Swaziland.
Nino enjoying a burger at Mundo's
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Excalibur digging into a pizza
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Maputo beachfront..... :wink:
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Three countries in one day ? not bad at all!
Some rich oke in Maputo with his hummer :wink:
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At the Namaacha border post there were about 5 people in the queue ahead of me, and in no time we were cruising towards Manzini through the Hlane game reserve with baboons scattering and the elephants just grazing away, seemingly untouched by our roaring bikes.
Into Swaziland
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Baboon running for it's life
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Manzini to Mbabane was covered in no time and at Oshoek we probably spend 10 minutes getting back into good old SA.

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Quite a breeze. From here we headed towards Hendrina where we joined the N11 and it became apparent that we were in for a hop, skip and jump with the traffic volumes. The sun had already decided to call it the day by the time we hit the N4, which was a constant beam of lights as the cars headed back to GP.
Late afternoon outside Middelburg
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It was freezing - the smoke was hardly moving
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All that was left was our good byes at the Shell Ultra City and by 20:00 I was home to a not so loving GF. At least the dogs were glad to see me.

Thanks to all the mates who joined, I had a ball. As I reflect back on the weekend the sand riding took the icing, but the seafood and the company certainly needs a mention as well. Thanks to God for bringing us all back safe!
 
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