The Rhino Road Delivers!

The Rhino Road is the best 80 miles of ADV motorcycle riding that I have ever experienced! There you have it. This is the compelling opening statement. I also want to acknowledge that I have made this statement before but not sure that I can ever make this statement again. It is that good!

The internal hype with our group began a week before we rode it. The Rhino Road doesn’t have an official name but our leader has been calling it The Rhino Road for over twenty years because it is in the Ugab Rhino Research Center in Northern Namibia. The word hype is relative to the potential for overstatements, understatements and general confusion about what the three of us were going to do with Helge.

Personally, I like having a bit of anxiety before anything that I expect to challenge me. A bit of internal anxiety is of value. I never want to take anything for granted when I am on a fully loaded GSA 1250 in a remote area of Africa. This little bit of productive anxiety quickly turned to excitement and then to just loving the track.

We arrived at the gate to the research center and signed in with a young man that lived there with his wife and two children. He made it clear to us that his wife now had a big belly (pregnant). It was really fun to see one of the little boys engage with Arpad and he even accepted an offer for a ride on the bike.

The small stone cabin at the very crude entrance had some interesting information about the research center. Remember, the research center was about rhinos. As we walked out of the building, there it was, a desert African elephant standing in our road. Now we are talking thrill! We took advantage of watching him for 20-30 minutes and then he finally moved on. This is getting off on the right foot for sure!

This elephant was in no hurry to move so we had a bit of lunch under a great tree. After all, this was his neighborhood and we were just guests.

Rhino Road had commenced and it delivered beyond expectation for around 80 miles. The track was sometimes sandy, sometimes fast, sometimes technical, frequently rocky and even some muddy places. Beyond this, the scenery changed constantly. The conflict that I had was paying attention to my riding while paying attention to the landscapes around us. I was also still looking for elephants.

Highlight: Twenty years ago, Helge left a geo-cache of his book, Ten Years on Two Wheels. We hiked one hill where he thought it would be and then the light came on and he said it was the next hill over - about 300 yards away. All of us shared in the excitement of finding his book in the geo-cache but I’m a bit frustrated because we didn’t get a photo of him with the book.

I think a lot of why we ride these ADV motorcycles is for discovery. We are always discovering and gaining perspective on our discoveries. Rhino Road was a discovery for the three of us but I think it was a bit of a legacy ride for Helge. Sharing it with all of us was important to him but equally important to us.

By the way, I simply won’t share this location with anyone. Part of the discovery process is to ride with Helge and he said that he might not ever be here again. I might be though. I don’t want to see any traffic!

Being Seen

There are no pictures to accompany this text. Why? Because so many others have already captured the grandeur and splendor of what we have seen in much better photos.

What I’d like to share is the joy I get from waving hello to people along the way. As foreigners on big motorbikes, naturally, we are seen. Just thought it would be nice to turn the tables and let them be seen. Could be an old man in a threadbare, dusty coat, children in their pristinely cleaned and ironed school uniforms, children not so fortunate to have the clothes or the money for school, cowherds minding the stick thin cattle with seriously dangerous horns, the bent backed farmer way out in his maize field who can’t believe someone could see him, much less wave, the young men gathered at corners, styling and looking cool as they wait on their motorcycles, ready for hire, or the lady with a charcoal brazier, grilling little kebabs or maize along the dusty road through town. Lest you think I get constant positive feedback, you’d be wrong. More than half the time, I get a stare, as though they question why a stranger would wave. But, every so often, when they realize “I see you”their bright flash of recognition and their megawatt smile and energetic wave tell me I’ve done my small bit of sharing a sense of my humanity with them. Makes my day every day.

There have been quite a few experiences thus far on this trip but the most unique and memorable happened while we stayed at Canyon Village in Namibia. A number of us took a sunset tour of the area around the Fish River Canyon. Our guide, Axel, said he would show us a unique spot that he had only discovered in the last month. It was a watering hole dug by the animals, likely a zebra, on a sandy shelf at the end of a small canyon. As we approached the hole we surprised a zebra actually drinking at the hole. The animal panicked and immediately started trying to scale the rock face directly opposite where we were. It slipped once and we thought it would crash down the cliff and be killed or injured. The second attempt it successfully made it up the boulders and stopped at the top, looked at us as if to say, Ha, I made it, and trotted off into the distance.  The roads in Namibia have been everything you could want as a rider seeking a challenge. The people are all friendly and want to engage. The riders on this trip are a good group of people and extremely affable and enjoyable.

As the only rider on a Harley-Davidson, I am having an interesting experience. Many people are surprised that Harley has a dual sport motorcycle. Regardless, the name brand recognition is strong. At Canyon Village, a couple from the Netherlands yelled "Orange Power" when they saw me walking to the main lodge in my orange Harley t-shirt. Henry has a lung disease and is traveling with his wife to bucket list places while he can. He used to ride Harleys. At the same place, the Canyon Village manager asked me if I would give a guest from London who has stage 3 cancer a ride on my Harley to breakfast from her building the next morning. I could not refuse and Karen was thrilled.

After planning, postponing and eventually canceling the GlobeRiders World Tour, Himalayan Adventure & Cape to Cairo trips due to the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions we are finally on the road again.   Helge has assembled a fantastic group of world travelers & motorcycle enthusiasts.  This time we are exploring Africa from Cape Town to Mombasa.

For a long time this trip was on the horizon, in the future, distant. Then all of a sudden it seems we’re here actually doing it. Funny how that happens.

For me it started in December 2020. My friends Guido and Susanne told me they had contacted Helge and there was space on the 2023 Cape Town to Cairo trip and that I needed to sign up. I talked to Helge and as a fairly new rider he told me I needed to get some off road experience. I took a couple of training classes with Neil Taylor and Rawhyde. Those classes helped a lot but I still didn’t have much time on dirt. However I recall Helge giving me the impression that the dirt we would experience on this trip would be routine except for the Rhino Road. I didn’t plan to attempt the Rhino Road so I was all set.

Unfortunately, Cape to Cairo was cancelled and the timing of Cape to Mombasa didn’t work for Guido & Susanne. But I still wanted to go so I signed up for the new trip not knowing anyone else who was joining the group. I didn’t think a lot about the trip until it was very close, that is my normal behavior, I don’t tend to get excited until I pack my bags. I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was looking forward to the most but I did know that there would be many aspects to the trip that would engage me. My only previous foray into Africa had been a weekend in Tangiers a few years ago. I was definitely looking forward to experiencing Africa, the scenery, the wildlife and the different cultures. Given my interest in photography, photographing African wildlife was a big draw. I was also looking forward to challenging myself on a long motorcycle trip unlike anything I had ever done before. Finally, I was looking forward to meeting new people who had similar interests.

Reflecting of the first part of this trip, I have to say that it has delighted me and exceeded my expectations. This group of people is great. There is a wide variety of personalities, interests and motivations for being on this trip. I suppose trips like this tend to attract people who are adventurous and interesting. So, it has been very enjoyable getting to know the group and hopefully the trip is the start of some enduring friendships.

I will share a high point and low point of the trip so far. My low point was the sand road into Twyfelfontein. Up to that morning we had travelled hundreds of miles of dirt, gravel and sand without incident. Much of the time the riding was routine but sometimes the conditions were challenging for my experience and confidence level. At times I felt a little apprehensive on the road but growing more comfortable each day. By the time we left for Twyfelfontein I was feeling reasonably comfortable. In fact, for the first time I can say I actually enjoyed riding off road. At one point we hit a stretch of road that had some hills and curves. The road was dirt with some surface gravel so I was confident with the traction. I soon realized I was having fun and feeling relaxed. Woohoo! Breakthrough. But, a while later we hit the long patch of deep sand and my growing confidence proved to be a little premature. I dropped the bike when I tried to stop in the sand, I likely used some front brake and dug the front wheel into the sand. I struggled to get going again and dropped the bike a couple more times before getting out. Clearly, I didn’t have good deep sand riding technique or experience. Although the drops were all low speed the sand was obviously in my brain now. When a while later a car overtook me, enveloping me in a cloud of dust and I went down hard. I’m not sure exactly what happened but I assume that, as I could no longer see anything down the track, I looked down and the consequences were inevitable. Again poor technique. Luckily I didn’t hurt myself. The group I was in helped get the bike up and gave me a little time and encouragement. So we took off again but by now my confidence was badly damaged. Sand had truly taken hold of my brain. Soon, I saw a bus coming the other way at speed. This forced me to move to the left towards the deeper sand and I had a clear sense of danger, potentially fatal if I wiped out in front of the bus and I knew I had all the skills to wipe out. But I didn’t want to stop in the sand, I concluded the best option was to focus and continue forward. As a non religious man, I’m pretty sure I said a prayer. There’s no downside to embracing God in these moments. Thankfully the bus passed and I stayed up. A short time later we reached the sweetest stretch of asphalt south of the equator. My confidence was dented that day and I don’t think I’m back to the comfort level I had at the start of the ride to Twyfelfontein but I’m getting there. One significant learning from that day was that drivers of other vehicles cannot be relied upon to give any consideration to the challenges of riding motorcycles. Many are just oblivious to the specific risks of riding a bike.

It was easy to pick a low point and much more difficult to single out a highpoint. There are so many great experiences to choose from. But choose I must. My highpoint was the first nature drive at Fish Canyon. Axel had set the bar low by suggesting that we might see some great birds. He didn’t want us to assume that we would see any big animals. In the end we saw a great diversity of animals including Giraffe, Zebra, Springbok, Oryx and Ostrich. There may be better safaris ahead in terms of the variety of animals we see but this was my first experience of a diversity of wild African animals and as such is special and memorable.

In short the trip so far has had some amazing experiences and also a few challenges. Taking a two month trip is a unique experience for me. Helge, Lisa and Harry have done an excellent job of organizing and planning. I’m really enjoying the experience and am so glad to be on this trip.