Day 1: Johannesburg
Meet and greet at O. R. Tambo Airport Johannesburg (JNB) on arrival and transfer to your accommodation at Emperors Palace, where you can watch a show, play in the casino, or just relax in one of the many shops and restaurants. Welcome dinner, tour briefing, and formalities for the motorcycle rentals.
Day 2: Johannesburg to Dullstroom (238 kilometers / 148 miles)
The first day is the longest ride as you will head north towards the Limpopo region, nearly a three hours ride. After a pub lunch in Machadodorp, you continue to head to your overnight location in the picturesque town of Dullstroom where you can spend the afternoon exploring the Wild About Whisky store or the Anvile Ale Brewery, The Rock Shop full of semi-precious stones, the Dimitrov Art Gallery, the Beans about Coffee speciality café, or any number of the pancake, waffle, and tea rooms in Dullstroom. You can also visit the birds of prey rehabilitation center, along with the R540.
Day 3: Dullstroom to Hoedspruit (195 kilometers / 121 miles)
You will get an early start for the spectacular scenery towards Graskop, stopping at God’s Window, World View, Sabie Falls, and a dramatic view of the Blyde River Canyon and the geological formations known as The Three Rondavels. The rondavel is as a traditional beehive-shaped hut built and used over centuries by indigenous people as their homes in South Africa.
Although you will be standing at 1380 meters above sea level, with the Blyde River Canyon below, you will be looking up at the three distinctive peaks which tower 700 meters above the surrounding countryside. Said to be The Chief and his Three Wives, the flat-topped peak was named Mapjaneng (the chief) after a legendary Bapedi chief, the three peaks are named after his three wives (from left to right) – Magabolie, Mogoladikwe, and Maseroto.
Waving children, cattle, and goats will assure you that we are in Africa, as after lunch in Graskop, you continue north to the five-star lodge in Hoedspruit where you will enjoy a night game drive followed by dinner at the lodge.
Day 4: Hoedspruit to Louis Trichardt (246 kilometers / 153 miles)
At the luxury safaris, five-star accommodation, you will enjoy an early morning guided walk in the reserve before breakfast, where the birdlife is quite amazing. Then, you will be delighted by the wildlife in the rehabilitation center with professional guides for an opportunity to see the work done to assist some of the more unfortunate wildlife. This one of many such centers in the Limpopo and later, you will have the chance to see similar work being done with rhinos and cheetahs.
After lunch in Raptors View, Hoedspruit, you continue north towards the cultural heritage center of Louis Trichardt for a spot of anthropology, music, and history. This is the center of outstanding contemporary local art with the opportunity to meet some of the artists in their own studios. There is a textile and design studio as well as a craft art shop stocked with unique local products of the region.
After dropping in on The Baobab bar, a pub in an enormous hollow baobab tree on Sunland Farm near Modjadjikloof, you will resume the ride to Letaba, a forested, lush, mountainous area, marking the first dramatic rise of the Drakensberg Escarpment. The Sunland Big Baobab is famous for being the widest of its species in the world. When baobabs become a thousand years old, they begin to hollow inside. You will serve dinner at the lodge.
Day 5: Louis Trichardt to Tzaneen (132 kilometers / 82 miles)
You will begin the day after a leisurely breakfast, riding towards the sub-tropical town of Tzaneen. You will ride past subtropical crops such as macadamia nuts and avocados sold at roadside farm-stalls, surrounded by the glorious green mountains to South Africa’s only matrilineal and most mysterious empire: the royal kraal of Modjadji and the Rain Queen of the Balobedu people in Modjadjiskloof.
The Modjadji Cycad Reserve (declared a national monument in 1936) is the largest concentration of a single cycad species in the world. Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, which has a monument in the village of Botlokwa where you will stop for a photo opportunity, the tour ends in a luxury accommodation in Tzaneen.
Day 6: Tzaneen to Polokwane (95 kilometers / 59 miles)
You will take a leisurely ride to the Polokwane Protea Ranch Hotel, where you will rise early to walk with lions. On this afternoon you can relax by the pool, enjoy the spa, work out in the fitness center or hire some golf clubs for the afternoon.
Day 7: Polokwane to Bela Bela (185 kilometers / 115 miles)
After breakfast, you will be returning south via the blue-hued Waterberg mountain. This weathered area is the first region in the north of South Africa identified as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, the astounding rock formations being shaped over hundreds of millions of years. Lunch will be taken at the unique L’Abri farm shop and brewery and later you will stop at the conservation center of Lapalala Rhino Sanctuary at Naboonspruit. You will then go to Protea Zebula hotel in Bela Bela for rest.
Day 8: Bela Bela to Johannesburg (165 kilometers / 103 miles)
De Wildt Cheetah center will transfer you from the hotel to see the cheetah run at 8:00 a.m. followed by breakfast served on the patio and then the feeding tour at 10:00 a.m.These activities will last until 12:00 p.m. Experienced guides will assure your safety and their expert knowledge of the area. After this glorious morning experience, you will continue the journey to Johannesburg for your overnight stay at Montecasino.
The rental bike formalities will take place there. You will enjoy your final dinner together whilst you discuss the highs of the trip and exchange contact details for future tours.
Day 9: Departure from Johannesburg
Montecasino will indulge you in a sumptuous breakfast whilst they arrange airport transfers for you back to O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) for a safe journey home. If you wish to continue your journey, further destinations can be pre-arranged through Harley’s Safaris.
Tour highlights
- Anvile Ale Brewery
- Beans about Coffee
- Blyde River Canyon
- Crossing Tropic of Capricorn
- De Wildt Cheetah Sanctuary
- Dimitrov Art Gallery
- God’s Window
- L’Abri farm Shop and Brewery
- Lapalala Rhino Sanctuary
- Mholoholo Rehabilitation Centre
- Modjadji Cycad Reserve
- Sabie Falls
- The Baobab bar, Sunland Farm
- The Rock Shop
- The Three Rondavels
- Wild About Whisky store
- World View
Skill level required for this tour:
Intermediate
- can ride for three to four hours
- average riding experience
- little assistance required
- comfortable with extreme curves and leans
- average experience with unsurfaced roads
- steep ascents and descents
