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Africa at last! South Africa marks the start of our ride through the seventh continent on our round the world motorcycle journey – and we can’t wait…
This travel blog recounts our motorcycle adventure through South Africa in 2025 during our round the world trip. To read more stories from our travels check out Our Adventures
South Africa Motorcycle Travel Blog
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad: Round the World Motorcycle Traveller
Welcome to Africa
The burning ball of orange dips into the distance, casting a soft yellow glow over the African savanna. We can’t quite appreciate the view though; our eyes are fixed on the narrow trail we’re trying to keep the tyres in. Finger-length thorns promise to puncture our rubber if we dare stray from the safety of the trail. But the track disappears, forcing us off-piste, ducking under branches and wincing as we ride over spikes and scrape through bushes. We’re stuck, turned around and about to call it a day until Alissa brakes, points and whispers to look ahead…
It freezes in front of us, unused to lost motorcycles. We stop and stare. It raises an eyebrow as if to tell us to switch our Hondas off. Oh, terribly sorry. We fumble for the keys. It tuts and sways its long, majestic neck back toward the tree. We quietly dismount and sit for hours watching a family of giraffes stride around us.
Looking for lions
We’ve spent the last two months doing this – searching for wildlife by linking up national parks via every little off-road route we can find. Some parks let us ride through, so long as there aren’t any animals with teeth inside. Apart from one, where we were stopped at the gate and told we’d have to be escorted because of the lions. We signed our lives away, promising not to blame them if we were eaten. A ranger turned up in a 4×4, shouted “follow me and don’t stop” before disappearing into a cloud of dust. We chased him at full speed – eyes wide for hungry lions.
We can’t ride our motorcycles through the big parks, so we park up and jump on safari trucks to watch lions basking in the evening sun. We search for the big five in Kruger, visit Addo Elephant Park, ostrich farms and head to St Lucia to watch hippos wandering the streets at night.
Everything in between the parks is easy too. We stop in pretty towns, drink good coffee, buy bags of dried biltong and go. Food, wine and accommodation are cheap compared to the UK and the pound goes a long way. Everyone we meet wants to chat and ask where we’re going. But it has taken a few weeks to get into the swing of things here.
Dangers
We shipped our motorcycles to Cape Town from Argentina after riding the length of the Americas. At the start of our Americas ride, in the USA, we received hundreds of warnings from worried Americans before riding into Mexico.
People often asked, “Where y’all going?” and would pray and gesture the sign of the cross when we answered. But that was nothing compared to the warnings we were bombarded with on South Africa.
“Don’t ride at night, don’t stop at red lights, don’t stop on the road, don’t talk to people” with a long list of roads, routes, regions, areas and towns to avoid.
But just like in Mexico, the worries melted away after a few days. Of course, there are areas and places you need to avoid, and you do need to keep your wits about you. But we didn’t run into any problems, felt safe the entire time and were glad we weren’t put off before we even got started.
Too easy
But to be on the safe side we started slow. The routes around Cape Town are stunning. We headed for coastal towns along the Cape Peninsula, climbed Table Mountain and looped back inland to Franschhoek and Stellenbosch for the wine vineyards. We slowly dipped south to Hermanus for the whales and meandered down to Cape Agulhas to reach the furthest point south on the African continent and the official line where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.
We were plump on good wine and fine food. Since arriving in Cape Town, our riding had all been on smooth flowing tarmac chasing gentle coastal curves and stopping off at every pretty café along the way. But one morning, after a frothy coffee and a particularly large slab of cake at a gorgeous seaside town, we strolled back to our motorcycles and it dawned on us. Our bikes were too clean. They were sparkling, their plastics glistened in the light of the ocean waves when they should be caked in mud hungry for adventure.
We had become soft these last few weeks, not yet ready to push forwards into South Africa. But now, it was time to get out there and start exploring…
The Swartberg Pass
We plotted a route to ride the legendary Swartberg to shake off the cake. The CRFs quickly got to work climbing switchbacks to the summit at 1,583m. We stopped for a breather and gazed out over the vast arid plains of the Great Karoo. This is what we had been missing. The bikes pinged and popped as they cooled, eager to be fired up again and get back to business.
We charged down the pass, ABS off and locking the rears. As soon as we hit flat ground again, we hooked a right and headed for Prince Alfred’s Pass – the longest mountain pass in South Africa. We flew around corners on muddy tracks making our way back south towards the coast.
The CRFs were chomping at the bit to make up for their two weeks off. We swung around a sweeping corner and stumbled into a road block. A 4×4 going the other way had also taken its corner too fast and flew off the verge landing upside down. Luckily nobody was hurt. But it was our sign to slow it down – there’s a lot of South Africa and the continent left to see.
The people
We reached the coast and followed off-road tracks stretching for hundreds of miles through the country. We were hooked on these trails, finding wildlife and stopping at every national park and game reserve we could. Pretty seaside towns and the Cape vineyards seemed like a long time ago now. We were loving our ride through South Africa and constantly excited to see where each day’s trail would take us.
But the best thing about South Africa wasn’t the trails or the wildlife – it was the people. We were welcomed into homes, joined ride-outs to hidden waterfalls and single-track trails. Big braais were cooked up every night and we drank more red wine than we did in New Zealand. We weren’t expecting such a warm welcome and were spoiled by South Africans everywhere we went.
It would have been too easy to slip back into our old comfy Cape Town routine. So, we kept pushing and chasing dirt trails into the Drakensberg mountains and onward to Lesotho. The rest of Africa was calling, and we knew if we lingered too long, we might never leave… But, perhaps just one more coffee shop and a quick braai before we go?
With thanks to…
The wonderful Nicole kindly invited us to stay at her place when we arrived in Cape Town. A few days turned into a few weeks and she’s the reason we didn’t hit the road for some time, she’s just so lovely! We had a blast hanging out, eating fish and chips, braai and chatting travel.
And to top it off, she runs a motorcycle tour company – SAMA Tours – and is a wealth of knowledge on awesome routes. Nicole helped us plot our entire route through the country. Definitely get in touch with her if you fancy a tour around Africa. Thanks Nicole for the best introduction to South Africa!
We trusted our motorcycles to Raymond – a brilliant mechanic in Cape Town. After the last two years of thrashing our Hondas through the Americas – and the last 6 months of slapping on cheap spares, part-worns and old second hand parts so we could hobble into Buenos Aires and fly the bikes – we decided to treat the bikes to a proper fix up ready for Africa.
Raymond did an excellent job helping us fix them up and we’re mega impressed. He’s been incredibly helpful, and to be honest is one of the very best mechanics we’ve met in the last 8 years of riding round the world. If you’re heading that way and need any work doing, get in touch with Rayder Cycles -Pty-Ltd
We received a message from Kyle saying “Hey, if you’re passing by Napier, come and stay at our place”. Okay then! He’s built awesome A-frame cabins for motorcycle travellers on this beautiful plot of land in the countryside. If you’re passing by, say hi at the Wokini Wellness Retreat
Charlie got in touch and said to come say hi when passing his neck of the woods. So, we messaged back and said sure!
He put us in touch with Peter and Beth, who had a room we could stay in at their home. We only meant to stay the night, but ended up staying for three as we had such a good time.
Beth is originally from Zimbabwe and helped us plot a great route through the country. We went on fantastic walks, cooked up barbeques and dinner together, drank lots of tea and had the best chats.
Pete’s the local doctor and prescribed us some malaria treatment tablets just in case as well as some test kits, which we’ve been meaning to sort!
Such lovely people, and we’re so sad to leave. You really do meet the best people on the road.
We also stayed with their son John and his wife Joe and their kids in Johannesburg – who are also wonderful people.
Charlie put us in touch with Pete and Beth and, while we stayed with them we spent our days hanging out with Charlie too cooking up braais.
Charlie runs Dust Trails Africa and knows the region like the back of his hand and all the best tracks.
So, together with his riding buddies Ian and Jimmy we said bye to Beth and Peter and went on a brilliant trail ride to some awesome spots on our way north.
What a fun day and what legends to take us out for the day. South Africans are so hospitable.
Shock Logic
Read more on motorcycle travel in South Africa
Thanks for checking out our South Africa Motorcycle Travel Blog. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more related articles on riding in South Africa and Africa that we recommend you read next. You’ll find our route and how to ride through South Africa in our South Africa Travel Guide.
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If you enjoyed this South Africa motorcycle travel blog or have any questions, please post your comments below. We’d love to hear from you.
Loved this!
Thanks Roni! Glad to hear you enjoyed the read.
Cheers
Andy
Great write up Andy. I’m looking forward to getting down there.
Thanks for reading, Geoff! Much appreciated.
Cheers
Andy