Motorbikes on Rockeries Pass

Hi Chris

Thanx for the response and the attached doc.
It would appear that they are quite at home at the MCC, and know the members, see the obit for Agrippa on the 13 July on their Facebook page.
Quite a crowd


I am an avid down-hill and trails mountain biker, so fully understand pitting oneself against nature in a spectacular environment and with a good, comfortable place to stay nearby at the end of the day to shoot the breeze with your mates! I mention this purely because I enjoy the outdoors not only for my hiking, but also for my love of mountain biking, and realise that there are other users wanting to get a piece of the Berg pie, not all of which would be acceptable in a wilderness area.

There are going to be an increasing number of user groups that are going to want to make use of these resources. If what Chris says is the case, and this form of recreation is at odds with the community and the CCA, and they don't want it there, then fine and well, it should be banned, and the ban enforced. They will have to put up signage requesting that the bikers don't go onto the CCA controlled land and they may have to use the police to ensure that this takes place. Or they just enforce it themselves.

Apart from the added damage to the paths, (cows can do damage as well) there is the risk of bikes hitting animals, or spooking them into injuring themselves and worse, injuring the people that live there.

If however, the income from the said user group is to much like a good thing, and knowing the above mentioned risks and impact, are still happy for it to take place, then there needs to be some procedures in place to control it so that it does not take place in sensitive areas, and away from the recognised and already established hiking areas. The areas around the established roads and homesteads are already disturbed (risk to animals and life though) and this activity could be kept away from the areas that hikers would frequent. The other reason is the noise factor. If the activity is kept to certain weekends of the year, then hikers could always avoid this area during those periods. However if there is money to be made by individuals organising monthly trips, then this might start to take place more regularly.

From GE, this looks like the spot where the image was taken. Is this too close to the trail area, to be acceptable? (it is about 4.5km away from Mlambu's Kraal) By the way, that is a motorcycle in the mid distance, not a cow!



The red dot is new the homestead you can see in the image.



Chris's suggestion of contacting the bike community is a good one, perhaps contacting the Roof of Africa Management might be good idea as well. I had a quick read through the report and the letter to the ITB was of interest. There were a number of bullet points that caught my eye.

Point 2 mentioned rehabilitation of 'gully erosion' - I would think that numerous enduro bikes, if it becomes the norm, ripping up the trails is going to hamper these efforts.
Point 3 mentioned 'adventure tourism' - one needs to be careful how extensive the understanding of the word adventure is and the user groups that might participate.
Point 6 'maintenance of wilderness character' - this would likely outline the types of user groups that would be acceptable.

I hope that there is some constructive discussion around this and that people in the right places get involved.

Its important to note again that what kick started this thread was a report of motorbikes going to the *top* of Rockeries Pass.

I'm having a really hard time believing that those who rode the bikes up that pass could, in any way, have thought it was acceptable to do so. A really hard time. They chose Mnweni because they could get away with it there. It is that simple.

The problem with bikes in the Mnweni area is that the roads become trails and then paths and then 'ways-to-go' without any clear-cut distinction. This is going to be exploited to the hilt by the bike community. And already has been. And will continue to be exploited.

But there remains a real danger that some drug smuggler from Lesotho who encounters the bikes in the high Berg might not have had the 4G link to Facebook group that morning and will genuinely confuse the bikes with some authority who is there to pick them, the smugglers, out. Its best for all concerned that this doesn't happen. One way to ensure this is indeed the case is for the bikes to stay away. If they don't, it could well end badly. Hikers have been shot at before.

This comes from someone who has owned enduro bikes for a few decades and loves riding off the black top. But has the sense and respect not to ride where these guys went.

I totally understand your last paragraph tiska, in my younger days I rode and raced off road, although I haven't had a bike for more than 10 years now.

I would really love to take a bike to the top of the berg up Rockeries (or any other suitable) Pass, but have the understanding that it is not acceptable to do this, and respect my beloved berg too much.

I remember reading about this but could not find the previous post. Please move to appropriate topic if necessary. I found this on Facebook, seems to be able to attract many.
www.facebook.com/drakensbergendurotours/photos/a.729037353825247.1073741829.707155856013397/1433254553403520/?type=3

A group of us hiked Mbundini Pass and Fangs Pass on the Freedom Day April long weekend. When returning on the Lower Path of the Dassie above Mlambu's Kraal, there was a single motorbike wheel tracks (and stand/chain guide/footpeg scrape marks) along the path. Back at MCC I discussed this with Leonard (who now seems to run MCC) and he assured me that they discourage motorcyclists from using the area, but that there are rogues who just go into the berg anyway.

Looks like this problem hasn’t gone away.