Mountain Biking In The Bush? You Bet!

Upon our arrival back to camp, Dierdre asked if any us wanted to do anything else like Mountain Bike, archery, etc. I really wanted to experience the bush on bike. No one else on the truck did. So Dierdre and I made a plan to hook up at 10:30. She and I would bike and Themba would follow in the trucks with the rifle – no lie.

After some breakfast (we literally ate 6 times a day – three meals and three snack times), I relaxed for a bit in the room and then headed back to the lodge to meet Dierdre and Themba. We took off right from the lodge and biked. That plan was to be out for an hour as at that time the temperature was over 90 degrees. We ended up biking about 13km with Dierdre tiring out and trading with Themba, then later they switched back again.

It was hot! And it was tough work! But we pedaled through it. I got the chance to learn more about Dierdre and how they lived life in the bush. Beyond all the training I mentioned earlier, they work for 6 weeks straight, then have 2 weeks off. They live about 20 minutes away from the lodge in a little village of 164 people who work at both Sweni lodge and Lebombo. They are a mix of people from different parts of Africa – some from the city and some from local villages around Kruger including many who are Shangaan tribe as mentioned earlier.

Themba learned how to do what he does from living in the village his whole life. It was their way of living and those skills are passed from generation to generation.

As for the animals, we got up and close to zebras, giraffes and lots of impalas. But the animals were less used to bikes than they were the trucks. So for the most part, the animals were skittish around the bikes and tended to run off as we approached. Nonetheless, it was a different type of experience in traveling through the bush.

As we bicycled home, the last leg was up a hill for a good 10 minutes all the way back to the lodge. Not much but in the 90 degree heat, it was brutal. It took a 45 minutes to sort of cool down including a 15 minutes soak in cool water.

I later learned that I was the toughest mountain biker they had ever had (usually they take out families and kids) and later that day, many of the staff basically told me that they heard I “kicked Dierdre’s ass” mountain biking.