Hi from Gauteng
You guys in CPT must remember that although far KZN, Gauteng en Mpumalanga offers a lot for all skill types.
Myself and 4 friends did the Sani Pass and Lesotho over the weekend. We are all above 50 with one 60 year old and we mostly do weekend breakfast runs and sometimes some offroad. We consider ourselves "roadies" but with dirtroad aspirations. Between us were 3 x 1150GS's, 1 x 1200GS Adv and 1 x Dakar
Just a short review.
The trip started on Friday at 06h00 east of Pta and the route went via Standerton, Warden, unto N3 over van Reenen past Mooirivier to Nottingham Road. Appr. 600km's
From Nottingham Road we took the 60km dirt road to Himewill, close to Underberg. From Himewill we took the 25km dirtroad leading to the Sani Pass borderpost. The construction of the new road is underway, a very good dirt road up to the borderpost.
We went through the borderpost at 16h00 for the real experience up the 8km mountain pass to the Sani Pass Lodge.
Sani Borderpost - SA
We had to be at the Lesotho borderpost on top of Sani Pass before 17h00 closing time.
One of the tour operators told us at the SA borderpost that they had to recover 6 bikers from the pass the previous weekend. With that warning in mind we knew we were in for some fun. The first 5.5 km went well and then the fun started. Two of the friends both came down 3 times with only two of us in support.
The third fall
After the third fall we decided to leave the 2 bikes in the mountain (about 1km from the top) and do the recovery on Saturday morning. We arrived at the borderpost around 17h30 and luckily they let us through. After a good night's rest at Sani Pass Lodge and a good breakfast we walked down and without any further mishaps managed to drove to the top.
View from the top
and another .....
The initial plan was to go down the mountain but after a 30 second deliberation we decided to take the route through Lesotho via the Mokhotlong and Moteng passes to the Caledonspoort borderpost close to Fouriesburg and Clarens.
As we left Sani Top
In 4 hours we did the 40/50 km dirt road stretch from Sani Pass Lodge to the tar road (pothole road) unto Ox Bow Lodge (60 odd km's) close to Afri Ski resort.
Letseng diamond mine
Afri ski resort - +- 10k's from Ox Bow Lodge
Ox Bow Lodge in the distance
We arrived at Ox Bow Lodge at 13h00 and spend the afternoon together with the management team of the G4 Challange (old Camel Trophy) watching the two rugby semi-finals.
G4 Challange - Competitors
Real competitors
They were busy with national trials for the selection of the top two competitors that will represent SA later this year.
We left Ox Bow at 08h30 over the Moteng Pass (what a view!!) and arrived in Fouriesburg around 10h30. After petrol and drinks we left for Pta via Bethlehem, Reitz and Frankfort. From Frankfort we took a 80km dirt road to Oranjeville where we had lunch.
From there we took the way home via Deneysville and Vereniging to Pta. We arrived back home at 17H30.
I hope this will wet some appetites!!
Regards
Amadeus