Dreaming of the next Tour

The next morning dawned, we stumbled out of our carparks, driveways, bomas, pooldecks, luxury tents, luxury tent balconies and enjoyed a final breakfast together. Then packed our bags and bikes, and made sure that both were allocated to the correct coaches and trucks - as two were heading back to Mopani, and two straight through to Johannesburg.

 

After our three hour bus transfer to Mopani we were reunited with Holger's trusted Isuzu, which we duly packed up again, wolfed down a burger and ale in the camp overlooking the dam, and made our way back to Hannah Lodge, with a few aches and pains.

 

... and memories being elaborately embroidered upon. A might fine Tour was had by all.

 

Thanks to Heather (the one who held all the reigns in her hand) and her rather large team, and to all sponsors who contributed to raising more than R700 000 for the Children in the Wilderness and Peace Parks Foundation.

Another view - of the deck

 

A logistical challenge: accommodate 300 people in an exclusive camp designed and built for 40 people plus staff. This inevitably meant some that we all slept in very different places. The royalty of the jungle were those that had raised significantly more than the R10 500 minimum that was required - the top sponsor-raisers were allocated the tented units, with 2 'squatters' in tents each on their fancy balconies. 80 people down, quite a few to go - so some tents were pitched around the two pools, others in the boma, others inbetween the luxury tents, others in the driveway at the entrance to the lodge, and finally the remaining pilgrims found rest (well kindof) in the undercover parking spot, next to the showers.

 

Needless to say, lots of time was spent by most on the deck with a view.

 

The evening meal was grand, accompanied by a prize giving, an indication of who had raised the most sponsorships and a slide show of photos taken by two photographers who had joined us on the tour.

 

 

A view from a deck

After crossing the border into SA again, we were bundled into coaches, bikes on the back of trucks, and transported to the Livhubu River bridge, north of which the Makuleke Concession is situated - and in this section we were allowed to complete our grand tour - guided by one of the Pafuri ranger/guides who lead the cycling pack in his open vehicle.

 

Some in the team still suffered a couple of punctures, others hopped on for a game drive, and apart from two elephants who quickly disappeared from sight, our final lap of honour continued to be fairly uneventful from an animal sighting point of view.

 

This view, however, was an altogether bearable one - and was from the deck of the Pafuri Camp, which was to be home for the night.

And the winners are..... Team 10

A menancing bunch we were, fighting off anybody from the back (the few that were there). We had decided to accept our station in the tour, and not reach above ourselves to get to the border post by 11h00. This was the target set by the front-runners, who had the ambitions of doing an additional 40kms on the final day - our target was 72km (and not a damn km more), theirs was a simple 110kms, including some hectic climbs through the Makuleke Concession, in which the Pafuri Camp is built.

 

Most of us were just glad to have been able to get this far. and we could smell the end (nearly)

Final round of Dois M

Day 4 was a relatively harmless meander, still continuing south of the Limpopo River, over undulating terrain, that was getting increasingly more rocky. We were advised to pump our tires hard (as opposed to having deflated them to help a bit with the sand), and made our merry way to the Pafuri Border - only to stumble across a final spot to stop for grog. So we all pulled in - knowing that lunch was just 1km and a border crossing away. Someone even bought his wife a particularly unfashionable frock from the general grocer, as a momento/curio(us)/throwaway.

Sunrise of Limpopo Camp Start of final day

The setting of our camp at Limpopo took the cake, and was a fitting end to the overnights that we had in Mozambique. Again the camp was regimentally set out, and dining was al fresco under large trees.

 

At the prize giving the evening before, team 10 had unanimously agreed that Paul - our driver - was the winner. Thomas, Warren, Crusty and i joined the Land Rover guys for their afterparty around a blazing campfire, and waded through a bottle of cane before stumbling to 10de Laan.

 

Entering Baobab-land

The two legs after the 'compulsory beer stop' were each about 18kms of gently undulating track, with just a few sandy patches encountered on the odd occassion. We had reached the Limpopo River at Mapai (where the beer/tea stop was) and were making our way to our camp in the Limpopo River. Here group 9 is taking a bit of a photo break, at a huge Baobab Tree along the way.