Pigg’s Peak to Uvongo

S 30°51’ 00” – E 30°23’ 00”

I was looking forward to today’s trip, as not only would it be one of the longest stints on my journey, but it also meant that I would be back in the saddle again… Each time I looked at the bike parked outside my room, I would think about the next leg and go through the possible difficulties I might face on the route. I wanted to stop thinking about things and get to the part of actually doing them…

The weather had improved, the clouds blown away towards the Highveld by a strong westerly wind… I sat listening to U2 on my I-pod while staring out over the dam. I watched a Paradise Flycatcher mucking about in the Maroela Tree across from my room. He darted to and fro between the branches, searching for insects… A short while later his shorter-tailed mate joined him and together they continued their hunt for breakfast…

I enjoyed a leisurely full English breakfast, and after loading up the bike, I said goodbye to the staff and left the Lodge at about 10.00am. I was confident of covering in excess of 120km in any given hour and that was why I left so late… I figured I could be in Uvongo by 6.00pm that night if all went well. This included crossing the border and a number of stops for fuel…

After what had been a short and rather “liquid” stay in Pigg’s Peak, I drove across the dam wall, and charged up the opposite side, relishing the feeling of having the bike underneath me, and having a destination to reach…

View of the Maguga Dam wall from my verandah…

I decided to avoid the traffic which would be pouring through the Ezulweni Valley, and chose rather to follow Louis Barnard’s advice to use the newly tarred road which linked up with the road going south, down the eastern part of Swaziland. My route took me back through Pigg’s Peak, past Djakiza (where I said a brief goodbye to Louis, verifying my route down into the Lowveld of Swaziland as I did so…) and down across the Phoponyane River, through Ntonjeni, and just before the Jeppe’s Reef border post, turned right onto the road to Buhle.

At Buhleni, I stopped for fuel before motoring on to Balegane, Tshaneni, Mhlume, and through Simunye, before entering the Hlane Royal National Park. The road up to this point had been a pleasure to ride on, and I was able to keep the revs high as I zoomed through the countryside… The rural areas of Swaziland are rapidly being opened by the new roads that are being built to improve the infrastructure. In all the years that I had lived in Swaziland, I had never once been down this road… It had always been a rather dusty gravel road “leading to nowhere” and I had always wondered where it joined the road to Mananga border post. Today I found out!!

On driving over the cattle grate at the entrance Hlane Royal National Park, I startled a lone Wildebeest, which galloped alongside the bike for a short distance before veering off into the thicker bush bordering the road. I avoided a fairly large tortoise crossing the road from my right, and observed a small flock of European Rollers harassing a lone Yellow-Billed Kite… That was as wild as it got…!

Once through Hlane, I turned left toward Siteki and after a short distance, turned right again on the road which would take me to Big Bend. This road is littered with potholes, and I spent an interesting half hour, shifting my weight from side to side to change direction on the bike in order to avoid the bigger ones. This was mostly done at speeds in excess of 120km/h, as the road carries very little traffic and weaves its way though mostly open grassland, where cattle and other moving obstructions can be seen from a reasonable distance… I had to come to a dead stop at one point, when an elderly Swazi gentleman chased his small herd of cows across the road directly in front of me. I shouted a few choice obscenities in his general direction; while he bobbed his head a few times in what I supposed was meant to be an apology… Mollified, I left him following his noisy herd of cattle, while I headed south toward Big Bend, and the border post…

Once through Big Bend, I opened the taps and on what is a very good surface, holding the bike through tight lines all the way to the Lavumisa Border Post, arriving there at 12.45pm. The traffic circle just short of the Border came up rather suddenly, requiring a quick test of the ABS… I am happy to report that despite the weight, the bike slowed sufficiently and behaved perfectly up to and through the circle…!! Formalities were completed in less than 15 minutes, and I parked the bike on the Golela side of the border and lit up while sending a sms to those folk who believed I had settled into Pigg’s Peak for the duration of my “so-called trip”! Faith, my friends…faith…!!

Having driven at quite high speeds up to the Border, the Fuel Management System advised that I had barely 56kms to go before I would splutter to a stop… I rode at a steady 120km/h for the first 10kms to the turnoff onto the N2, while the FMS recalculated… at 120km/h it advised that I had about 90kms of range left in the tank. Not as little as I thought I had… I took it easy until the Nyala 1-Stop at Mkuze, where I refueled while sweating bullets in what must have been 35 degree heat… I received many curious looks from the folk around the petrol pumps… I guess they were wondering how the heck I managed to ride the bike with all the gear strapped to it and myself!!

Lavumisa Border Post, Swaziland / RSA (S 27’ 19,05” – E 31’ 53,32”)

Once back on the N2 I traveled at a steady 140km/h. Just before the Jozini turnoff, a trio of Vervet Monkeys ran out of the undergrowth on the side of the road and in front of the bike…!! There was no time to avoid them, and I slammed into the second one in the line, killing it instantly… Rattled by this, I slowed down to see if any damage had been done to the bike. A few kilometers further on, a flock of sparrows flew across the road, one of them hitting me on the left bicep, sending a sharp pain up into my shoulder. I suffered cramps for the remainder of the trip to Uvongo as a result of this little collision…

I drove on past Hluhluwe, Mtubatuba, Kwambonambi and Empangeni, through the tollgate at Mtunzini and continued battling into a headwind which had me hanging on grimly at times, when strong gusts threatened to unseat me…

Most of the rivers I crossed were in full spate due to the recent, heavy rains. The bush on either side of the highway was lush with new growth. With the road being relatively clear of traffic, I was afforded the opportunity to take in some of the surroundings… I had traveled this road often when we lived in Durban in 2003 but being on a bike gave me a new perspective. Not only was there the feeling of freedom, but I felt closer and more in touch with the scenery I passed…

I stopped at the Shell Ultra City to refuel, having passed through the Mvoti Toll Gate. Riding into the headwind had reduced my effective range by more than 10%, and I did not want to chance trying to reach Durban before filling up again. From here I knew I had 195km to go to reach Uvongo, and with my GPS telling me I would arrive just after 6.00pm, I knew that the worst was over…. Or so I thought….

At 5.00pm, I found myself in the mother of all traffic jams, passing Umhlanga and the infamous “Spaghetti Junction”… I managed to worm my way through what seemed like a kamikaze convention and once I had passed Amanzimtoti, adjusted the Cramp Buster and whizzed into the early evening and it’s setting sun, past Scottburgh, Hibberdene, Port Shepstone and Shelley Beach, before taking the Uvongo turnoff and a few kilometers further on, cruising to a stop in front of my dumbstruck parents…

Our dog Jessie came bounding over to the bike, but seemed to remember the last time she sniffed too closely at a hot engine, and waited a short distance away for me to come and greet her… After checking my GPS co-ordinates (which I had resolved to make note of on each leg of the journey) I swung out of the saddle and breathed a small sigh of relief… Eight hours earlier, I had waved goodbye to Maguga Dam and Pigg’s Peak, and had made an 800km, four-stop trip, down the length of the KwaZulu Natal coastline… My shoulders and backside ached. But I was happy nonetheless. This was the second longest stint I had ever traveled on a bike…

Sure, I was chuffed!!!

Pat Malone makes it to Uvongo!!

© 2008 TBMH