The Return to S.A. …

Having to ride back to Pretoria invoked within me a bag of mixed feelings…

Having crossed the border into Namibia, I had bid my country goodbye and focused my mind on the journey ahead… A leaking shock absorber was now sending me back to the very place that I had started from ! During the long ride from Windhoek, I realized that incidents such as these could not be planned for, and I would have to accept the fact that from time to time, situations would arise that I would have no control over… There was no point in dwelling on my disappointment, the shock had to get repaired, otherwise there was no chance of making it through to the Ethiopian border on the Isiolo/Marsabit/Moyale road in Kenya… The Big Fella had to be in good condition mechanically before we took on this “Road From Hell”….

Leaving Kang - 6.00 am, and it's DARK...!!.

Like many bikers, I prefer not to ride in the dark, but with another 700 odd kms to ride today, I wanted to get an early start…  I left Kang at 6.00 am, and rode out onto the Trans Kalahari and was immediately swallowed up into the inky darkness… I rode at about 80 km/h, squinting into the area lit up by my headlights and spotlights… Truckers who had not stopped over at Kang, had chosen to park on the more open sections of the road to overnight…Most were still sound asleep as we motored past them…

Despite fierce concentration on my part, I narrowly missed a black donkey standing in the middle of the road… A surge of adrenaline zapped through my system, and if I wasn’t fully awake before this, I certainly was afterward…!!!

This photo, taken on fly, belies the tension I was feeling, riding through the Kalahari in the dark...

The “cat’s eyes” on the road helped direct me forward, and also assisted in alerting me to animals either standing on the road or running across it… I saw a Black-Backed Jackal, returning to it’s den after it’s nocturnal wanderings, and soon afterward, I came across a Civet, lumbering along on the yellow line, oblivious to all around him… I would have thought that the local farmers would have herded their cattle home at night, as these are a valuable source of income to them, as well as indications of an individual’s apparent wealth… But I was wrong… Herds of the beasts lay next to and in some cases on the very edge of the tar… I rode on the painted line down the very middle of the highway, ready to take evasive action in either direction if I needed to… It was tense, Dudes !! Jaw clenching stuff…!! Dawn could not come quick enough for us….

And as is usual in Africa,when it did arrive, it was spectacular… I was riding in a South-Easterly direction, and kept stealing glances over my left hand side-mirror, waiting for that golden orb to poke it’s head up over the horizon… From out of a bank of clouds,  far to the east of where we rode, it finally did… I snatched the camera from out of my tank bag, still doing about 80 km/h and took the shot below… The fact that a tree appeared in the frame was purely coincidental…!!!

Sunrise over the Kalahari... Glorious as usual....

With the light and visibility fast improving, the Big Fella asked for more power, and got it..!! We rumbled through the Kalahari dawn, seeing more and more of this areas bird life, also greeting the dawn.. Flocks of doves landed on the road and chased each other about, the amorous males getting an early start with their flirting… An Eagle Owl flew up off the road surface and over our heads as we passed…

It was a beautiful dawn, and I sat back and watched it unfold before me…

Nonsense !! It blew for at least 3....

Africa in the early morning….!!! There’s nothing quite like it…!! I rode with my helmet flipped up, taking in the smell of the wet veld, the sweet fragrance given off by the trees and bushes we passed… Despite the cool temperature, I opened all the vents on my jacket, wanted to feel the wind on my skin…maybe absorb some of the smells through my pores… The first hour was a magical ride, despite the tension caused by having to dodge sleepy donkeys…

The wind got up and blew for a while, and then settled down again just as I passed through Sekoma, the little settlement still slumbering… I rode on and through the outskirts of Jwaneng, the mining town, also waking up to the new day… The massive mine dump out to the east of Jwaneng was a blight on the landscape, rising up out of the Kalahari like a version of Table Mountain… I was glad to get past it and back into the countryside on the far side of it… A troop of Baboons sat idly, watching me as I cruised by them… I half expected them to stick out their thumbs to hitch a ride…

The volume of traffic picked up the closer we got to Kanye and Lobatse...

I was making good time now, and at a little after 10.00 am, rolled into Lobatse, the last major town before the crossing back into South Africa… I had ridden 368 kms on a single tank of petrol and I was chuffed that I did not have to stop in a town before this to refuel… Yeah…. I’m still riding until I hear the Big Fella gasping….!! I hate stopping for fuel… I find it a waste of precious time… I don’t mind stopping in the middle of nowhere to have a drink or chew on a snack, or to take photographs, but a fuel stop gets my goat !!! I have to remove my gloves and helmet, then take the tank bag off to get to the petrol cap… Then after five minutes or so, the whole process is reversed… The problem I have, is that while the tank is being filled, I get the urge to buy a cold-drink, or get something to eat…. And then there are the inevitable questions from interested parties… Each fuel stop can add about half an hour to my day on the road…

Back in the R.S.A. ...

Clearing the Botswana customs and immigration was simple and over in minutes… The South African border post was another matter… I was sent to three different offices to get a gate pass, and each of them had no passes to hand out or sent me off on another fruitless search for one… I eventually got on my bike and rode up to the gate… When the police officer stationed there asked for my pass, I said, “You find me one in any of those bloody offices over there, and I’ll be able to give you one !! Have a nice day !!”

And with that, I opened the throttle and roared away from him… I had spent almost an hour being messed about by the incompetence of our Border Officials, and had had more than enough…!! I poured on the gas on the way to Zeerust, where a massive ore carrier was being transported through the centre of town, bringing traffic to a standstill…

Big Load... This ore carrier dwarfs the minibus next to it....

The N4 to Pretoria, and the most expensive Toll Gate in the country...!!

The Swartruggens Toll gate chewed R65.00 from my wallet, and for the next few kms, I muttered to myself about the fact that bikes had to pay the same as cars… I wanted to get off the N4, and shortly after Rustenburg, turned off and rode along the old road which hugs the Magaliesberg Mountains, all the way to Hartebeespoort Dam. I recalled all the rock climbing I had done in this area while still at school, the long solo hikes I had undertaken in the mountains, the troops of Baboons and the Leopard I had encountered while out on my own… Fond memories…

On the Hartebeespoort Dam wall...

I stopped of on the far side of the dam wall, and started making calls to let Bavarian Motorcycles know that I was on my way, and make all the necessary arrangements for the following morning… I munched on an energy bar while I watched the green water cascading through the sluice gates, and tumbling over the series of terraces, into the river below…

The tunnel at Harties...

Then it was back in the saddle for the final run in to Pretoria. I had to get used to the fact that I was back into a system of congested roads, and after Namibia and Botswana, where traffic is light, I now had to have my wits about me… At 3.00pm, I rode through the gates of the complex where my apartment (now Debbie’s) was situated, stopped to answer the questions posed by the security guards, who had wondered where I had been for the last month… I pointed to the flags stuck on my pannier in reply, and watched as their eyebrows took a trip north…

“Hau !! You have traveled..!!”, one of them said…

Indeed… 7000 kms, ….and I was back where I had started from… A bout of irritation came over me at the thought, but again I reminded myself that this was part and parcel of the adventure that I set out on, and in the years to come, I would have to deal with many more disappointments along the way…

Bring it on…!!! It will all be good in the end…!!!

Back to the beginning...

© GBWT 2010