Homeward Bound

"A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George Moore.

After the dramas with the rear shock, things had not gotten off to the best start on our final leg of the journey. This leg would see us crossing into Botswana and riding down the eastern side of the country before returning home to South Africa. The mechanic that fixed the rear shock gave new meaning to the term “bush mechanic”. His workshop literally consisted of a pile of scrapped motorbikes and tools spread across his back yard. Nonetheless, he managed to take out my rear shock and fit it with a wide spacer that would hopefully make the suspension stiff enough to get me home.

The morning spent at the mechanic meant that we were off to a bit of a late start so we did not push too far on the first days ride. It was an hour down to the border and we were going to stay in Kisane just over the border. The border crossing, however, took longer than the sum total of time spent on the bike that day. We eventually got ourselves onto a pontoon and crossed the Zambezi River into Botswana. Upon entering Botswana one can immediately notice the relative wealth of the country. It has been one of the most successful African countries and since achieving democratic rule in 1966. This is mostly due to three of the world’s biggest diamond mines that are found within the country’s borders.

There are a number of campsites along the Chobe River not far from Kasane Town so we got some supplies from the well stocked Spar Supermarket and found a nice quiet little campsite at which to set up for the night. The next day involved a fairly straightforward ride down to Nata, Julia managed to get a lift in a double cab and I rode the 300km stretch solo in an effort to limit the strain on the rear shock. I encountered a couple lone elephant bulls along the way, one of which was just meters from the road and had me “on edge” as I skirted around the far side of the road. We regrouped in Nata before making camp at the Nata Safari Lodge, another campsite aimed at the many 4x4’ing enthusiasts frequenting Botswana for its rough roads and wild animals.

We decided we too should try and get to a game reserve seen as we were in Botswana and all. It is always tricky on a motorbike as the parks do not allow you in and our situation was made trickier as we could not tackle very rough roads with the failing shock. After some phone calls we decided to spend the next night in Karma Rhino Sanctuary as it had a tar road all the way to the gate and they would allow us to drive all the way to the camp on the bike. It was brilliant to camp in the real wild with animals roaming around us constantly and we were treated to a real show when a 2m Black Mamba attacked a chameleon in our campsite.

From Karma Rhino Sanctuary it was only 150km to the South African Border. I was filled with bitter-sweet emotions as I crossed the Limpopo River at the Martin’s Drift Border Post. It had been the most amazing experience and I had really enjoyed the diversity of the different African cultures but I was so looking forward to finally getting home and seeing my family that I felt it was time to return. I have not spent much time in the northern reaches of South Africa so things were not looking all that familiar just yet. We camped just outside Ellisras and went into town to enjoy some good South African food at the Keg and some “not so good” South African singing as it was karaoke evening.

We were planning to meet my family in Pilansberg Game Reserve for the weekend and still had a night to spare so we headed into the Waterberg Mountains along what was thankfully a very smooth dirt track. We Found a nice little private game reserve with affordable accommodation for the night. We only had 200km to cover on the final day so got off to a late start but Murphy’s Law ensured it would not be as straightforward as we could have hoped. The chain on the bike snapped just 10km from the Pilansberg gate. It was the controversial “magic link” that had given way after all these miles. Before leaving some people had told me not to put a magic link on the chain and some people had said you have to have a magic link. I had decided to go with a magic link and was carrying a normal spare link just in case this happened. I had been lucky up to now with my chain and all other mechanical concerns for that matter but now, 10km from the finish line, my luck had run out and to make things worse, the spare link was the wrong size and would not fit on my chain. With the help of some local mechanics I eventually managed to shorten the chain and get the bike running again but it was now extremely tight and I held my breath as I put it in gear and rode off.

The chain held out and I after 6 long months I finally got to see my family again and best of all; I got to meet my niece for the first time. We had a wonderful weekend relaxing at Kwa Maritane in the Pilansberg. For me, the ride back to Jo’burg was just a formality but it was nice to arrive back at the very spot I had departed from, I had gone full circle. The adventure had been everything I was hoping it would be and more.