The day started off beautiful. We met at 8:00
AM for the ride briefing and were on our way by
8:30. Today’s ride was going to be long, in
fact it is the longest of the trip coming in at
over 450 kilometers. We started out with a bit
nicer scenery than the previous day. We also
got some more turns on the road with about 30
minutes of really nice sweeping turns that we
took at about 100 KPH. After about an hour we
stopped at a place called Long Tom Pass.
There’s a cannon at the top of the hill that the
Boers used against
the
British in the Boer War in 1897. This was the
location of the last cannon to be used in the
war. It had a great view of the valley.
We took some pictures, chatted for a little bit
then headed out. We stopped again about 10
minutes later at a vista point where we took a
few quick pictures including a group shot of the
ride team and then headed off. It was a really
beautiful day, sunny, slight breeze but warm and
perfect for riding. There is very little
traffic on the roads and the cars and trucks
that are on the road will pull to the side as
you come up behind them. It makes passing
really easy, even when there is on coming
traffic.
After about an hour of riding, including some
tighter turns that we had to slow a bit for, we
stopped in a small town for coffee. I took the
opportunity to get some cash from the ATM then
headed to the coffee house. We sat out back in
a really nice lawn area covered in shade
provided by a beautiful tree. At the guides
recommendation I got a fruit smoothie that was
really good. It had Mango, Lechee and a couple
other tropical fruits. From there we headed out
for a bit longer of a ride to Pilgrims Rest.
This is a town where gold was found in 1873,
there used to be mines there but the last one
closed in 1971 and the country bought the land a
few years later and turned the area into an open
museum. It was a really quaint town. We gassed
up the bikes then got a bit to eat and headed to
a place galled “God’s Window”.
If you have seen the movie “The God’s Must Be
Crazy” then you have seen God’s Window. It is
the place where he throws the Coke bottle to get
rid of it. It is like the end of land. You
walk down a path to a viewing area and the land
just drops away. You get a great view of the
valley below. I took some great pictures that I
will put up for everyone to see. From there we
did the short ride to "Blyde River Canyon". It
is hard to describe other than to say it is like
the Grand Canyon of South Africa. We stood on
the edge of a cliff that probably dropped over
700 meters (2100 feet) to the bottom. Our
guide, Marcus decided to walk out on a rock that
protruded over the cliff. I wouldn’t get near
it for a million dollars. After several
pictures we were on our way. The next hour or
so we descended through some sharp and some
sweeping turns. We came down about 800 meters
to a place where we had a break and some cold
drinks. After a brief rest and with about 140
kilometers to go we headed out and rode through
a series of small towns and heavier traffic
to Kruger Park. I was amazed at all the people
walking or sitting along the road. There were
thousands of people, most of them stared at us
and waved, of course we waved back. After
filling up our tanks again we finished with a 42
kilometer ride to the hotel.
The hotel, Protea Krugers Gate, is a very nice
place right on the outside of Kruger National
Park. After a quick shower and change of
clothes we met at the bar for a couple beers
before having dinner. Dinner was great, lots of
different food including Impala stir fry. I am
still on my diet but I could not resist having
some Impala. It was really lean but quite
tasty. I can hardly wait to see what they will
serve tomorrow night.
Well that is it for Day 2. Day 3 is our “rest
Day”. We are meeting in the lobby at 5:15 AM to
go on the safari in the park.
Read on to Day
3, my Game Drive in Kruger National Park