The possible future of Rwandan MTB tours
Almost every person I talked to wants to come to Rwanda to see what I described and what I am so enthusiastic about.
- coach Jock
The invitation came after the finish of the 94.7 race in South Africa, when Nic White (Africa Tour Champion 2008) invited me on a MTB tour in Lesotho. He does a yearly 4-day MTB tour with a group of riders and he asked me if I wanted to join them. Nic and I had already been talking about bringing his group to lead mountain bike tours in Rwanda in his off season. This would give me a chance to meet the people that would want to come to “tour” Rwanda on a mountain bike and to see how he organizes his trip. There was also the draw of seeing a country on a mountain bike that I had only brushed through before. My answer was an instant YES… so the plan was set.
We left Johannesburg at 04:30 on Thursday morning and it was a 635 km drive to the Sani Pass Hotel where we started our ride. The spectacular Drackensburg mountains surrounded us and though our first ride was only 30 km it was all uphill bringing us to the 2875m Sani pass! For some it turned into “inSani” pass! With each pedal stroke I was so glad that I had opted to come on this trip, there were 30 riders and 10 support staff with three vehicles and trailers, which is probably the biggest group you would want to handle for a trip like this. The route just kept climbing, getting steeper as we went and disappeared into the fog. It started to precipitate but not enough to make it too cold or miserable. When we reached the top it was very similar to some of the Swiss passes I have been on, just a bit more rustic and poor. Our lodging (the Sani Top Chalet) boasted that it was the highest pub in Africa and was like a Swiss Chalet. The hotel was generator driven, which went out early in the night, so it was an evening of candle light. Our group of 40 filled the whole place, both food and service was good so the first night experience was a great one.
We woke up to a super day and the ride brought us from the Sani Top Chalet to a small village called Mokhotlong 65 km away. The only flat portion of the ride was the first 10 km, then the ride climbed to 3250 m (almost 10,000ft!). Spectacular views, climbs and descents filled the ride. We had a tea stop and a lunch stop before arriving at our destination. I couldn’t help but compare this small country of Lesotho (slightly bigger than Rwanda) to Rwanda. There were very few people, the cultivation was minimal and the stark poverty apparent. There were not the teems of screaming kids lining the road, the people would not scream “muzugu” as we rode by, and though the hillsides were green, they could not compare to the lush and varied countryside of Rwanda. Almost every person I talked to wants to come to Rwanda to see what I described and what I am so enthusiastic about. Once people start to discover what a mountain bike jewel Rwanda is, we will have the place teeming with tours and bike enthusiasts. Our accommodations, the Sanqu (perhaps a variation of thank you) Hotel had new units that had just been built and was very nice and the food not bad. It poured rain from the time we arrived until nighttime, I wondered what the 100km ride tomorrow would be like in the rain.
Day three started overcast but quickly became our sunniest day. No more dirt roads and our ride started with some serious climbs bringing us up to 3200m (over 10,000ft) pretty quickly where we spent most of the day. We must have passed 20 vehicles the whole 5+hours we were on our bikes. The villages were small and I could not imagine how the people here could survive with what they had. The countryside was vast and beautiful, panoramas stunning, but the absence of people made me realize the contrast there was with Rwanda. We went by the only diamond mine in Lesotho, a small village nearby did not give the impression that there was much activity there. We kept going up passes, down them and back up new ones, we had two stops: one for tea by the river and the other for lunch on top of the highest pass. After the last summit we descended 10 km down to our next stop, the Ox Bow Lodge, which just appeared out of nowhere, along the river and at the base of a small waterfall. The accommodations were great and soon we were in the middle of a mountain thunder storm which made it all the more spectacular. Today was definitely a “healthy” ride for 100 km, high altitude and lots of climbing. As I write this the incredible hailstorm is pelting our little huts by the river, I cannot hear anything other than the roar of hail on our tin roofs, an appropriate culmination for a day like today in this remote and beautiful place.
We all were very relieved when we woke up to an incredible day, it had poured rain most of the night. Piles of hail were around the doors, the river had visibly and audibly risen but the sun was shining and the temperature was just perfect. Our day was only 65km, but started climbing up into the clouds immediately. The Moteng pass was the most spectacular pass of the whole route. The descent into the valley was just unbelievable. The waterfalls and unforgettable panoramas filled our eyes as we descended. Soon we were at the Lesotho-SA border at Caledonsport, our trip was finished and we had one last meal before heading to Johannesburg where I would head back to Rwanda that evening.
Many of the riders on this trip will be coming to Rwanda for a bike tour this coming year. Nic would like to get regular trips organized for MTB touring in Rwanda. The “Drifters” vehicle tours and rentals will be sending a vehicle up to Uganda in January. They would love to be able to help us out in Rwanda in supporting our MTB tours. Great contacts were made and it provided a seed for future MTB tours in Rwanda. I look forward to seeing these people again.
