Highlights
– Cape Town
– Two oceans: Atlantic en Indian
– Two Capes: Cape of Good Hope and Agulhas
– Three Routes: Route 62, Garden route and Wine route
– game drive in Addo Elephant N.P.
– straight through the empty Karoo
– private game reserve Inverdoorn
– Stellenbosch and Oudtshoorn
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- Ca. 2675 km (ca. 1665 miles) on tarred roads. Some short stretches are on untarred roads, for instance to reach an accommodation.
- Suitable for all bikers who like a couple of long riding days, but you don’t need experience on untarred roads. No hard off-road riding involved. Most roads you’ll ride around 80 – 100 km/hour. The itinerary is planned in such a way that you have plenty of time to enjoy the magnificent scenery. You’ll encounter wildlife most days.
- Very suitable for rider with a pillion; if you want to skip a day on the backseat you can ride with the backup vehicle.
- Almost all meals included as indicated at each day with B (breakfast), L (lunch) and/or D (dinner).
- You can extend your tour with add-ons before or after your tour in Cape Town or Windhoek. Click here to see the possibilities.
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Day 1: arrival Cape Town
Transfer and city tour – D // Our representative is waiting for you on the airport. He will transfer you to your hotel. We provide you with a ticket for the hop on/hop off city bus, the perfect way to discover the most beautiful city of Africa. Admire the view from the top of Table Mountain high above the town. Enjoy a cold beer on one of the seafront cafes at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. Or admire the colourful spectacles inside the beautiful Two Oceans Aquarium. You can choose where to spend your time, since your ticket is a day ticket. In the evening we have a ‘meet & greet’ in a nice restaurant where you can meet your fellow travellers.
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Day 2: Cape of Good Hope
160 km tarred road – B, D // Your first day on your motorbike. We ride beautiful, quiet roads so you can get used to your motorcycle – and, if necessary, to driving on the left. After leaving town we arrive at the magnificent viewpoint of Chapman’s Peak. Will you be able see the Twelve Apostles, or are they hiding behind their ‘beards’ (clouds)? At Cape of Good Hope you stand on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and – almost! – Africa’s southernmost tip. A spectacular coastal road leads to Boulders Beach. Here you can walk among penguins before returning to Cape Town. Dinner will be on the Victoria and Albert Waterfront.
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Day 3: whales at Africa’s most southern point
400 km tar – B, L, D // Your luggage goes into the back-up vehicle. You ride the spectacular curving Whale route through Gordon’s Bay, Rooi-Els and Betties Bay to Hermanus. If you are lucky you can spot whales during lunch! They can be spotted from the shore between July and November. You continue your ride over long empty roads between grain fields and on to the real southernmost point of Africa: Cape Agulhas. Here you are actually on the border between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans! You sleep in either of the old fishing villages Arniston or Agulhas.
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Day 4: Route 62 to Oudtshoorn
360 km tar – B, L, D // You enter through Overberg a completely different landscape: the semi-desert of the Karoo. Here you turn on to famous Route 62, Africa’s answer to Route 66. This was once the road traders and pioneers took. Beautifully red, yellow or gray coloured mountain ranges rise before your eyes out of the spectacular Karoo landscape. ‘Padstallen’, a kind of roadhouses, are welcome oases in the dry landscape. We stop at the most famous one, Ronnie’s Sex Shop. They sell other things then you might think right now. Finally we reach Oudtshoorn, a vibrant university town with a lot of restaurants – and ostriches of course.
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Day 5: mountain passes and caves
Included day tour – B, L, D // Today we leave the motorbikes at the lodge and use 4 wheels for our day tour. We visit an ostrich farm where you can see what goes into rearing the world’s largest bird. Further north of Oudtshoorn are the imposing Swartberg Mountains. At the bottom you will find Kobus se Gat. With a name like that (‘Kobus’s Hole’) we have to take lunch here. You will also visit the Cango Caves, Africa’s largest caves, filled with stalagmites and stalactites. And did we already mention Oudtshoorn has a lot of restaurants, pubs and outdoor cafes?
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Day 6: the Garden Route to Knysna
175 km tar – B, L, D // We ride back to the coast over another spectacular mountain pass, Robinsons pass this time. Past the busy town of George we turn on the Garden Route, here a lovely, there a rough and spectacular coastal route. The mixture of forests, hills, small towns and open areas gives the coast a green, garden like character. On a picturesque lagoon the oyster capital of South Africa is situated: Knysna. We will stay here two nights.
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Day 7: boat cruise and eating fish
Free day – B, D // Want to do nothing for a full day? Knysna is the perfect place to take it easy. If you want to be a bit more active you can take a boatcruise on the beautiful Knysna Lagoon. You can for instance to the Heads, the spectacular rocks that protect the entrance to the lagoon from the sometimes fierce Ocean. Here you find a host of fish restaurants. As you will at many places along the lagoon. Or rent a kayak and make your own cruise on the water.
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Day 8: Addo Elephant Park: more than elephants
340 km tar – B, L, D // A long riding day along the Garden Route. At Tsitsikamma you ride between long stretches of the endemic forest, Fynbos. Deep river gorges are crossed by high bridges. From one of these, the Bloukrans bridge, you can make the highest bungee jump of South Africa – or watch it live on a tv-screen in the restaurant. At Port Elizabeth we turn inland and ride to Addo Elephant Park. In this game reserve we make an (included) game drive in a safari vehicle. You will not just see elephants but also Cape buffaloes, many antelopes and, with a bit of luck, also lions. Addo is much more then only elephants!
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Day 9 the quietness of the Karoo
370 km tar – B, L, D // If for any reason we did not do it yesterday, we start the day with the game drive in Addo. Then we ride along broad, empty roads through one of the driest parts of the Karoo. Just now and then we encounter another vehicle or a small town. Our overnight stop is not for nothing named appropriately ‘De Rust’ (‘the quietness’).
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Day 10 game drive at Inverdoorn
350 km tar – B, L, D // The immense emptiness of the Karoo will impress you! You keep seeing new mountain ranges on the horizon. At last you reach Inverdoorn private game reserve. This afternoon and tomorrow morning you will make game drives, looking for wild animals. Besides lions, buffaloes and many other animals you also find in Addo, the reserve also has rhino’s, cheetah’s, giraffe’s and zebra’s. A private game reserve is not a zoo: a game drive takes hours in an immense area. You have to search for the animals without guarantees of seeing them! In the evening, sitting on the veranda, you can hear the sounds of the bush. A unique experience!
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Day 11 Ceder Mountains, orchards and crayfish
350 km tar – B, L, D // You rise early for your second game drive. Then you take a beautiful road to Ceres, the fruit-centre of South Africa. The Gydo Pass road takes you to the orchards of the Koue Bokkeveld. Little by little you leave the mountains behind you. At the end of the day you have returned to the Atlantic Ocean. Our lodge is situated at Eland’s Bay and famous for its outside seafood dinner – if you manage to eat all of it we will have to carry you back to your room, because there is no way you can walk after eating so much…
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Day 12 the Wine route to Stellenbosch
250 km tar – B, L, D // You ride the road which parallels the coastline. Now and then you come through fishing villages with resounding names like Dwarskersbos, Rhedelinghuis en Porterville. You turn onto the N7 till you reach Paarl. Then we continue along the famous Wine route to Stellenbosch. The historical town centre is full of old houses from the early Dutch and French pioneers. And yes, you can go for a wine tasting!
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Day 13: free day, mountain roads or sharks
Free day – B, D // You can take a nice day off to let all the impressions of the tour sink in. All activities today are on your own account. You can do a wine farm tour, discover the historical town centre of Stellenbosch, go for a huge lunch – or use the day to ride your last day in South Africa on a motorbike. The winelands are surrounded by impressive mountains with lots of curvy mountain roads. Enjoy for instance the Helshoogte and Franschhoek mountain passes. Or would you rather go cage-diving with Great White Sharks? That is also possible today (full day excursion).
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Day 14: goodbye, or extension in Cape Town?
Airport transfer – B // Too soon the time has come to say goodbye! Depending on your departure time we will transfer you solo or together with others to the airport. Would you like to book an add-on in Cape Town? We can arrange it all. Cape of Good Hope, a wine tour, Robben Island or shark cage diving – Cape Town awaits you. Click here to see some possibilities. Whichever option you choose, one thing is for sure: this is a motorcycle tour you’ll remember for the rest of your life!