The tar road out of Gembu in Nigeria was falling apart, but it felt like our local N1 compared to what we'd been through over the past few days (see issue #197). We were aiming for the town of Bali, 232 km to the north, via the Mambilla Plateau at about 1200 m above sea level. The air was "cool" at 27°C and the views were amazing.
But the dream didn't last forever. A roadblock loomed ahead. Tyres and drums and sticks in the road. A man in uniform with a long rifle signalled for us to stop. Passports. What do we have to give him? Nothing? Did we think we could ride through their country without giving something to the soldiers? We played dumb and friendly, and he let us go.
We stopped to withdraw money. Immediately, we were swarmed by curious people. Welcome to Nigeria! Where are you from? With this bike?! Photos were taken with our Husqvarna Norden 901 Expedition bikes. The ATM wouldn't give us cash, so we continued. Worried, because we had too little Nigerian naira for fuel to get us to the next big town.
Another roadblock. What can you give us? Again and again. Roadblocks were our fate, it seemed.
The road surface became even smoother and we finally managed to reach speeds of up to 90 km/h. We also got cash.
We arrived at a motel in Bali and wanted to check in, but an immigration officer suddenly appeared and asked for our passports, which had been stamped in Gembu. A thousand questions followed.
It was a hot evening and we sweated as we sat down to eat fish, possibly caught in the Taraba River that flows through town. Our visas were only valid for 10 days, but we figured it should be enough time to travel through the country, provided everything went well. We had left Pretoria five weeks earlier.
The Springboks were playing England in the World Cup semi-final and we listened to the match on the radio, via apps on our cellphones, with interruptions because the Internet was slow. The Boks barely scraped through.
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Esta historia es de la edición February/March 2025 de go! - South Africa.
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My best holiday ever
Most holidays are enjoyable, but some stand out for different reasons. Something on that trip - be it a destination or an experience - stays with you. Seven writers tell us about the getaways they'll never forget.
Choose a wild life
Africa is the home of the safari, and who unlocks this experience for tourists? An experienced, knowledgeable field guide, that's who. But how does it feel to sit behind the wheel of a Land Cruiser twice a day, answering the same questions over and over?
The day I almost became a Himba bride
Why do we travel, asks Sophia van Taak? One reason is to see how other people's lives differ from our own. But sometimes it's what we have in common that's most surprising.
BIRDS
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR BIRDERS
Benin for the Bokke
By late October 2023, adventurers Jean Cooper and De Witt Oosthuizen were somewhere in the middle of Nigeria. Their plan was to be in neighbouring Benin in time to watch the Springboks play in the final of the Rugby World Cup. But they ran into roadblock after roadblock..
There's something about White River
White River is on a hill between Mbombela and Hazyview. You're a bateleur swoop from the Kruger Park, the Panorama Route and the Sudwala Caves, but why rush through? Come see what the town has to offer.
A farm stall? Here?
The Tankwa Karoo usually looks like Mars. It's an empty landscape where you can sometimes see the outline of a springbok shimmering in a distant mirage. It's remote. The main road, the R355, cuts a lonely 250 km slice from Ceres to Calvinia. The last thing you expect to see is a farm stall...
SKRIK VAN RONDOM FARM STALL, REDELINGHUYS
The road from Piketberg to Elands Bay leads from the Swartland through the Sandveld to the reeds of Verlorenvlei.
In a holy land
English explorer William Burchell stopped recording his southern African exploration at a Tswana settlement called Litakun, in the koppies north-west of modern-day Kuruman. As we make our way there, it becomes clear: South Africa is a sacred place.
Two's company
If you could park two Fords in your dream garage, which would they be? Most of us would pick the mighty Mustang and an apex bakkie like the Raptor, but there's also an awesome new Tourneo minibus that throws a spanner in the works...
