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So we decided last minute to do a ride through Swaziland, what started out as 4 or 5 riders ended up in a group of 8.
This was a last minute ride so we didn't have any idea on where we were going to stay (Luckily we had an ex ‘Swazilander’ on the team, Kurt)
The team :
From the left:Chris Fischer(The american) , Curt the Swaziland tour Guide, Scott, Silver Fox, me, The Prof Lawrence,Steve
And lastly our Transalp Test Pilot Dean
Riding Day 1:
From the Durban side the ride was calm and scenic.
As I thought there was no petrol in Swaziland, I fitted my 2X Yamaha long range tanks to my TTR the night before just in case.
I left from Durban and worked my way down to Eshowe then up to Melmoth - Vryheid and finally reaching Paulpietersburg about 500Kms later.
The Jhb guys seemed to have a few tire problems along the way as they had ridden dirt for majority of their trip and the nutty professors Triumph Tiger had decided to meet the mud monster and give up a tube along the way - we finally met in Paulpietersburg for lunch at a motel in town.
From there we made our way back out towards Piet Retief and hit a bit of a dirt shortcut through to the Mahamba border. The border crossing was pretty easy and we faced no hassles getting through. The locals were also very friendly and enjoyed chatting.
Once all of us had our books in order we headed on towards Nhlangano to find some accommodation for the night, as we had already been riding for a few good hours and Team KTM looked like they needed a rest
ot:
The first stop after filling up with petrol was the Casino just outside Nhlangano, but unfortunately they were fully booked, so our ex Swaziland tour guide got on the mobile to arrange for some sort of accommodation for the evening, and man did he find us a spot!!!
It must have been 30kms down. After buying some cool beer we pulled into farmland where we were to spend our first night. From the nicely laid out rooms, to the swimming pool overlooking the valley, the place was a real gem.
We were met by a few good locals and the farmer “Koen” - who had arranged a good old Swazi braai for us!
This all went down well and we were ready for what ‘Day 2’ had to offer, as we were going to make our way up towards Piggs Peak.
Riding Day 2:
The next morning we were up around 5am, and had left just after 7am after Team KTM had finished washing their bikes for our ride towards Piggs Peak.
From the farm we did a heap of offroad riding - around 400- 600 kms I think.
Dean and Bruce’s ‘Transalps’ seemed to like listening for buffalo in the dirt as they were down a few times!!! Luckily no-one got injured and we carried on towards Manzini.
A puncture later from the TTR and the Triumph - luckily those KTM's carry all the tools! We finally made our way through Manzini and up to Mbabane. We filled up in Mbabane and headed for Piggs Peak, passing Sibebe Rock and stopping for a swim at a waterfall before making our way to the dam wall where we stopped for a few photos.
A few kilometers past the wall we were in Piggs Peak, and made our way down through the forests for our second night stop in Bulembu mining town.
Bulembu is an awesome place - it was once an abandoned mining town (“Ghost Town”) that some entrepreneurs have built back up. The town sits quite high up, right in the middle of the mountains. We stayed in an old mining house and had dinner that night at the main restaurant. After which we all retired for the evening.
In the morning there was a thick layer of mist that sat in those mountains, a blanket, as the sun came up.
Riding Day 3:
Bulembu is right near the border, so the following day we rode maybe about 5kms to the border, where we did our sign out. At this border they seemed to be a bit more suspicious, as they claim quite a few stolen bikes come through there. They checked all of our bikes to see if they were stolen!
From the border we were back in South Africa, and hit some really enjoyable ‘windy’s’ as we descended down the mountain towards Barberton. These roads were long and fun as we made our way back down for breakfast in Barberton. From Barberton it was tar highway all the way back to Jhb. The highway was long and everyone just wanted to get back home.
In Jhb we checked Scotts GPS and the Jhb guys had done +-1300 Kms on the trip.
SMILE!!!!!
Riding Day 4
After relaxing for a day the time came for me to packed up and head on back home to Durban. The last thing I felt like was a highway, so I hit the old road back from Belfour – Greylingstad – Standerton – Newcastle – Greytown – Stanger – Durban. Lucky I had my modern day GPS strapped to my Tank.
The route was enjoyable and relaxing. There are nice scenic spots as you pass through the mountains and down towards Greytown.
The weather was good, and I got sunshine all the way until I hit Greytown, where I rode through mist for about 60kms to Stanger.
In all I did around 2000kms in total!!
Pictures and Map to follow shortly!!!!
This was a last minute ride so we didn't have any idea on where we were going to stay (Luckily we had an ex ‘Swazilander’ on the team, Kurt)
The team :
From the left:Chris Fischer(The american) , Curt the Swaziland tour Guide, Scott, Silver Fox, me, The Prof Lawrence,Steve
And lastly our Transalp Test Pilot Dean
Riding Day 1:
From the Durban side the ride was calm and scenic.
As I thought there was no petrol in Swaziland, I fitted my 2X Yamaha long range tanks to my TTR the night before just in case.
I left from Durban and worked my way down to Eshowe then up to Melmoth - Vryheid and finally reaching Paulpietersburg about 500Kms later.
The Jhb guys seemed to have a few tire problems along the way as they had ridden dirt for majority of their trip and the nutty professors Triumph Tiger had decided to meet the mud monster and give up a tube along the way - we finally met in Paulpietersburg for lunch at a motel in town.
From there we made our way back out towards Piet Retief and hit a bit of a dirt shortcut through to the Mahamba border. The border crossing was pretty easy and we faced no hassles getting through. The locals were also very friendly and enjoyed chatting.
Once all of us had our books in order we headed on towards Nhlangano to find some accommodation for the night, as we had already been riding for a few good hours and Team KTM looked like they needed a rest
ot:The first stop after filling up with petrol was the Casino just outside Nhlangano, but unfortunately they were fully booked, so our ex Swaziland tour guide got on the mobile to arrange for some sort of accommodation for the evening, and man did he find us a spot!!!
It must have been 30kms down. After buying some cool beer we pulled into farmland where we were to spend our first night. From the nicely laid out rooms, to the swimming pool overlooking the valley, the place was a real gem.
We were met by a few good locals and the farmer “Koen” - who had arranged a good old Swazi braai for us!
This all went down well and we were ready for what ‘Day 2’ had to offer, as we were going to make our way up towards Piggs Peak.
Riding Day 2:
The next morning we were up around 5am, and had left just after 7am after Team KTM had finished washing their bikes for our ride towards Piggs Peak.
From the farm we did a heap of offroad riding - around 400- 600 kms I think.
Dean and Bruce’s ‘Transalps’ seemed to like listening for buffalo in the dirt as they were down a few times!!! Luckily no-one got injured and we carried on towards Manzini.
A puncture later from the TTR and the Triumph - luckily those KTM's carry all the tools! We finally made our way through Manzini and up to Mbabane. We filled up in Mbabane and headed for Piggs Peak, passing Sibebe Rock and stopping for a swim at a waterfall before making our way to the dam wall where we stopped for a few photos.
A few kilometers past the wall we were in Piggs Peak, and made our way down through the forests for our second night stop in Bulembu mining town.
Bulembu is an awesome place - it was once an abandoned mining town (“Ghost Town”) that some entrepreneurs have built back up. The town sits quite high up, right in the middle of the mountains. We stayed in an old mining house and had dinner that night at the main restaurant. After which we all retired for the evening.
In the morning there was a thick layer of mist that sat in those mountains, a blanket, as the sun came up.
Riding Day 3:
Bulembu is right near the border, so the following day we rode maybe about 5kms to the border, where we did our sign out. At this border they seemed to be a bit more suspicious, as they claim quite a few stolen bikes come through there. They checked all of our bikes to see if they were stolen!
From the border we were back in South Africa, and hit some really enjoyable ‘windy’s’ as we descended down the mountain towards Barberton. These roads were long and fun as we made our way back down for breakfast in Barberton. From Barberton it was tar highway all the way back to Jhb. The highway was long and everyone just wanted to get back home.
In Jhb we checked Scotts GPS and the Jhb guys had done +-1300 Kms on the trip.
SMILE!!!!!
Riding Day 4
After relaxing for a day the time came for me to packed up and head on back home to Durban. The last thing I felt like was a highway, so I hit the old road back from Belfour – Greylingstad – Standerton – Newcastle – Greytown – Stanger – Durban. Lucky I had my modern day GPS strapped to my Tank.
The route was enjoyable and relaxing. There are nice scenic spots as you pass through the mountains and down towards Greytown.
The weather was good, and I got sunshine all the way until I hit Greytown, where I rode through mist for about 60kms to Stanger.
In all I did around 2000kms in total!!
Pictures and Map to follow shortly!!!!
