I arrived back in Johannesburg on Sunday after
my quick trip to Victoria Falls. I got to the
hotel about an hour before we were supposed to
be at the orientation meeting for the ride so I
went to the bar where I found most of the riders
having a beer. It is a great bunch of people.
There are 10 riders on 9 motorcycles and two
guides, one who rides with us and another who
drives the van full of luggage and tows the
extra bike. I had met both guides before,
Marcus briefly at the end of my High Alpine
Adventure and Claus on the High Alpine Adventure
(he was one of three guides on the tour). Both
of them are really great. After an introductory
beer we had orientation so we knew what to
expect, sign up for additional insurance, etc.
After that it was dinner, another beer and off
to bed.
The next morning we were up early for breakfast
then the daily briefing at 8:30 where we went
over the course choices for the day and some
instructions on what to expect. The first day
we had two choices, a long route and a shorter
one but everyone opted to follow the guide on
the longer one. It was to be 400 kilometers.
The terrain was pretty boring. I heard people
describe it as “Iowa”. We rode on mainly long,
straight, flat roads with little traffic. Te
main scenery was corn fields, cattle, power
plants that burned coal and coal mines. At one
point we had to come to a stop on a small road
and wait. I thought they were restricting
traffic to one way only but after a few minutes,
when the road was clear, there was a big
explosion and two plumes of dark smoke. It
turns out they were using explosives at one of
the coal mines. After a stop for lunch we were
off again on more of the same. When we stopped
for gasoline about 250 kilometers into the ride
everyone decided that we would take a shortcut
to shave off about 50 kilometers.
The last 15 kilometers was actually quite nice,
we were in rolling hills with some nice curves
and nice scenery. We pulled into out hotel, got
our stuff off the bikes and headed off to a
shower before a beer in the bar. It was nice
hanging out with the other riders by the pool.
We talked about past rides, places to see,
different travel stories and a lot of other
topics before we headed off to get dressed,
smart casual, for dinner. Dinner was huge with
5 courses, not all of which I ate. Tomorrow
should be a lot better, we are entering the
mountains on our way to Kruger National Park.
There will be a lot more curves, altitude
changes and even a few lumber trucks to
negotiate our way around.
I’m looking forward to it. More later
Read on to Day
2 - The Ride into Kruger