During the planning of this tour in southern Africa I did not inquire much on the country of South Africa. I was glad to ride through the mountain-biking hub, it could help with finding bicycle parts and mechanics, if needed. Because of the country’s size and location at the tip of the continent we would travel in SA for longer than any other African nation, yet I did not delve in the geography, history or culture of the country. « People will speak English, info will be readily available, it’ll be easy » was probably my line of thinking, as I studied Portuguese and looked for boat connections between the east coast and Madagascar. If I’m being honest, I saw South African wine, Amarula liquor, Ceres juice and Bartlett pears in our Canadian stores and secretly assumed that South Africa would be too « developped » for my taste, as in busy, fast-paced and commercial. Boy, what a great trick I played on myself! Now, I am scrambling for information, learning everyday, and bowled over by the diversity, complexity and resplendence of the place, starting with its unique geomorphology—and, really, stocked supermarkets and public restrooms aren’t such a bad thing! 😉
South Africa’s surface area falls into two major categories: the interior plateau, and the land between the plateau and the coast. Forming the boundary between these two areas is the Great Escarpment, which we have departed from upon exiting Lesotho. From there to the Indian Ocean it’s a joyous obstacle course across the Great Karoo and over the Cape Fold Belt, where the Cape Fold mountain ranges run west to east. The folds were created when the Falkland Plateau collided with Southern Africa, at the time when Gondwana, the supercontinent, formed over 300 million years ago! The rough topography is now a promise for adventure, but proved impenetrable to wagon-riding European settlers until the Victorian era, at a time when civil engineers built incredible mountain passes, many of them still in used today. The Cape Fold mountain ranges, running parallel to the coast, create a variety of rain shadows, making a ride south progressively wetter and lush, while heading inland will gradualy sun-bake you to a crisp! Ride on!
Leaving Cradock under a brutal December sun with a large desert koppie (in Afrikaans, a small rocky hill that rises abruptly from a surrounding plain), part of the Mountain Zebra National Park. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
On a scorching afternoon, looking for a respite from the sun we Whatsapp the Denmark Farm from its automated electric gate, and are allowed in for a bit of shade and a cold beer. An invitation to stay for the night and dinner follows. Dinner is a braai, which is practically a national sport in South Africa. A traditional braai is cooked on local wood and once there is enough hot coals a grill is placed on top and meat is grilled to perfection. André, our host, is a farmer and a butcher, and its a locavore dinner of lamb chops, and kudu boerewors (sausages). Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Nicolene tells us « You’re not supposed to farm in the Karoo, it’s a desert! » Yet, European settlers managed, with the help of dams and boreholes—still crucial to survival today—, to establish farms throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Previously this had been the domain of the San people, the indigenous hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa. « It’s been dryer and hotter lately, we need to fetch water for the animals », she continues matter-of-factly. Resilience comes to mind. The couple bought the farm fifteen ears ago and André has mastered the blacksmith tools left behind by the previous owners. For relaxation, he makes homemade gun powder and fires projectiles—cement poured in Monster cans—from his canon! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Pierre has been fixing punctures like it’s his full time job for some time now. Our bicycle tubes need to be retired and replaced with new ones. « This is the last flat I fix this year », he tells me. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
With the Holidays just around the corner, hundreds of minibus-taxis are moving people working in commercialy thriving Cape Town to the former apartheid Republic of Transkei, and returning empty. After Pierre gets another flat tire it is easy to flag one down and negotiate a 100-km westward ride to Graaff-Reinet! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Graaff-Reinet, « the Gem of the Karoo », was founded in 1786. From 1836 onwards it became a starting point for a portion of the Boers who took part in the Great Trek, a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled from the Cape Colony into the interior of South Africa aiming to live away from the Cape’s British colonial administration. They identified themselves as voortrekkers. Pierre and I do our own « great trek » and board a packed night bus to Cape Town—and yes, it is as grim as it sounds! In Cape Town, we roam around in a daze until it’s time to board a red-eye plane to Zurich! Eventualy we land in Malaga, Spain. But why? Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
On December 28th, 1964, Alice and Maurice Bouchard got married in a morning ceremony in Baie-St-Paul, Quebec. Alice was a young primary school teacher and Maurice was a sailor on the St. Lawrence Seaway. For seamen of that era it was customary to have your wedding between Christmas and the New Year, guarantying you would be onshore. Sixty years later we gathered together in Spain to celebrate their union of 60 years and its descendance. Pierre’s brother Stéphane, and his partner Valérie, have had three children, Maude, Simon and Clara, who all travelled from Quebec with their partners, Jimmy, Noémie and Anthony. As if the moment was not extraordinary enough, we learned that there is a 4th generation on the way! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Returning to the laid-back Karoo after the European hullabaloo is soothing. Our Panorama Cycles Boreal had a holiday at Queen Manor Boutique Guesthouse, in Graaff-Reinet. The owner, Nettie, welcomes us back with a comfortable bed and a delicious breakfast of french toasts. We pour maple syrup—from Maurice’s sugar shack—all over them before installing newly-acquired tubes inside our faded tires and climbing onto our saddles. With glute muscles soften and holiday guts protruding over out cycling shorts we disappear into the Camdeboo Plains. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
« C’mon guys it’s way too hot to cycle today! Come to my farm, I have a pool, you can leave early tomorrow », pleads Joe Kroon IV. The resourceful owner of Karri Grove Farm has sheep, cows and Angora goats, and produces a unique sheep bacon. He also breeds wild game, grows hemp and saffron, rents self-catering cottages and sells agricultural real estate. All this completely off the grid, using solar and wind energy! In the living room a portrait of a young Elizabeth II is hung. « In 1947, when the British royal family came to South Africa, my grand-father (Joe Kroon Jr.) was mayor of Graaff and welcomed them for tea. Then, he received this frame », displays the tough farmer. « My ancestors were Dutch but at some point one of them married an Esther. English. And you end up speaking your mother’s language », he explains. In the morning he leaves us with is trademark phrase : « The grass is always greener…where you water it! » Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Isodore William Schlesinger (1871-1949) was born in New York City and became a major entrepreneur in South Africa. After the Great War, Schlesinger bought some land south of Graaff-Reinet, at the small railway siding in Kendrew. A brochure depicting orange groves, flower gardens, tidy houses, cattle in verdant pastures, a movie theatre, as well as a bacon and cheese factory enticed a numbre of British citizens who rushed to dusty Kendrew to find they had been duped. Still, many stayed and built a life for themselves here, until the Great Depression, a severe drought and invasive weeds slowly killed the dream and Kendrew dissolved into nothingness. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Remnant of the Kendrew railway siding. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Springboks at a private game farm north of Jansenville. After South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, wildlife ranching became encouraged and regulated. The hope was for environmental sustainability, economic growth, and inclusion. Not sure the goals were met but there are over 10,000 such farms in South Africa today! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa
The meditative Karoo backroads! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
In a typical poort (a narrow pass or defile through mountains, particularly one cut by a stream or river), we encounter another traveler carrying its house. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
After cycling past the Draaikrans and its impressive exposed rock folds, reminder of the earth’s dynamic transformation process, we join the Grootrivier to enter the Noorsport and the Valley of the Flags. The rocks inside the poort are colourfully adorned with flags that have at some stage been national flags of South Africa. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
In Steytlerville, we load up at a new low-cost, no-frills offering catering for townships and rural towns : the container-supermarket! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
To reach the coast and the Indian Ocean we take a remote pass between the Baviaanskloof and the Groot Winterhoek Mountains. Slowly some greenery creeps in, trace amounts of humidity hit our skin, blue cranes fly in pairs up above. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Wind pump and vachellia karroo (acacia karroo), both quintessential Karoo fixtures. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
As almost a daily occurrence, a bakkie stops ahead on the road, a sturdy farmer comes out and invites us to stop at the farm up ahead for the night. Louis Hayward prepares the braai expertly. The choreography is meticulous, and none of the dough balls stick to the grill, the roosterkoek are perfect! Next, springbok and kudu patties and boerwors are grilled before we all settle around the table and hold hands while Louis prays in Afrikaans. Louis’ oldest son is in Texas, at the Dallas Safari Club annual convention and sporting expo, to promote his hunting outfit, Doornrivier Safaris, located on the family’s farm. Louis’ second child is Katrina, a chatty teenager starting high school at a boarding school in Uitenhage the next day. January 15th is the beginning of the school year. Freik is Louis’ youngest son, a devil-may-care two grader. He walks barefeet on the farm’s thorny ground, spots kudus in the dark and manipulates his mother to stay up and watch the Starlink satellite-train cross the starry sky! An evening with them is soft and comforting. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
While Louis was wrapping some roosterkoek for us to take, I heard something like « It’s a tough road from here, you won’t be able to ride your bikes all the way to Patensie » but I brushed it aside. The next day, we met a bakkie driver who said : « Oh! The road is so bad this year. I used to come ride my motorbike here, but not anymore! » It’s just a 46-km segment. Let’s see. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
After burning our brakes on the way down to the Grootrivier we crawl back up on the south side at a serious incline. The surface is far from optimal and the temperature climbs to the high 30s, deep in the Cape folds. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Almost at the Antoniesberg Pass (860m) we set up camp besides Cockscomb Mountain (1,758m). A cell tower reminds us to look at our weather apps. It is hard to believe but an oceanic system is going to make landfall tonight, tomorrow there will be rain with maximum temperatures in the mid-teens. What a turnaround! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
After purifying water harvested from a road puddle, we continue to the pass. I learned here that a mountain pass is a way to traverse mountains, it can be a poort, a canyon exit, a gorge or a proper col. Here, for exemple, it is the highest visible hill at the end of a ridge. This is the face of someone looking, in a soaker, for a clean-cut saddle between two peaks, and not finding it! Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Our secret dream of riding through the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area on road R332 shatters completely in Patensie. Without a support vehicle we will not be allowed to ride the 53 kilometres between the eastern and western gates. The reason: Cape buffaloes and leopards. Amongst citrus plantations instead, we follow the Gamtoos River valley to the coast. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
The combination of retirement homes and surf shops in Jeffreys Bay—J-Bay for locals— invite us to unwind and enjoy the seabreeze. Our boreals get a spa day. Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
After a painless ride on R102, through Tsitsikamma country, the old Bloukrans Pass (a bridge at the bottom of a deep gorge) and Nature’s Valley, we get to Central Beach in Plettenberg Bay—just Plett for locals. Plett is part of the Garden Route, a stunning coastal area that begins in Mossel Bay and ends at Storms River. The place is buzzing with international tourists. A Chinese couple pose with our loaded bikes, but hesitate to answer us about where in China they are visiting from. « Wuhan », answers sheepishly the man. Poor guy. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
The town of Knysna is built around an estuary teeming with wildlife. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Peter and Colleen McNulty are WarmShower hosts and seasoned bike travelers themselves, their spotless garage home to several exciting mounts! We wanted to stay only one night but we stayed two. Not only does Peter has a happy-go-lucky attitude, but he holds the key to the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area. It is too late for us, but listen up folks : « You ask a driver at the gate to say that they are your support vehicle and you go in with them. A kilometre further you thank them, and off you go! » Next time for sure! Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Nineteeth century Cape Colony’s road network expanded greatly in quality and range because of the father-and-son combination of Andrew and Thomas Bain. Scotland-born Andrew emigrated to South Africa in 1816, settled in Graaff-Reinet and worked as a surveyor of military roads. His son Thomas snatched the baton and became a prolific road building pioneer. He managed the construction of 29 passes in his lifetime, work carried out with rudimentary equipment and convict labour. It is an easy decision to include a portion of them on our itinerary.
Leaving Colleen and Peter’s house in the Knysna heights we soon join with R339 and head north on South Africa’s longest pass, the Prince Alfred. The pass is 68,5-km long and has a couple of summits, the highest at 1038m asl. The first section is part of the Garden Route National Park and is going through fine indigenous forests. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Diving towards the Keurbooms River, deep in the folds! Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Fynbos (« fine bush » in Afrikaans) is shrubland vegetation of the coast and coastal mountains of Eastern and Western Cape provinces like here, on the upper reaches of Prince Alfred’s Pass. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Fynbos is known for its exceptional diversity and endemism. Here is the LIttle Karoo. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
At Avontur, down from Prince Alfred’s Pass, we officially enter the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo), a 350-km long valley sandwiched between the imposing Swartberg Mountains in the north, and the continuous Langeberge and Outeniqua Mountains in the south. It is a transition zone between fynbos plant and succulent Karoo habitats. We follow Route 62, South Africa’s answer to Route 66 in the U.S.A., to Uniondale and onward to De Rust.
In reaction to petitions for a road to be built across the Swartberg Mountains, from farmers on both sides of the mountains, Andrew and Thomas Bain were commissioned. Meringspoort was the first project the young Thomas Bain worked on. The poort follows a natural gorge in a series of curves and bends, crossing the Grootrivier (a different « Great River ») 25 times! Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Road crews are at work clearing debris from the last flooding that saw the poort stay closed to trafic for ten days! Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
About 12 kilometers from De Rust, the Great Waterfall is hidden in a deep ravine. The rock pool at its feet would a welcome bath on a hot day—and God knows we have had some cookers—but today is cool and drizzly, a merino wool jersey kind of day. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
In Klaarstroom and the rain shadow of the formidable Swartberg Mountains. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
The world’s largest and heaviest bird, the ostrich, is farmed extensively in the Great and Little Karoo. Klaarstroom, Western Cape Province.
On R407, dropping down into Prince Albert Valley at the unexpected Kredouw Pass (1,089 m.). Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
Is this Heaven? Olives, almonds, figs and cherries fed by the clear streams coming from the Swartbergs and the strong African sun. Western Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.
We are resting and writing at the historical Onse Rus Guesthouse in Prince Albert. The town is pure magic. But let’s talk about it in the next post because now it is time for Swartberg Pass, one of the finest in the world. Ride on!
