OUR TRIP TO KOSI BAY

I am still busy with the trip report and will therefore post it in sections. this was not a very eventfull trip, but I would like to share it with you anyway!

KOSI BAY: 18 – 20 JULY 2008
TOTAL DISTANCE: ±1 575km

Corlia and I decided to do separate trips to the four extreme points of South Africa, making a short “holiday” of each and so obtaining the silver extreme award. Thereafter we would probably go for the golden award and do all four extreme points in one journey.

The idea was to travel to Jozini and sleep over somewhere at Lake Jozini on the first night. Day two we would travel to Kosi Bay Border Post for a photo of our first extreme point and then head to Sodwana to relax for a one day vacation, seeing that it’s Corlia’s birthday the following day. On day 3 we would head back to Pretoria.

DAY 1: ±550km

We started our journey at 7h30, although we wanted to leave at 7h00. We were however on “holiday”, so we weren’t too bothered about keeping to a strict schedule. I was very excited as this was the longest single journey I have done. I knew it was going to be cold for the first part of the day and that it would get better as the day progressed, especially seeing that we are travelling east. After that it should be moderate to warm until we return to Pretoria on Sunday afternoon.

Friday norning at about 7h25
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We headed for Standerton via Bapsfontein, Delmas and Leandra where we would have breakfast at our first major stop. Just outside Pretoria we struck fog, the densest fog I’ve seen around here. The fog continued all the way to Standerton. It was wet, and very cold. My hands and feet were freezing (my gloves aren’t waterproof). My fingers went numb and I wondered when frostbite would start setting in. We stopped a couple of times to take a break from the cold. I would ride up to a car or truck and stay behind it. It was easier (and I suppose safer) to follow something with wipers than try to navigate the road on my own. Every now and again I would wipe my visor with my left index finger to be able to see where I was going. Somehow the fine drops collecting on my visor affected my visibility much more than the rain we experienced during our last summer.

Taking a break from the cold


Potholes before Standerton


Standerton

We had breakfast at Wimpy in Standerton. Then we headed for Perdekop, Volksrust, Utrecht (the town within a game park), Bloedrivier and Vryheid where we stopped for a quick drink. From Standerton it really was lovely weather and it started feeling like a proper holiday. As you can see, one of the things we aim to do is take photo at every town’s sign/emblem worth taking a photo of. I intend covering one of the walls in my bar with these one day.

Volksrust


Utrecht (I know... I think the board was stolen)


Just outside Utrecht


Vryheid

We forgot to refuel in Vryheid, so I thought we’d stop in Louwsburg for fuel. I only realised we were at Louwsburg just as we passed it, as you don’t drive trough the town itself. So I then thought we’d stop at the next town which is Magudu. While carrying on I started to doubt if Magudu is a proper town with a filling station. Rightfully so, because we stopped to ask local pedestrians who confirmed that Magudu has no filling station. The nearest filling station was in Pongola, so we had to do a little detour.

We only just made it to Pongola with about 0,7l (about 15km) of fuel left in the tank. It was about 17h00 and we decided not to carry on to Lake Jozini as planned, as we didn’t want to get there after sunset searching for a place to stay in the dark. We also didn’t know the Jozini area, so we decided to stay over at Pongola Caravan Park. Accommodation cost R220 per person. The chalets were basic but very nice. We had a lovely dinner at the lodge in Pongola. Can’t remember to exact name of the lodge though.

Our chalet at Pongola Caravan Park

that would be day 1 and as far as i got. will post the rest later

Fantastic! Look forward to reading the rest!

Sias, can't wait for the rest!

Memories...memories... Sias, i have stayed in the same bungalow @ Pongolla, 2006 on the club trip to Kosi. We had a big braai that night done by the local staff. We coud'nt finnish the food.

Great pics and report so far. Thanks for sharing.

now.......don't make us wait too long for the rest ........please

ps. I can like those matching BMW jeans

That road past Louwsburg to Pongola....mmm

praat jy nou swaer.........

that road is..........K12 territory.......but as they say, what happens on a trip, stays on a trip

When you do the Pontdrift trip make sure that you stay at Balerno Lodge - 7 Km's south of Pontdrift - also do your planning so that you stay over for a day - in other words sleep there for 2 nights. It is well worth the effort. Recharges the batteries. When you get to doing the 2 remaining points - contact us as we still have to do them and are looking for an excuse to get around doing it. LeRoy

Great trip report and pics !
We also stayed at Pongola Caravan Park on our Kosi Bay Trip.
Had a fantastic braai that evening !

deonp wrote:Great trip report and pics !
We also stayed at Pongola Caravan Park on our Kosi Bay Trip.
Had a fantastic braai that evening !

...and the potjie the next evening wasn't good!!!

MadnohB wrote:Great pics and report so far. Thanks for sharing.

now.......don't make us wait too long for the rest ........please

ps. I can like those matching BMW jeans

Will finish the rest tonight

As for the pants… we are working our way from the bottom up so to speak. The jackets are bloody expensive as you’d know, so we are wearing the budget jackets for now. Still young, climbing the corporate ladder and all that… One must have some time to dream between wanting something and getting it

LeRoy Olivier wrote:When you do the Pontdrift trip make sure that you stay at Balerno Lodge - 7 Km's south of Pontdrift - also do your planning so that you stay over for a day - in other words sleep there for 2 nights. It is well worth the effort. Recharges the batteries. When you get to doing the 2 remaining points - contact us as we still have to do them and are looking for an excuse to get around doing it. LeRoy

Thanks for the advice! Will definitely do so!

DAY 2: ±350km

We wanted to get up at 6h00 and leave at seven, but with Pongola Caravan Park’s rooster starting to crow at about 4h00 it was difficult to get up at 6h00. We again ended up only leaving at just before 8h00, which was fine by me.

We left for Jozini via the N2. The first piece of highway for our trip. It felt like cheating as the idea was to avoid highways at least the whole way down to Kosi Bay. Got off the N2 towards Jozini and we could see the fog hanging over Lake Jozini long before we could see the lake itself. Climbing along the mountain adjacent to the lake we had a beautiful view over the lake and landscape. Photo’s rarely do these sceneries justice, but at least it gives you an idea of what to expect (see pictures below).

We then passed through Jozini, which was probably not the kind of place one wanted to arrive at at dusk in search of a place to stay. We again realised it was a blessing that we had to stay over in Pongola. The town was buzzing with activity though. One could see it was Saturday.

As you exit the town you ride over the huge dam wall. Very impressive! One of the locals stopped for a chat and claimed that they spent about 20 years building the wall. I don’t know ho true that is though. On the opposite bank we saw the local residents queuing for water, each with at least one bucket. Probably getting water for the week ahead, or for doing washing the next day. I thought how lucky we were with tapped water and washing machine. I remember reading in some book, someone said that they are the fortunate ones because they have a much better appreciation for the water they worked so hard to get…

The view over Lake Jozini


Looking over Lake Jozini


The foot of the dam wall


View from the dam wall

From here on we didn’t really stop until Kosi Bay border post. It was very rural and traditional settlements all the way to Kosi Bay. I think I was avoiding to stop to avoid the locals coming up and asking for sweets and money and whatever. It was probably a terrible generalisation and I must admit that afterwards I did regret it. There were some places where we could’ve taken nice photos. But as I have it these locals do not appreciate it to much if you take photos of them without there permission. And you mostly have to buy their permission…

The locals turned out to be very friendly. We got a lot of smiles and waves. Corlia sat on the back and waved almost the whole time…like the Queen of England. A lot of them looked very stunned/puzzled. Don’t think too many bikes pass here too regularly. We also came across a lot of cows and goats in the road. And potholes. So it was a slow and steady ride up to Kosi Bay. We also came across a man with a wheelbarrow filling up the potholes with sand and grass. I don’t know how long that would hold though.

And then we reached Kosi Bay! Fantastic! Our first extreme point. We took a smoke brake and took some photos.

Both of us


Rider...


...and pillion

It was just before 11h00 and we decided to push through to Sodwana and have breakfast there. I guest it was not more than an hour’s drive. We rode through Manguzi, Mbazwana and then Sodwana Bay. I could smell the see as we got closer. I love the coastline. Always beatifull scenery and people are always friendly. When we got to Sodwana we just kept heading straight and drove into Umlalazi Nature Reserve. We decided to book into one of the Chalets. R300 per person and well worth it. The chalets were very nice. Although facing towards the seaside, we couldn’t see the sea from our deck. Thick bushes blocked the view, but is was still great. We got Chalet number 13. Luckily we aren’t superstisieus!

Our Chalet in Umlalazi Game Reserve


I would definitely recommend taking an extra day and sleeping over in Sodwana when going for the eastern extreme point.

It was Corlia’s birthday the next dat day and it was the perfect setting. We unpacked and headed for the bar/restaurant to have, well, lunch by this time. It was very sandy and we had to park a few hundred metres away from the bar. I didn’t want to risk falling the day before Corlia’s birthday. We watched the second half of the Springboks versus the Aussies. Lost 16-9 and played crap. Anyway at least we were in Sodwana. We took a footpath down to the beach. Brilliant weather. Hard to think we were in the middle of winter. We walked along the shore for quite a while before we sat down and took in the moment. Beautiful! We then headed back and came across the 4x4 guys struggling to get their fish boats out of the water. I saw signs of where the jetty washed away during the last floods. So these fisherman had to tow their boats out of the water right their on the beach…in the sand. I don’t think that’s how it normally works. We headed back to the chalet and just relaxed for a couple of minutes.

View from the bar


Aaawww! At the bar


Lekker by die see!


Fishermen with their 4x4's (in the distance)


Kicking back at the chalet


We then headed back to the bar to watch the Cheetahs versus the Sharks. We decided to walk all the way from the chalet as we might get carried away celebrating Corlia’s birthday and I wouldn’t want to take on the sandy road back form the bar, in the dark, after a couple of captains. I am a Cheetah supporter! Who would have guessed, walking into a bar on the Natal coast with only (almost) cheetah supporters inside. Watched the game…played brilliant…won 32-9…enough said. We had a lovely dinner. Corlia had calamari and I had Kabeljou (line fish for the day). Very nice indeed. We had a few more drinks and headed back for a good night’s sleep.

I still have to do day 3... Will do it over the weekend. Hope you've enjoyed it so far

You bet we are enjoying it.........keep it coming!

Your trip is precisely what motorcycling is about - the gathering of experiences and memories. Is there anyone out there that will be willing to go on record saying that the trip would have been just as memorable in vehicle with more than 2 wheels?

You could try driving your car down on just two wheels - I think that would be memorable...!?