On your bike

Hardekool Draai Ride (21.4 km): Green Rating

The name “Hardekool Draai” originated from a huge leadwood tree (Combretum Imberbi that grows on the banks of the nearby Olifants River. This easy return ride is a gentle climb over a slightly rocky ranger’s road, which doubles as a firebreak. The trail leads through mopane veld with an occasional view of the Olifants River. Anywhere off this track the ground is carpeted with a huge variety of thorns. Hence the emphasis on using the camp’s bikes rather than your own.

Although Hardekool Draai may rate as a “novice ride” in some cyclists’ classification, the concept behind cycling in the Kruger Park is about integration with what surrounds you – from the smallest insect to the largest animal. Your field guide will stop to discuss or identify plants, animals and spoor. After a 5 km warm up, it is time to walk one of the numerous “wild highways” intersecting the road: tidy little paths designed by the instincts and foot work of wild creatures going to and from the river. A short diversion down to the river on foot will have any wildlife enthusiast excited. Enjoy sumptuous snacks under a huge sycamore fig tree overlooking grunting hippo wallowing in the pools below.

There is plenty of crocodile, elephant, buffalo and general game in this area and the bird life along the Olifants river is outstanding. The closing 10.7 km back to the vehicle is nearly all downhill, giving you plenty of opportunity to savour the closing moments.

Olifants/Letaba River Confluence Trail (12 km): Black Rating

On the S44 gravel road beyond the Olifants River view point, 10.3 km from camp, a small unmarked twin-track road leads to an unforgettable off-road cycling experience. Loose rocks and branches remind you to concentrate on which line to ride. For 6.1 km along the rocky outcrops of the region you can expect elephant, buffalo, lion, nyala, water buck, giraffe, zebra, klipspringer and impala to name but a few of the park’s 147 mammal species. The area is rich in bird life (507 species) and is a botanists’ paradise (336 tree species) with plenty of opportunity to marvel at the giant baobab trees Adasonia digitata common to this area. Enjoy your breakfast packs at the confluence of the Olifants and Letaba rivers while watching crocodiles the size of submarines feasting on fish in the rapids below.

An hour or two of full bush interpretation follows as you walk with your armed field guides along the river banks before starting the 6 km cycle back to the vehicle. The trip is not strenuous but participants must be experienced riders to appreciate it as it is graded intermediate to difficult.

Klipkoppies Mozambique Border Trail (24.8 km): ra

Olifants Camp is only 22.2 km from the Mozambican border. Just under 10 km from the camp on the S44 route past the Olifants River viewpoint, you drive due east across the Letaba River on a fire break road. In the early morning light, the vehicle is abandoned for bicycles. As you are riding straight into the sunrise of a new day for 9.6 km, the opportunities for chance encounters with game abound.

At a fork in the road, the guides will lead you south-east for 2.8 km to the Lebombo Mountains and the border between South Africa and Mozambique. Enjoy your snacks on a hill overlooking the Olifants River in the distance, with Mozambique to the east. Be daring and put your hand through the fence to touch foreign soil before you cycle down towards the Letaba river enjoying the wonderful vista of unspoiled wilderness all the way back to the vehicle. This is an intermediate to difficult ride.

Rated by : Herman Mills