How can barren be so beautiful? How can two wheels be better than four? How can Fear Factor for bikers turn into the most fun I have had in many years – and why do I now want to do this every weekend?
The answer: being on the back of a rampant iron horse on a dirt track in the heart of the Tankwa Karoo – where so few people travel but where Mother Nature offers so much.
The Tankwa Karoo National Park is on the southern Northern Cape boundary with the Roggeveld escarpment in the east, the Cederberg mountains in the west, and in the south, the Klein Roggeveld mountains.
Being an experienced road motorcyclist, I thought I had enough high-octane blood in my veins to make light work of eight mountain passes and hundreds of kilometres on dirt roads through valleys and across the vast plains of the Karoo countryside.
But after setting off from the city early on a Saturday and reaching Ouberg pass the other side of Ceres a few hours later, it took all the two-wheeled skill and concentration I had to stay in the saddle.
I could only glance for a split second at the black eagles circling the sky trying to spot dassies below and, in the distance, the koppie-studded, moon-like landscape before fixing my eyes on the road again.
My guide, Carl Metelerkamp and fellow riders in the group, had no trouble negotiating the washed away sections of the road, drifts, sand pits, potholes and wild animals running across the road – but I was a tensed-up ball of nerves, lucky to be in one piece at our first stop. Then a simple bit of advice from Carl: “Relax, don’t take chances and accelerate out of trouble”, and things improved.
I soon felt at ease. After all, as freelance journo and invited guest I had to stay in one piece to report on this charity Bikers for Literacy run.
Carl and his clan packed dictionaries and word games in their backpacks to hand out to a rural school along the route in a literacy development initiative. So, with my limbs still intact after several hundred kilometres, I was confident and ready for any surprises the Karoo dirt roads could dish up.
But, there is an extraordinary surprise, a pleasant one, for Karoo travellers. Picture this, after hours in the saddle, exhausted, thirsty and hungry, something out of the movies appeared on the side of the road.
From a distance it looked like just another lonely rondawel. But it is a round roofless reed shelter, a sort of open air refreshment station, complete with cooler boxes filled with cold beers, fresh meat, wood and matches for a braai, a gas burner for coffee, sweets and chocolates.
But no shopkeeper, no sales assistant, no security guard, no surveillance cameras, not a soul in sight. Just an old “room kan” for money.
It was an honesty shop in the middle of nowhere. The can had a few hundred rand and some change in it. The only cashier around was a black board bearing a chalk notice exclaiming, “enjoy your trip with a clean conscience!”
The honesty shop run by Windheuwel farmers Dirkie Bothma and his wife, Santa (no pun intended), is a welcome stop for people flocking to the area during the more colourful winter season.
“The shop is so popular; we get amazing feedback all the time. Even just the nice compliments make it worth our while but, fortunately, there is always money in the can,” Santa said.
The honesty shop is open only during winter in the run up to the flower season from June to September.
The Karoo is popular in winter, says Santa. Even only a splash from the skies sees the Karoo succulents erupt into a spectacular floral fantasy, a sure surprise for those who think the 80mm rain which falls in the south-western Karoo could not make a change.
The 80 000-hectare Tankwa Karoo National Park was proclaimed in 1986 and is in a development and recovery stage as original vegetation re-establishes itself. But still, after the occasional shower, the park turns into a colourful floral display.
Conservation International has classified only two southern African regions as biodiversity hotspots. One is the Cape Floral Kingdom and the other the Succulent Karoo. After covering the last stretch to Middelpos about 4pm on the Saturday, another reward for my endurance came in the form of Gannaga Lodge at the top of Gannaga Pass where we overnighted.
The rustic lodge with its polished natural cement floors and its stone and clay walls, just the other side of Middelpos, was built only a few years ago but it looks and feels centuries old.
There we met our hosts, albeit seemingly odd business partners, a Scottish lawyer and a local policeman.
Middelpos station commander Johann Visagie and Robert Black, QC and former member of the Scottish Bar, made the time fly after dinner in the bar with their interesting stories.
The trip back down Gannaga Pass through the Tankwa Karoo and over Katbakkies Pass in the Klein Cederberg was not much shorter. We had taken a longer way there through the Ceres Karoo, Tankwa Karoo and Roggeveld. At first I remembered just wanting to get home and, it could be hoped, in one piece. But even only after a few kilometres in the saddle on the way back over the tarred Bains Kloof pass I was already looking forward to another trip.
Adventure bike enthusiasts who want a taste of the Tankwa and have a spare dictionary at home can go to Carl’s website, www.tankwabiking.co.za or call him on 021 552 6431 or 072 725 4428. Email [email protected] - Weekend Argus