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Game trail riding in wild Africa
For those who may have read my recent blog on heli-biking in Queenstown NZ- here is something that topped that experience!
I returned over the weekend from a fantastic few days in the Kruger - a wildlife sanctuary (about the size of Wales) in South Africa where we were fortunate enough to accompany 2 armed rangers on a mountain bike trail ride following existing game trails (and making a few trails of our own).
Silently approaching wild animals in their natural habitat is a terrific experience - we saw elephant, giraffe, zebra, impala and buffalo and just missed a leopard (see photo of tracks). There were lions in the immediate area but unfortunately we only saw their recent dung.
The rangers were fantastic and (as you would expect) knew exactly where to find the best trails and wildlife.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in combining mountain biking and game viewing in Africa.
Cheers
Greg
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Naaah! Surely not
Did you managed to ride anywhere else? Drakkensberg? Around Cape Town? PMB?
Yes they are as prolific as Kangaroos! Managed to squeeze in a Tokai forest trail in Cape Town and a fantastic ride (road) from Camps Bay to Hout Bay and through Chapmans Peak. Awesome scenery. Sadly ran out of time to do anything else!
Very jealous of your ride, Kruger is great as it is but throw in an mtb ride, nice.
How was Tokai? I meant to get there for a ride last time I visited but never made it. There are some awesome rides around Cape Town, Table Mountain, Tokai, Jonkershoek. One place that I did ride that was awesome was around the Boland. There are some fantastic rides around Bainskloof outside of Wellington and also around Paarl Mountain. They have this awesome agreement where many of the local wineries and other farms build and maintain parts of the trail an in return they get people on their land which reduces theft of their fruit and they also get a small amount of revenue as you pay a small fee (or join a local club) to ride although they were pretty relaxed and wouldn't accept anything when I rocked up to the wineries around Paarl!
Cape Epic here you go eh?!
Tokai trails are great - really good singletrack through the forest, some excellent firetrails and great views. Some steep climbing as well on some trail options. Unfortunately I did not have too much time to explore. Cape Town riders are certainly spoilt for choice and South Africa generally has really embraced mountain biking as a sport - the facilities and options accross the country are world class. I saw some great literature on trails in Paarl and the wine regions - stunning area and I regret not riding there.
Unfortunately I think I am too old for the Cape Epic otherwise I would be sorely tempted.
Cheers
Greg