African night was very noisy with
frogs and baboons, but the night sky
was glorious with a rising moon and
millions of stars. The Milky Way
streaked across the sky and we were
awe struck by the beauty revealed by
the lack of light pollution which sadly
exists in the United Kingdom.
The camp had several warnings
about the dangers of the baboons, so
we secured the chalet for the night
and fell asleep to the cacophony of
night sounds.
After our rude awakening by the
baboon, who thankfully had not been
impressed by our motorbikes, we set
off for our days’ ride. The route today
would take us to Rorke’s Drift, the site
of the 1879 Zulu battle.
We were riding BMW GS 750
motorbikes. They were basic, rent-
ed, bikes but they were more than
adequate for the purpose and were
very nippy when needed. Although
not fast performance bikes they were
perfectly suited for us to maintain
a steady pace to take in the scenery
and they were very comfortable to
ride for long periods. I was surprised
by the number of speed cameras
and traffic cops patrolling the roads
and we strictly adhered to the speed
limits. The roads were generally in
good condition, certainly better than
TRAVERSE 50
in Edinburgh! Later in the week we
encountered some poorly maintained
roads, but this morning’s roads were
well maintained and engineered.
Alex was riding an impressive KTM
1290 Adventure S which was ideal for
his mileage and style of riding.
Our route took us down through
the mountains of Golden Gate. Drift-
ing smoke from bushfires hung in
the air and sometimes obscured our
vision but we enjoyed the sweeping
bends whilst keeping a watch out for
wildlife at the roadside. The tem-
perature rose throughout the day
reaching 39 degrees Celsius and we
had a welcome stop in Ladysmith for