Following the completion of the 4 Corner of South Africa motorbike ride, within 3 days, I have been asked to ‘write a story’ about the why’s and how’s with the hope that our experience will encourage and help others to undertake this challenging, but fantastic, trip.
1.Format:
The requirement is to ride to the following 4 points within 3 days (72 hours): Pont Drift border post with Botswana; Kosi Bay border post with Mozambique; Alexander Bay border post with Namibia; Cape Agulhas lighthouse, which is the most southern point of Africa. Another requirement is to provide photos, with date and time stamps, that show the bike and rider at each point.
Also, it is necessary to have verification of the start and finish times.
This was (is) a challenge as these are very remote places with not a person in sight “after hours”. What we did was to ensure that our photos were date and time stamped by our phones AND, at the first available point, we obtained an independent date/time record with a collaborating back-up photo.
All fuel slips, with date and time, were photographed and submitted as an independent verification that the route was done.
2. General:
This was one of those rides on my bucket list and, one day over some idle chat, the commitment was made at short notice. I have done many long trips in my life and, I can honestly say that this ranks up there with the toughest.
We rode from our home in De Rust, near Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo to the start at Pont Drift, a distance of about 1200 km, over 2 days before starting the ride. Day 2 of this section of the trip was very demanding, possibly the worst of the whole trip: GPS problems [to discuss later], hot weather, missing road signs and city name changes on road signs, some difficult areas with cows, goats, bad roads, extensive road works AND, to put the nail in the coffin, 97 km’s of old tar road to Alldays which was nothing but major potholes and broken tar – not recommended.
The day after the 3 day trip we had to ride about 450 km from Cape Agulhas home.
There were 2 of us:
My new Best Biker Buddy is the real hero of this trip. I’ll call her Liz. She is a young middle-aged lady, very athletic who has a very determined mind once set on a challenge. Liz was a great support as she carried out her tasks perfectly – including keeping me on my toes. She did the trip with a significantly injured left thumb, from a previous trip on her BMW GS650X. This injury required surgery soon after our trip.
(DT – That is one tough Lady – Well Done!)
After about 15 years Liz started riding again about 7 months prior to this trip. Her previous longest ride was about 800km on the 1st of January 2023 where we rode 23 passes in about 15 hours. Liz was on her GS650X for that ride. At the first fuel stop on the 23 Passes trip, Liz casually informed me that this, about 200 km, was the longest distance she had ever ridden on a motorbike in one go.
3. Our bikes:
I rode my 2013 Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200. An absolutely stunning motorbike for a ride like this. I own 12 bikes.
Liz rode my 2007 Suzuki 650 V-Strom. Another magic motorbike. Liz had the Suzuki “dialled in” and was never far off my tail, often shouting words of encouragement to me, and her bike.
Both bikes are relatively standard. I, (thanks to my brother for the help), gave them both a complete service, including replacing leaking fork seals. Both bikes got a set of Mitas Terra Force R tyres. Great tyres, very stable and quiet, traction perfect on all tar 80%, and no problem on dirt 20%. The temperatures/pressure (as seen on the Tiger tyre sensors), remained very constant.
Price? Good! I will definitely use these tyres again!!! The obtainable total mileage is good – 8900 km. (They were poorly fitted, as most of the tyres leaked air on the rim. I opted to pump them daily rather than to reseat them on the trip – I should have done the Tiger’s rear as it was particularly bad and, it’s very easy to do as it has a single sided swingarm.)
Both bikes performed faultlessly.
4. Route ridden:
The route can be ridden in any order. After many hours/days of deliberation I settled for the following: Pont Drift border post with Botswana; Kosi Bay border post with Mozambique; Alexander Bay border post with Namibia; Cape Agulhas lighthouse
∙ Travelling generally North to South meant that the sun was ‘behind us’.
∙ By doing the Kosi Bay to Alexander Bay (East to West) meant that we gained significant extra daylight.
∙ The shortest distance, of gravel.
∙ The timing meant that we avoided busy and undesirable areas.
∙ The main negative of this choice was that we had to ride about 1200 before we actually started.
We started riding daily at 4am, by instruction of Liz. Every day ended in the dark, at about 9 – 10pm.
Day 1: 1 April, Saturday: (For least traffic.) Pont drift…Kosi….Pongola.
TOWN | TOTAL DISTANCE | INTERMED DISTANCE | FUEL | PHOTO | SLIP |
PONGOLA | 1147 | 173 |
|
|
|
MANGUZI | 974 | 214 17 | X |
| X |
KOSI BORDER POST | 957 | 197 |
| X | X |
PONGOLA | 760 | 250 98 | X |
| X |
PIET RETIEF | 662 | 152 |
|
|
|
CAROLINA | 510 | 306 | X |
| X |
POLOKWANE – R37 | 204 | 204 | X |
| X |
PONT DRIFT BORDER | 0 | 0 |
| X | X |
ALLDAYS | 0 | 25 | X |
| X |
Challenges:
∙ It’s difficult riding before the sun rises, wild animals, domestic animals, potholes, mist. We even came across a truck on fire.
∙ Taxis.
∙ Coal trucks on a long section of the route were an extra risk, caused delays, and major road damage. The intercom system was a major benefit for getting safely past the long queues of traffic.
∙ We lost over an hour with a Google GPS error near Piet Retief, more details later.
∙ Road works and missing signs around Manguzi. My knowledge of this area helped considerably.
∙ Riding in the dark, with animals and coal trucks, back to Pongola was a challenge as I also had to keep Liz safe behind me.
∙ We were locked out of our accommodation as we arrived during load shedding. We woke up the next morning with more load shedding.
Day 2: 2nd April, Sunday: Pongola…Pofadder. (I’ve always wanted to do that ride.)
| TOTAL DISTANCE | INTERMED DIST | FUEL | FOTO | SLIP |
|
POFADDER | 1471 | 329 | X |
| X |
|
GROBLERSHOOP | 1142 | 296 | X |
| X |
|
KIMBERLEY | 846 | 163 | X |
| X |
|
BLOEMFONTEIN | 683 | 253 | X |
| X |
|
BETHLEHEM | 430 | 306 | X |
| X |
|
VRYHEID | 124 | 124 | X |
| X |
|
PONGOLA | 0 | 0 | X |
| X |
|
∙ It was a very challenging section in the dark and mist from Pongola to Vryheid, with animals sleeping on the road and, big pot holes without warning.
∙ The route between Vryheid and Bethlehem was very cold.
∙ From Bloemfontein to Groblershoop was with a very strong side wind. This sent our fuel consumptions out the window, this was the only section where the Suzuki used more fuel than the Tiger. At times we were riding at 80 kph to save fuel. Clearly an extra fuel stop would have been the answer.
∙ From Groblershoop to Pofadder the weather and road was great. We did have an extra fuel stop on this section.
Day 3: Pofadder….. Cape Agulhas.
| TOTAL DIST | INTERMED DIST | FUEL | FOTO | SLIP |
CAPE AGULHAS | 1350 | 197 | X | X | X |
WORCESTER | 1153 | 263 104 | X |
| X |
PORTERVILLE | 1049 | 159 |
|
|
|
KLAWER | 890 | 280 | X |
| X |
SPRINGBOK | 610 | 310 225 | X |
| X |
ALEX BAY BOARD | 385 | 85 |
| X | X |
PORT NOLLOTH | 300 | 300 142 | X |
| X |
SPRINGBOK | 158 | 158 |
|
|
|
POFADDER | 0 | 0 |
| X |
|
∙ From Pofadder to Springbok was bitterly cold with a very high wind chill factor. We stopped twice…. Why? – to try to regain some strength.
∙ Finding good coffee in Springbok was a challenge.
∙ We enjoyed the early ride from Springbok to Alexander bay and back. Fuel was a bit of a challenge at Alexander Bay however, we found it at the little fishing village down the road.
∙ I got very tired twice between Alexander Bay and Klawer. Liz kindly allowed me 5 minutes sleep, in full kit, before throwing water in my face.
∙ From Klawer to Agulhas was a blast. The continual challenge from Liz and the Suzuki was most entertaining. “Go Suzi. Good girl Suzi.” At one stage we even had a traffic police “escort”.
NB: The above charts are what we used daily. These were in our tank bag display pocket. They are read from the bottom up, the direction of travel, as per rally route guides.
5. Things I learnt:
I do not need a new Triumph Tiger. The one I have is fantastic. It does everything I need. The functioning of the speedo-cruise is my only complaint.
The Suzuki DL650 could comfortably stay with the Tiger. Sure the Tiger is faster, with a bit better acceleration but, you are not racing, you are on an adventure trip. So don’t fool yourself that you must have that bigger bike, at double or triple the price.
Use a GPS, not a smart phone: For the first time I tried to run on Google Maps via my smartphone inside a tank bag. Very bad idea:
∙The phone overheated and shut down when on charge.
∙The charging port/cable via the tank bag was not functional, despite various attempts with different positions, packing, etc.
∙The voice prompt from the phone/GPS was muted while the intercom was in use.
∙Google Maps has a mind of its own and it got us lost, badly, three times. I think I’m good at navigation, (over 40 years of rally experience +++), but this had me on my toes as the smallest “error” could lead to major problems. At Piet Retief, Google Maps suggested a slight deviation to avoid a major traffic congestion down main street. It looked perfectly logical, so I took it. Some km later it had us in a most undesirable area, going round and round on the same roads to nowhere. The only way out was to use common sense and to head for a point in the distance.
∙Keep the group small, with like-minded people!!! We had a tight plan as to exactly what we would do. We both happily kept to it. It worked. We even knew exactly how to secure each other’s kit onto the bikes. At the fuel stops we had a procedure. We normally kept our helmets on so that we could continue to communicate while Liz bought water and possible food, and I did the bikes. (Note to self: switch off the intercom while using the toilet.). It’s not a social occasion; it is a long distance motorcycle trip of epic enjoyment.
Intercom is a must: Much safer. You keep fully up to date with all decisions and info.
∙As Liz did not have the road experience that I have, we soon developed a communication “language” where I continually kept Liz informed about what was coming up: cows on right; children; potholes; slippery; stop stop stop; etc. And then there was the instruction of what route she should follow on the road surface: extreme left; left; middle; right; centre (of road surface); go right; extreme right; follow me – I hope this is understandable. I could write a complete article on this. At times (in the mist, with potholes, with animals and taxis) it became very demanding with a never ending string of commands and I had to know where Liz was relative to me. In other words I had to give her instruction relative to her position on the road rather than where I was.
∙YES, the intercom did work both ways: Liz was never slow to pass some instructions to me: GO GO GO (at which time I could hear the valves bouncing on the Suzuki – my Suzuki); “Did you see those flowers?” = Silence. ☺
∙We used my preferred SENA 10S intercom system.
∙Minimal luggage: We each had one small soft bag strapped onto our seat/rack. We shared the load: I carried the tools, Liz carried most of the food, etc. Yes, we wore the same clothes – mainly – for the entire trip; no complaints were received.
∙Time of year: This is a major challenge to be considered, as there is always weather ☺. Maximise daylight hours. Avoid the extreme heat and cold. Storms. Holiday traffic. As expected we did have to contend with morning mist however, it was worse than expected.
- A very big thanks to Cobus of LamGat organisation for his passion and fantastic support!
NOW! If that doesn’t give you wanderlust then we don’t know what will???? The challenge of doing it to a schedule or racing the clock just adds another dimension of fun to it.
Want to know more about “LAMGAT” (Iron Butt) in South Africa?
Go to https://lamgat.co.za/
