Expeditions / Trips Triple D Dairy / Updates Sani Pass, Lesotho to Golden Gate
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 11:54 Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 February 2009 20:43
Finally the real fun was about to start!
We woke up early because we knew it was going to be a long day. We skipped breakfast packed up camp and were on the road towards the Sani Pass. It started off slow and wasn't very steep at first but this quickly changed. At the bottom of the pass there was quite a few stream going over the road. We all managed to get our shoes soaking wet again. There is almost no way you can cross these streams and many pools of water without getting wet so after a while we stopped trying to lift our feet.
The South African border is at the bottom of the pass and the Lesotho border is at the top and in between the border posts is the main stretch of the pass which I think is about 8-10km long. We passed the South African border and got on the trickier parts of the pass. It was loads of fun and the views where getting better the higher we went. We drove up high enough to be above the clouds.
The last section of the pass is quite tricky and you need a 4x4 (or a bike) to be able to go up the pass. We let Neil drive in front so I didn't have to keep waiting for him or to wonder where he was all the time. As we came around a bend we saw Neil's bike on the ground but luckily nothing serious. We went around the corner and the bike went down but he couldn't hold it. Neil's bike - a BMW F650 - is much heavier than my and lances' Kawasaki KLR 650's. We helped him pick up the bike and off I went on the next section. I went up a rough stretch and lost speed. Once standing still I had to fight not rolling back down the pass. Even with the breaks in the bike was still going backwards. It was hard getting the bike moving again on the loose rocks at such a steep angle. I had to stand over the bike and walk with it pushing it forward until it got enough grip to go again. I was relieved to get up to the next section where I could park the bike and get off. This was really a lot of fun.
I told Lance and Neil to take the other section of the road and they manage to get up that stretch just fine. Neil went up in front again and once more he dropped his bike, this time on a much more tricky section. I carried on past him until a found a place where I could park and take off again easily then I ran down to help him lift his bike. When he tried getting his bike to go again he had the same problem I had a little earlier. The bike just won’t grip. Lance came up to help as well. Meantime a couple of 4x4's arrived on their way down the pass. They found us quite amusing trying to get the bike to go again. With some pushing and pulling we got the bike going again.
Once at the top we went through the Lesotho border straight to the "Highest Pub in Africa” which is at the top of the Sani Pass. We each grabbed a beer and sat outside and enjoyed the view.
Then it was off through Lesotho. The roads where still dirt but in much better condition than the Sani Pass so it all went relatively quickly. Neil dropped his bike again, this time a little off the side of the road and me and Lance had to help him get it back up and onto the road. Amazingly for all the times Neil dropped his bike it had very little damage. When the road turned to asphalt again we quickly wished we were back on the dirt. The roads in Lesotho are in extremely bad condition with potholes everywhere. You dodge one and hit two. The bikes took a lot of his and Lance and I both lost a bolt in exactly the same position from our bikes. Riding these bad roads took a lot of time.
I like Lesotho because it is different from the rest of South Africa although it’s completely surrounded by it. There are some places and mountains in Lesotho that are really beautiful.
Once out of Lesotho we decided to camp in the nearby in the Golden Gate Nature reserve. We fist stopped at Clarens and had something to eat, our first real meal for the day. We only arrived at the Golden Gate campsite after dark and where immediately terrorized by mosquitoes.
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