TimeMan
Pack Dog
Thought you guys would like to see the fun we had yesterday . I had to go realign a dish for a client in swaziland . Luckily the client had a ladder i could use so i only needed to take my tools with . It is a small missionary school in the middle of nowhere righ ontop of a mountain in swaziland . So i decided to go with my KLR as we all know swaziland is where KLR's love to play .
Well wondered if any of the nelspruit clanners were up for a trip and eventually 7 of us went . Me , Hardus , Johann and his girlfriend Chantelle , Andre , Bruce , John-Hendry , Dewald .
We met in nelspruit @ 6 am ready to go , as luck would have it after 2 weeks of incredible heat and not a cloud in sight ...... It started pissing down !!
Well in true adventure KLR spirit the guys all agreed as we already wet why not continue with our adventure as we cant get more wet :silly:
So the whole trip there and back we got soooo soaked i must have tipped a litre of water out my boot when we got back .... So here is a PRO TIP : if any of you guys need rain we are prepared to come to your area for a trip and bring you rain ... just sponsor us petrol :laugh:
The views was amazing , we went via baberton towards bulembo border gate and those of you that has gone that way know the gravel pass from bulembo to piggs peak is a night mare . Now add some rain to the equasion and you have a muddy nightmare . But oh man do these KLR's come to their own in the mud and rain !! no wonder guys refer to them as their pigs .
We got to piggs peak and turned towards Mbabane went over the Maguga dam , then turned into the mountains where we followed a "twee spoor" road up to the school . With deep ruts hectic uphills and downhills boulders and lose rocks and plenty of slippery mud thrown in just for fun we had lots of laughs as some of us nearly came down .
We reached the school and as i discussed with the principal lady there were 50 odd orphans at the school . They normally school 340 students and have 80 orphans there during the week . As i knew this before hand i asked the guys before we went why dont us take the kids some sweets and chips just to make their day a little better . Oh man guys i wish you could have seen their faces when the 7 KLRs pulled into the school . It really made the trip THAT much more unique and special !!
I quickly realigned the dish to give them internet again , while the guys took in the views - which is SPECTACULAR from the school as it is right ontop of a mountain and for some reason the rain stopped just long enough so i could realign the dish .
Then we got all the kids together and handed out the sweets and chips to them . Hell we take so much for granted in our lives . They were so in AWE of there 7 KLR riders their machines and now giving them treats . It just will warm the coldest of hearts to see the genuine gratefullness these kids had for making them feel special . Thanks to all the guys clubbing in and making that possible and a special thanks to Fred (also a nelspruit Clanner , that couldn't come with as he had to work ) for donating chips from Jax Snacks .
After we handed out the treats it started pouring down again , so we had a choice to make wait and see if the rain will ease off or get going , problem we had we didn't know what the weather was going to do and bulembo border closes at 4 . Plus as we were above the clouds on the mountain we didn't know what the rain looked like under the clouds down in the valley .
So we did what normal KLR riders do .... say fuckit lets go and we will handle what ever comes along :evil:
OH MY WORD !!! this was the funniest part of our trip as we wanted to go via the Magugu damwall so we had to take a different route than the one we used to get to the school . And in this new route we had a LOOOONG steep uphill covered in slippery as snot clay mud . When we got to the bottom of the hill we waited for a 4X4 bakkie comming down and seeing how he went side way first this way than that way with NO traction at all we were grinning in antitipation for this fun to play itself off !!
Hardus braved the road first and ended up in the rut on the left of the road trying to get up on the shoulder to get to the grass , and with paddling his feet managed to get up the uphill . I went second and saw that if i also go into the rut at least the bikes ass wouldn't be going all over the place as it is stuck in the rut so i went up and giving it throttle managed to also get up the hill ok .
Then we turned around to see the other guys progress . OMFG i pissed myself laughing !!! They decided against the rut and thought it better to stay in the middle of the road , needless to say with it being so muddy and slippery three of theit KLR's decided to do what pigs do in mud .... Yup you guessed it !! They laid down and rolled in the mud in the mud :S :silly:
Chantelle was very wise and she respectfully tapped Johann on the shoulder and told him " stop liefie ek loop eerder " as it turned out it was a very wise decision as fires (Johann) later recounted " I thought hey i got this , then next moment his bike proved him wrong by sliding its ass out . It was sooo funny to see and we laughed our asses of .
Eventually we all managed to get the bikes to the top of the uphill by helping out pushing the bike and rider in this lovely mud
Going downhill on this mud also proved to be a hair raising adventure as you really had to concentrate what you were doing , one wrong choice and you will end up rolling in the mud next to your bike . But we eventually reached the tar road with ALOT of slipping and sliding .
Then we hit the tar to the damwall . HOLY SHIT guys it is DRY !! the dam level is about 30 m down from the full level now take that over the whole surface of the damn ... that is A LOT of water that is not there !!
Then we went up to piggs peak and filled up and hit the bulembo gravel mountain pass , and by now it got some maore rain that it had that morning when we came up it , and with the logging trucks , bakkies and other trucks that use that road was now a muddy mess and we really had to chose our lines very carefully . At one stage we went around a logging truck that was stuck at the bottom of a incline as it was too slippery for him to gain traction to get up the hill !! Still wonder how long he had to wait to get up that hill and the problem was with him being stuck there the traffic couldn't get past so i bet that was a wierd traffic jam in the middle of the mountain .
We got to bulembo border gate and back into south africa , the road from bulembo to baberton wet as hell and with the sharp bends and corners we took it very slow as just around a corner you could find a truck or cattle just wandering around while at the same time getting even more drenched in the rain .
But we managed to get to nelspruit all safe and sound and WET . But each of us with the biggest smiles that you could ever imagine !! Knowing we just had a AWESOME adventure and that the rain didn't make the day worse it made the day UNBELIEVABLE plus we had the oppertunity to make some kids feel special . All in all what a FANTASTIC ride with GREAT friends and AWESOME Machines !!
Smoke break before going up to bulembo
Waiting for border to open
Amzing view at the border
Bulembo gravel mountain pass
Just before Piggs Peak
The "Road " up to the school
At the school
Guys chilling enjoying the view while i work
Handing out treats
The muddy uphill
The dam in the back that island you normally ONLY see the trees above the surface of the water
No water running down the overflow
Back in bulembo after a awesome ride
Well wondered if any of the nelspruit clanners were up for a trip and eventually 7 of us went . Me , Hardus , Johann and his girlfriend Chantelle , Andre , Bruce , John-Hendry , Dewald .
We met in nelspruit @ 6 am ready to go , as luck would have it after 2 weeks of incredible heat and not a cloud in sight ...... It started pissing down !!
Well in true adventure KLR spirit the guys all agreed as we already wet why not continue with our adventure as we cant get more wet :silly:
So the whole trip there and back we got soooo soaked i must have tipped a litre of water out my boot when we got back .... So here is a PRO TIP : if any of you guys need rain we are prepared to come to your area for a trip and bring you rain ... just sponsor us petrol :laugh:
The views was amazing , we went via baberton towards bulembo border gate and those of you that has gone that way know the gravel pass from bulembo to piggs peak is a night mare . Now add some rain to the equasion and you have a muddy nightmare . But oh man do these KLR's come to their own in the mud and rain !! no wonder guys refer to them as their pigs .
We got to piggs peak and turned towards Mbabane went over the Maguga dam , then turned into the mountains where we followed a "twee spoor" road up to the school . With deep ruts hectic uphills and downhills boulders and lose rocks and plenty of slippery mud thrown in just for fun we had lots of laughs as some of us nearly came down .
We reached the school and as i discussed with the principal lady there were 50 odd orphans at the school . They normally school 340 students and have 80 orphans there during the week . As i knew this before hand i asked the guys before we went why dont us take the kids some sweets and chips just to make their day a little better . Oh man guys i wish you could have seen their faces when the 7 KLRs pulled into the school . It really made the trip THAT much more unique and special !!
I quickly realigned the dish to give them internet again , while the guys took in the views - which is SPECTACULAR from the school as it is right ontop of a mountain and for some reason the rain stopped just long enough so i could realign the dish .
Then we got all the kids together and handed out the sweets and chips to them . Hell we take so much for granted in our lives . They were so in AWE of there 7 KLR riders their machines and now giving them treats . It just will warm the coldest of hearts to see the genuine gratefullness these kids had for making them feel special . Thanks to all the guys clubbing in and making that possible and a special thanks to Fred (also a nelspruit Clanner , that couldn't come with as he had to work ) for donating chips from Jax Snacks .
After we handed out the treats it started pouring down again , so we had a choice to make wait and see if the rain will ease off or get going , problem we had we didn't know what the weather was going to do and bulembo border closes at 4 . Plus as we were above the clouds on the mountain we didn't know what the rain looked like under the clouds down in the valley .
So we did what normal KLR riders do .... say fuckit lets go and we will handle what ever comes along :evil:
OH MY WORD !!! this was the funniest part of our trip as we wanted to go via the Magugu damwall so we had to take a different route than the one we used to get to the school . And in this new route we had a LOOOONG steep uphill covered in slippery as snot clay mud . When we got to the bottom of the hill we waited for a 4X4 bakkie comming down and seeing how he went side way first this way than that way with NO traction at all we were grinning in antitipation for this fun to play itself off !!
Hardus braved the road first and ended up in the rut on the left of the road trying to get up on the shoulder to get to the grass , and with paddling his feet managed to get up the uphill . I went second and saw that if i also go into the rut at least the bikes ass wouldn't be going all over the place as it is stuck in the rut so i went up and giving it throttle managed to also get up the hill ok .
Then we turned around to see the other guys progress . OMFG i pissed myself laughing !!! They decided against the rut and thought it better to stay in the middle of the road , needless to say with it being so muddy and slippery three of theit KLR's decided to do what pigs do in mud .... Yup you guessed it !! They laid down and rolled in the mud in the mud :S :silly:
Chantelle was very wise and she respectfully tapped Johann on the shoulder and told him " stop liefie ek loop eerder " as it turned out it was a very wise decision as fires (Johann) later recounted " I thought hey i got this , then next moment his bike proved him wrong by sliding its ass out . It was sooo funny to see and we laughed our asses of .
Eventually we all managed to get the bikes to the top of the uphill by helping out pushing the bike and rider in this lovely mud
Going downhill on this mud also proved to be a hair raising adventure as you really had to concentrate what you were doing , one wrong choice and you will end up rolling in the mud next to your bike . But we eventually reached the tar road with ALOT of slipping and sliding .
Then we hit the tar to the damwall . HOLY SHIT guys it is DRY !! the dam level is about 30 m down from the full level now take that over the whole surface of the damn ... that is A LOT of water that is not there !!
Then we went up to piggs peak and filled up and hit the bulembo gravel mountain pass , and by now it got some maore rain that it had that morning when we came up it , and with the logging trucks , bakkies and other trucks that use that road was now a muddy mess and we really had to chose our lines very carefully . At one stage we went around a logging truck that was stuck at the bottom of a incline as it was too slippery for him to gain traction to get up the hill !! Still wonder how long he had to wait to get up that hill and the problem was with him being stuck there the traffic couldn't get past so i bet that was a wierd traffic jam in the middle of the mountain .
We got to bulembo border gate and back into south africa , the road from bulembo to baberton wet as hell and with the sharp bends and corners we took it very slow as just around a corner you could find a truck or cattle just wandering around while at the same time getting even more drenched in the rain .
But we managed to get to nelspruit all safe and sound and WET . But each of us with the biggest smiles that you could ever imagine !! Knowing we just had a AWESOME adventure and that the rain didn't make the day worse it made the day UNBELIEVABLE plus we had the oppertunity to make some kids feel special . All in all what a FANTASTIC ride with GREAT friends and AWESOME Machines !!
Smoke break before going up to bulembo
Waiting for border to open
Amzing view at the border
Bulembo gravel mountain pass
Just before Piggs Peak
The "Road " up to the school
At the school
Guys chilling enjoying the view while i work
Handing out treats
The muddy uphill
The dam in the back that island you normally ONLY see the trees above the surface of the water
No water running down the overflow
Back in bulembo after a awesome ride
