Adventure into Remote and Undiscovered Eswatini 🇸🇿 [S2EP3]

Today we leave Bulembu, a small mining town up in the mountains in the Western Side of the country and we ride all the way through the country to the far eastern side of Eswatini. Right from the beginning we are surprised by the small dirt track that is the main road leading out of town, the first real challenge in this country. Soon we arrive in Piggs Peak to fill up the bikes and get some supplies, and then we are off again through beautiful pine forests high up in the hills. The local community here in this remote part of Eswatini is full of laughs, friendliness and lots and lots of waving! Especially the children are super exited to see the motorbikes. Soon we decent all the way down to the flat areas of Swaziland, and here the dirt tracks become sandy. It's not long before one of us goes down! But once again, the locals are more than willing to give us a helping hand. With the temperatures running up to 43C, we head towards a campsite in Mlawula Nature Reserve.
#africa #explore #ktm #ktm390adventure #ktm890adventurer #travel #eswatini

[@bikeboats6616]

Looks amazing, great content and very well edited, looking forward to seeing the next installment.

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you so much! 😁 Always nice to hear! It is a lot of work and it is always so nice when people enjoy the hard work that goes into it. A real balance act between filming, editing and still enjoying and being in the moment. Thank you for your comment and happy new year!

[@oafsonbikes]

Wishing you a wonderful, prosperous, healthy and adventurous New Year. Looking forward to each new video!

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you so much! And we wish you all the best for 2024! 😁

[@benniegerber9526]

What an awesome ride, beautiful area you did on this ride.

[@thetravelingtortoises]

It is truely an amazing place to go and ride! Just pick a road and its going to be great! We did not do any research on where to ride. Just made a route and off we went. Just an awesome country to ride in!

[@xplrsouthafrica]

Lekker video! I drove through that area for work and in a car but I couldn't stop looking around at all the amazing adventure riding that could be done. Hopefully I'll return on the bike one day!

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you! And if you get the chance someday, its definitely worth it :)

[@darrylcoomer1539]

Amazing roads!

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Yes it was!

[@garthwaters5756]

just love you guys , SA is awesome hope i get there one day

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you for your comment! South Africa (and Eswatini) are awesome indeed, I hope you get the chance to visit someday

[@stoicman31]

Happy new year! Ride safe!

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you! And same to you!

[@andilekhumalo5265]

Expect a lot of waving and hand shakes from ESwatini people,that's how we appreciate someone😊😊.Especially the handshakes,we do it more than once.I hope you enjoying your stay,there is more to see in this small Kingdom

[@thetravelingtortoises]

The people from Eswatini is just awesome! We love the warm welcoming and friendly vibe! Yes our arms got a workout waving at everybody but we loved it! Beautiful country and even more beautiful people!

[@andilekhumalo5265]

❤​@@thetravelingtortoises

[@NoelMkandla-n9r]

Thanks a lot guys, keep it coming. You are amazing. What is your average speed when riding. I have a 200cc I'm wondering if it can do it?

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you for your comment and enthusiasm! I am sure you can do it, we travel slow (Tortoises...). I guess our average speed is about 40 on the dirt and here in eswatini its about 80 on the tar, we look around a lot!

[@NoelMkandla-n9r]

@@thetravelingtortoises Highly appreciated feedback. Thanks a lot for keeping us entertained and learning.

[@henryvaneyk3769]

Morning. Please give us an idea of the navigation system, gadgets and apps you are using.

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Hi! Thank you for your request. We have writen blogs on our website about “camping Gear” and “rider gear” but will work on one about nav gear. But just a quick one, we basically use a Garmin Montana 700i as our GPS and apps are Garmin Explore, Tracks4Africa. We also carry paper maps with us as there are nothing beter to see the bigger picture. But there are many good apps out there. I just like the Garmin Explore the most. 🙂 we will work on a blog post about nav gear. Is there any other gear or gadgets you would like the hear about?

[@henryvaneyk3769]

@@thetravelingtortoisesI know about T4A. I was thinking about the possibilities of an Android based system like the Carpe Iter, mostly because of the handlebar controllers that it supports so that one do not need to use the touch screen. But also keeping gadgets like those from Garmin in mind. So I am doing a bit of research to see what the professional travellers (like you 2) are using, especially since you like to go off the beaten track. I also would like to see the process that you follow when planning a trip, like fuelling stops and where to get food and supplies on the planned road, and the camping spots. I know T4A do cover most of those, especially their paper maps, which are excellent.

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Thank you for the feedback. We will work on a proper write up on these questions, please just be patient as doing this on the road takes some time. Haha! We have no experience with the android systems, we have seen the carpe but it lacked some futures we wanted. The reason we use Garmin gps is the one we have also has inReach so we can stay connected when we don’t have signal and we have somebody tracking us if stuff goes wrong. This is one reason, the other is Werner has used Garmin devices all over the world for many years and it has never failed him. Creating routes is easy and maps “on the app” is offline so no need for signal. We like using gear that was designed and build for a purpose and not adapted. But saying this there are many amazing apps and devices out there, you just need to find what works for you. The touch screen on the Garmin works with gloves so that is not an issue. But hey there are some serious big adventure riders out there that uses other devices! 😁 We just like what we use and it works. Also T4A works on the Garmin and the offline maps “on phone app from t4a” is great. But as you said the paper maps is amazing so we combine all of these tools to create our route. PS - We don’t plan to much ahead 😂 every day it changes and to us that is part of the freedom. Not to be bound by a plan but to just go where we want. We will work on a blog where we can talk more in details about all you asked for. Once again thank you for your question it is great to know what you want to hear and maybe we can give some advice from the little we know. 👍

[@maksumzaifudin5859]

Why do you bring your own motorbikes?

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Well we travel and live full time on our bikes. And it is way cheaper to just take your own bike. Do you fly into South Africa and rent a car? Or just drive your own car? 🤷‍♂️ it is so cheap to cross the SA / Eswatini border it really is worth it. We payed R100 per bike (Road TAX) and that was it. 🙂 I also did not know we can rent bikes in Eswatini. What bikes can be rented there? Do you know? Would be intresting to hear if that is possible. Happy new year and thank you for your comment and watching the videos! 😁👍

[@maksumzaifudin5859]

@@thetravelingtortoises What I mean is, usually when a couple goes on tour they only bring one motorbike. So you and your partner don't need to be alone.

[@thetravelingtortoises]

Oo we see, well this is very simple. It is much more fun to ride two motorcycles. 😁 also much better in spreading the weight (luggage and people) over two bikes. This makes riding offroad more fun and easier with two bikes. Also and this is just personal but Cissy hates riding on the back of a bike. So two bikes = double the fun and just freedom. Makes both of us feel more free. Cissy also did not want to be a passanger but be on her own adventure. We sure there are people who loves riding on the back of a bike but both of us hate it. This way we both have an adventure together but also our own adventure. Hope that makes sense. 😁👍

[@brucekendall52]

40 deg is not fun to ride in.Thanks.

[@thetravelingtortoises]

It was just a little bit warm! 🤣 Werner was very close to filling hes jacket with ice! But it was still a great day!