Deane's 2009 Motorcycle Trip
South Africa
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Deane's 2009 Motorcycle Trip South Africa |
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Nov 15, - Oribi Gorge to Coffee Bay Day 9 - 450Km (280) Miles |
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This morning we rode down into this large Oribi Gorge. It was both a beautiful ride and a challenging one, tree lined with all of the "twisties" sharp curves. At the bottom ran a river named Umzimkulwane River - try to pronounce that! At a visitor's information board it said "Be careful when swimming - watch for the Bilharzia" - Crocodiles! Our guide, Darryl, and Andy at the top of Oribi Gorge.
Clive, at the bridge across Oribi Gorge.
Apparently "Coffee Bay" was named for one of the very early coffee shipments our of Africa. Riding toward Coffee Bay, we found the terrain to be very mountainous with deep canyons and high ridges. Even with the low temperatures in this area there are people's dwellings everywhere, even on the steep mountain sides as well as in the valleys and on top of the ridges. I had no idea that there were as rugged mountains as in this part of Africa. They were beautiful and green. Riding the ridges mainly, the road surface was quite good, and very curvy, so great fun riding until the road to Coffee Bay itself. The road to Coffee Bay itself left the main road to snake down to the bay, for a distance of about 30 km. This road had literally thousands of really bad potholes. Traveling it meant constant swerves from side to side, all the while watching out for local people walking along the sides of the road. This brings up a thought about the local people. So far through our routes, no matter where, there have been always people walking along the roads, both in South Africa as well as Swaziland, - always walking. The thing is they don't have any money for cars, so they walk. Some may catch small van-sized buses, which are constantly driving up and down the roads, but there are still lots walking. Some random thoughts : - The currency is the "Rand", at about 6.5 to 7 to the US Dollar, The cost of Gasoline is about $4 USD per gallon. Finally we reached Coffee Bay, a resort bay now, with a beach and bay that face the Indian Ocean. We have been following the Indian Ocean for some time now. On this day, as we rode toward Coffee Bay, Deane had some vision problems. A more complete report of this is on the Nov 18 page. |
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