ianhogg
Race Dog
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
- 1,506
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- Location
- 34 Stanbury Street, Proserpine, QLD
- Bike
- Kawasaki Versys
Cecil John Rhodes House Sunday 15/9/13
I have had the plans for a couple of rides knocking around for a while. This one to Rhodes House and another is a trip round Tugela Gorge in Msinga area where I thought a new suspension bridge has been built.
This report: see planning & maps at
Cecil John Rhodes House 1870. Umkomaas Valley. Confirmed Sun 15th Sept
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=133083.0
Preamble:
On our honeymoon I took my young bride for an off-road trip through the Umkomaas valley from Umgababa to stay at The Oaks at Byrne Hotel, returning the next day through Dududu and Gary Lindsay’s farm at Stoneyside . A foolish and dangerous thing to do as the area was largely at war at the time and we had to re-route on a couple of occasions when the locals told us there was fighting ahead. I had a tired IT175g that I had retired from enduro riding and my wife had her KE175, a mighty atom of adventure biking! Working off the 1:50 000 survey maps we managed pretty well and one of the things we found was the remains of the house on the cotton farm that Cecil Rhodes stayed in with his brother Herbert when he arrived in this country in 1870. For the record, Rhodes didn’t have it all his own way, a lovely quote when he was thwarted over Swaziland was, “It is humiliating to be utterly beaten by these niggers." 25 years later we went back to retrace our trip, this time in a much more comfortable 4x4. However, we didn’t manage to find the remains of the farmhouse.
The weather forecast for Sunday was for a hot and sticky day, especially in a place like the Umkomaas valley but riding up to Pinetown to the meeting spot at NPN auto Petrol Station I was quite comforted to have the heated handlebar grips switched on and I enjoyed them for most of the rest of the day as it didn’t really warm up much at all & it was quite windy.
I thought I would get to the NPN auto center a bit early as it can often be quite difficult to find the group that you are meant to be joining amongst all the road bike groups, the Christian motorcyclists, the Harley guys, the ATTGAT beemer boys , the toll protesters…… However, I needn’t have bothered. The place was as deserted as a school yard in the summer holidays with just me and the pump jockeys.
I hung around till 7am then carried on to the next meeting place at Eston. Straightest route was Richmond road followed by the old voortrekker road. I’m quite sure that in the 1870’s this WAS the road to Richmond and it would mainly have been used by English settlers heading towards the Byrne and Boston area. The first half was tarred a few years ago but that is now breaking up and the balance of the dirt road is disliked by quite a few wild dogs (and my wife) because of the marble sized stones that have you skating around but I think that is largely a question of the right tyre pressure. A couple of years ago when I was batting along that bit on an FJR1300 that I had on appro an enormous bush buck male launched itself out of the ditch right in front of our wheel. No, I didn’t have to explain anything to Vernon Perry and No, an FJR1300 doesn’t work as an adventure bike! On the same ride we almost took out a giant leguaan at Ixopo.
Same story at Eston, just me and the petrol pump attendant. I waited until the advertised time and set off towards Mid Ilovo. It wasn’t long before I was through the lovu river valley and heading down into the Umkomaas valley, past where the bakkie with a penchant for wild dog had bitten Gunda and down to the Umkomaas bridge. From there I decide to head north first. I had plotted some roads from google earth that I thought would head up to Mt Misery around the contour of the escarpment. As it turned out it was much more exciting than that. The paths went almost to top and down again three times
Leaving me at the river again
And then up to Mount Misery
Once on top of the plateau it was a bit of a drag along stony roads to Richmond and then on tar to the nhlavini turn off. The picture I posted from 1987 turned out to be at the R56 Umkomaas bridge
The top of Mount Cormack turned out to be a good time for my morning little something, in this case tea and sandwiches with a Bar One. I had an inkling that something was about to go wrong as I had been riding along a new game fence which wasn’t on the satellite imagery from 2011.
Picnic spot
Also on Mt Cormack I saw some Zebra wandering around on tribal trust land
On returning to my route it turned out I was quite correct. What I was looking for was not easily accessible.
And they weren’t very keen on visitors
At this point I wasn’t very sure what to do. The game fence stretched as far as I could see and at this point I could have easily cut my losses and gone to the Engineers Society at Byrne. The zebras outside the fence nagged at me. If they could get out then I could get in. I had plotted a through route and perhaps the path on the other approach along the river would not have a fence yet. Driving round the fence I found out who the game farm belongs to
I looked them up on the internet. https://www.dumamanzi.co.za/index.htm
For a cool R2000 per night you can stay in an 1880 farmhouse on the top of the ridge. I have sent them an email asking if the great unwashed could come in and see their historical site but I haven’t had any reply. The path I’d spotted along the river was a great ride
As I rode along it I realized it would be a poachers/ illegal grazer’s entrance into the game reserve and sure as nuts it finished up at a gap in the fence into the reserve. It was a bit of a mission to lift my 650 through the wire and the GPS said it would be a 1.2km walk, bugger that for a lark!
so I settled down next to the river and scoffed the rest of my food because I worked out at this rate I would be home around lunchtime.
From there it was a blast along the p77 p739 to the Umkomaas bridge. I’ve done it a few times but if you haven’t, put it on your list of roads to do. It is quite spectacular and a nice ride.
I stopped and took this picture of the Bofors gun at the Mid Illovo farmers club because I have never seen it look so scruffy. When we went there for the WFO enduros the place looked as if it had been manicured.
I was home early afternoon and my wife had lunch & the papers ready for me. Strangely enough, after the 320 odd km my bum hadn’t even started talking to me but my upper arm muscles have felt really stretched for two days now!
Attached: GPS of complete route & planning
I have had the plans for a couple of rides knocking around for a while. This one to Rhodes House and another is a trip round Tugela Gorge in Msinga area where I thought a new suspension bridge has been built.
This report: see planning & maps at
Cecil John Rhodes House 1870. Umkomaas Valley. Confirmed Sun 15th Sept
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=133083.0
Preamble:
On our honeymoon I took my young bride for an off-road trip through the Umkomaas valley from Umgababa to stay at The Oaks at Byrne Hotel, returning the next day through Dududu and Gary Lindsay’s farm at Stoneyside . A foolish and dangerous thing to do as the area was largely at war at the time and we had to re-route on a couple of occasions when the locals told us there was fighting ahead. I had a tired IT175g that I had retired from enduro riding and my wife had her KE175, a mighty atom of adventure biking! Working off the 1:50 000 survey maps we managed pretty well and one of the things we found was the remains of the house on the cotton farm that Cecil Rhodes stayed in with his brother Herbert when he arrived in this country in 1870. For the record, Rhodes didn’t have it all his own way, a lovely quote when he was thwarted over Swaziland was, “It is humiliating to be utterly beaten by these niggers." 25 years later we went back to retrace our trip, this time in a much more comfortable 4x4. However, we didn’t manage to find the remains of the farmhouse.
The weather forecast for Sunday was for a hot and sticky day, especially in a place like the Umkomaas valley but riding up to Pinetown to the meeting spot at NPN auto Petrol Station I was quite comforted to have the heated handlebar grips switched on and I enjoyed them for most of the rest of the day as it didn’t really warm up much at all & it was quite windy.
I thought I would get to the NPN auto center a bit early as it can often be quite difficult to find the group that you are meant to be joining amongst all the road bike groups, the Christian motorcyclists, the Harley guys, the ATTGAT beemer boys , the toll protesters…… However, I needn’t have bothered. The place was as deserted as a school yard in the summer holidays with just me and the pump jockeys.
I hung around till 7am then carried on to the next meeting place at Eston. Straightest route was Richmond road followed by the old voortrekker road. I’m quite sure that in the 1870’s this WAS the road to Richmond and it would mainly have been used by English settlers heading towards the Byrne and Boston area. The first half was tarred a few years ago but that is now breaking up and the balance of the dirt road is disliked by quite a few wild dogs (and my wife) because of the marble sized stones that have you skating around but I think that is largely a question of the right tyre pressure. A couple of years ago when I was batting along that bit on an FJR1300 that I had on appro an enormous bush buck male launched itself out of the ditch right in front of our wheel. No, I didn’t have to explain anything to Vernon Perry and No, an FJR1300 doesn’t work as an adventure bike! On the same ride we almost took out a giant leguaan at Ixopo.
Same story at Eston, just me and the petrol pump attendant. I waited until the advertised time and set off towards Mid Ilovo. It wasn’t long before I was through the lovu river valley and heading down into the Umkomaas valley, past where the bakkie with a penchant for wild dog had bitten Gunda and down to the Umkomaas bridge. From there I decide to head north first. I had plotted some roads from google earth that I thought would head up to Mt Misery around the contour of the escarpment. As it turned out it was much more exciting than that. The paths went almost to top and down again three times
Leaving me at the river again
And then up to Mount Misery
Once on top of the plateau it was a bit of a drag along stony roads to Richmond and then on tar to the nhlavini turn off. The picture I posted from 1987 turned out to be at the R56 Umkomaas bridge
The top of Mount Cormack turned out to be a good time for my morning little something, in this case tea and sandwiches with a Bar One. I had an inkling that something was about to go wrong as I had been riding along a new game fence which wasn’t on the satellite imagery from 2011.
Picnic spot
Also on Mt Cormack I saw some Zebra wandering around on tribal trust land
On returning to my route it turned out I was quite correct. What I was looking for was not easily accessible.
And they weren’t very keen on visitors
At this point I wasn’t very sure what to do. The game fence stretched as far as I could see and at this point I could have easily cut my losses and gone to the Engineers Society at Byrne. The zebras outside the fence nagged at me. If they could get out then I could get in. I had plotted a through route and perhaps the path on the other approach along the river would not have a fence yet. Driving round the fence I found out who the game farm belongs to
I looked them up on the internet. https://www.dumamanzi.co.za/index.htm
For a cool R2000 per night you can stay in an 1880 farmhouse on the top of the ridge. I have sent them an email asking if the great unwashed could come in and see their historical site but I haven’t had any reply. The path I’d spotted along the river was a great ride
As I rode along it I realized it would be a poachers/ illegal grazer’s entrance into the game reserve and sure as nuts it finished up at a gap in the fence into the reserve. It was a bit of a mission to lift my 650 through the wire and the GPS said it would be a 1.2km walk, bugger that for a lark!
so I settled down next to the river and scoffed the rest of my food because I worked out at this rate I would be home around lunchtime.
From there it was a blast along the p77 p739 to the Umkomaas bridge. I’ve done it a few times but if you haven’t, put it on your list of roads to do. It is quite spectacular and a nice ride.
I stopped and took this picture of the Bofors gun at the Mid Illovo farmers club because I have never seen it look so scruffy. When we went there for the WFO enduros the place looked as if it had been manicured.
I was home early afternoon and my wife had lunch & the papers ready for me. Strangely enough, after the 320 odd km my bum hadn’t even started talking to me but my upper arm muscles have felt really stretched for two days now!
Attached: GPS of complete route & planning
