Sunday, February 2, 2020 | Marko Bauer | Africa
The final riding day of our tour has arrived! We still have to see one of the biggest attractions in South Africa, the Cape of Good Hope.
So we took off as usual, riding through beautiful towns like Camps Bay, all the way south to the cape. We took the mandatory foto, visited Cape Point and had our final picnic on the ocean.
Then we stopped one last time, on top of Signal Hill, before we ended this wonderful and memorable motorcycle tour.
After two weeks of dreaming about the magical city, today is the day when we will finally see it!
After the wine-tasting yesterday we decided to visit the winery and buy some of their excellent wines. From there we rode as far south as you can on the African continent: to Cape Agulhas.
Next stop was Hermanus, where we had a great lunch. We didn't see any whales, but the penguins at Stony Point were there, waiting for us.
And then we rode towards our big destination: Cape Town! The traffic was not too bad, so we reached the waterfront and our hotel as planned. Now it's time to see what's going on in town!
400 km of beautiful South African scenery were on our schedule today! We started out with some sightseeing in Port Elizabeth. Then we turned our motorcycles west in direction of the famous Garden Route.
Our first stop here was the Bloukrans Bungee Bridge - but everybody preferred the Edelweiss picnic to jumping.
Next stop was Knysna, where we had to try the famous oysters.
Outeniqua pass was unfortunately hidden in fog, but as soon as we had crossed the coastal mountains, we were greeted with beautiful afternoon sunshine and pleasant 26 degrees C!
Now it's time for an ostrich steak!
Waking up to the sound of waves of the Indian Ocean - life is wonderful here in South Africa!
After a good breakfast we continued our journey. We followed the coast for a while before we turned inland again. The Big Pineapple was our first stop, then we visited Grahamstown with its wide alleys and Victorian buildings.
Lunch today was typical South African, on a farm with lots of fresh and organic products!
And then we headed straight for P.E., where our hotel was waiting for us, perfectly located between the beach, shops and cafés!
Blue skies over Mthatha, very pleasant 20 degrees C - the perfect day to go to the beach!
We left Mthatha a little bit before 9 in the morning, everybody was eager to reach today's destination: the Indian Ocean. Before we could jump into the fresh ocean water, we had a few stops on the way: the Kei river, the German Settlers Monument in East London and of course lunch...
At 2 pm we reached our hotel, and a few minutes later we were on the beach, some of us ready for a swim, some ready for a glass of beer or wine...
The Drakensberge were the main attraction today. But the other stops, like Howick Falls and the Nelson Mandela Capture Site, were equally amazing.
Warm and sunny weather for the first two-thirds of the day was later followed by dark clouds and fairly strong winds - but we made it to our hotel in Mthatha without a drop of rain!
Today we could sleep in a little bit, we started later than usual because we wanted to see some more Zulu traditions. We tried stick-fighting and spear throwing...looks like we're better off riding motorcycles.
Afterwards we rode down to the coast of the Indian Ocean again, for a great German lunch with sausages, schnitzel and good coffee.
In the afternoon we rode into the sugarcane hills near Pietermaritzburg. We visited the Gandhi statue in town and then continued to tonight's destination, Hilton.
Today we had two highlights on our schedule:
In the morning we rode straight to the Indian Ozean. The warnings about sharks, hippos and crocodiles were clear enough, and after seeing some hippos in the river we decided to definitely not go for a swim.
Instead we had a great lunch with a view of the ocean. Afterwards we continued deeper into the Zulu territory. The temperature climbed to more than 30 degrees C when we reached our second highlight of the day: a traditional Zulu village.
We learned about Zulu traditions and their culture - and even had the chance to try some of their beer....now it's time for the bar, thank you, evolution, for Black Label!
Today was split into two halves: Until lunch we rode through Eswatini, the afternoon was spent in KwaZulu-Natal.
We started the day with a visit to the famous Swazi candle factory, which exports its candles all over the world. Afterwards we enjoyed some more of the twisty Eswatini mountain roads.
After crossing the border, we had a tasty lunch in Pietretief, before we continued to Mkuze, our home for the night.
Eswatini was the big highlight for today. But before we reached this wonderful country, we also had a few remarkable sights and stops. Huge banana plantations lined the way - also a good time for a stop at one of the many fruit stands.
The border crossing was a breeze today, and in the afternoon we could enjoy the curvy roads in Eswatini.
Now we are getting ready for dinner in our royal hotel!
4:30am and the alarm is ringing - this can't be a rest day!
It is, and as we are at the gate of Kruger Park, we have to get up early for our morning game drive.
Fortunately we did get up early, because we saw lots of animals, including four of the Big Five!
Lion, leopard, elephant, giraffe, buffalo, zebra - you name it.
Now we are back at our hotel, catching up on sleep, e-mails, cold beers,... Yes, it is a rest day
The day started like yesterday ended: with mist and a light drizzle. Are we really in South Africa? But as soon as we had ridden down the fantastic Long Toms Pass, the weather had cleared up and the sun came out. We could enjoy our first highlight of the day, Pilgrims Rest.
But the next stop, Gods Window, was hidden in fog again. We discussed if we should shortcut - but fortunately we didn't. We were rewarded with a wonderful view of the Three Rondaveels and pleasant temperatures all the way to our destination, Kruger Park.
Winter blues - time to fly south! South Africa is the perfect spot to get some motorcycle riding time while everybody else is freezing at home!
Three couples from Canada, Germany and Switzerland escaped the cold and are on their way to discover South Africa.
We left Johannesburg today and started our trip. Through mining and farming country we rode east. Now we are high up in the mountains at almost 2000m, halfway to Kruger Park, where we will arrive tomorrow!
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