By Jim Downey
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In April of 1998 I attended a conference in Cape Town South Africa. Several of us had booked an extra day for sight seeing after the conference but when we checked out the car rentals we found that we could rent a Harley for just about the same price. Cape Town is at the southern tip of Africa nestled in dramatic mountains and bordered on two sides by spectacular oceans. The Cape Town weather is sub- tropical. In April, their Fall, we were met by temperatures in the 70s with mostly sunny skies.
Malcolm Walker getting ready to rock and roll on the hogs!
One of the best things about Cape Town is the extremely low prices. Due to an economic slump the rand is at an all-time low to the dollar which makes South Africa a tourist bonanza for Americans. The only problem is that cheap flights to Cape Town from the US seem to be nonexistent. One US dollar bought five rand when I was there which made everything seem to be about 1/2 to 1/3 as expensive in the US. Cape Town is a first- world modern city with a distinctively American feel. It was as if I were spending a week in San Diego rather than darkest Africa. You do not need malaria pills and you can drink the water. Also, unlike Johannesburg, the crime rate is low and the people are relaxed and friendly.
Malcolm Walker from London England, Roberto Bolli from Louisville Kentucky, and myself were riders and decided to do the two-wheel thing. We rented the bikes from Freedom Africa Tours (sorry they are no longer in business). Their representative Anton picked us up at our hotel on Cape Town’s new waterfront district which was a short drive to the shop. They had 8 or 9 late model Harleys all in pretty good nick. One price, take your pick. We were invited to take our selection around the block to see if it suited us. Shortly we had two snow white Road Kings and one jet black Wide Glide. Mine was an ex-cop bike which still said "Police" on the bags. I asked Anton if we should cover that but he said no, the local gendarmes said "not to worry, it stands for a rock group, doesn’t it?". The first obstacle to overcome was that the South Africans like to drive on the left side. As a precaution we put Malcolm (from England and thus a natural lefty) on the point. Unfortunately, we found out later that Malcolm had less than a robust sense of direction. We headed off on a broad parkway which skirted the west side of Table Mountain, a magnificent plateau that abruptly rises 1500 feet from the center of Cape Town and we were soon winding along the crest of a high mountain with breathtaking views around every turn. Our destination was Cape Point which is at the end of a narrow peninsula extending 30 miles south of Cape Town. The map we were given was next to useless and our verbal instructions were simply "turn right at the second robot" (traffic light I finally decided) to get to Simonstown, our first stop. After turning right at the second robot we found ourselves in a dead end street in a housing estate. We backtracked and took the first light and in about 15 minutes were greeted with what I immediately recognized as the Atlantic Ocean. I flashed every one to a halt and explained that we wanted the Indian Ocean not the Atlantic. We backtracked once again and went through the robot the other way and soon were descending along a steep grade into Simonstown.
The east side of the peninsula is referred to as the Indian Ocean side by the locals although technically the Indian Ocean begins a hundred miles west of here at Cape Agulhas. Simonstown is one of South Africa’s naval ports with some big guns poised along the white sand beach and a gray frigate or two tied to the quay. We had a sandwich in Simonstown at a trendy dock-side cafe. We then mounted up and headed south along the coast to Boulder’s beach. Boulder’s beach is the home of a jackass penguin rookery and there were penguins everywhere. It is also a good swimming beach and bathers were swimming amongst the cavorting penguins. The sign says that this is the northern-most penguin colony in the world. I didn’t have the heart to tell them about the Galapagos Island penguins who thrive on the equator in our hemisphere. We headed south from Boulders to Cape Point along the coast. I waved at a policewoman astride a Kawasaki but she did not return the salute.
Several days earlier I had passed this route with a friend in a car and we were stopped by a band of wild baboons but none were in evidence today. We wheeled into Cape Point game preserve and proceeded the last 5 miles to the Cape. Cape Point is a razor sharp projection jutting into the ocean with steep cliffs on either side. From the summit several hundred feet above the water a commanding view of the South Atlantic unfurls before you and you think that you can almost see Antarctica only a few thousand miles to the south. Several hundred yards to the west of Cape Point is the actual Cape of Good Hope, a rather unassuming spit of rock compared to the awesome majesty of Cape Point.
We met up with several colleagues from the conference at Cape Point. Vincent Richard from France had hired a bicycle and was getting some good exercise (no he didn’t cycle the 30 miles from Cape Town - a van dropped him and the cycle off at the entrance to the preserve). Cape Point preserve is a vast expanse of what looks like low but thick gorse bush (no trees) with some antelope and wildebeest grazing here and there. Unfortunately, all the lions and elephants live several hundred miles to the north. This is Africa, however, and this snapshot of a colleague, reminded us that this was definitely not San Diego.
Whenever we stopped we would become the object of much attention. I don’t think we could have drawn a bigger crowd if we pulled up on a giraffe. People wanted know where we were from and where we were going. Husbands all had that far away look in their eyes they always get in the presence of a sharp bike and even the wives seemed interested. Kids of course just wanted to sit on a Harley. Roberto tried to convince one tourist that we had ridden down from Cairo Egypt. I think the “Cape Town Rentals” boldly stenciled on the rear mudguard gave him away though.
We bid farewell to Cape Point and headed north along the Atlantic side. Here the roadway climbs 500 feet above the Atlantic on a narrow two-lane road carved into the side of a steep mountain called Chapman’s peak. (In 1999 a forrest fire defoliated the mountain and the ensuing erosion caused landslides that closed the road until 2003 when it reopened as a toll road). Only a 2 foot-high stone every 6 feet reminded us not to venture over the edge. I had ridden the Wide Glide from Cape Point and was enjoying the more than ample power this mount provided. Ahead I saw a quarter mile of gentle S’s with no oncoming traffic so I opened it up and shot by Malcolm on the lumbering road King and straightened out the S’s. At about 80 I decided that was enough considering the unforgiving nature of the sheer cliff to my immediate left and I slowed back down to a sensible 45mph before entering a blind turn to the right. When Roberto and Malcolm caught up we stopped at an overlook to take in the view. What a Thrill. After descending from Chapman’s peak we made our way through Hout Bay, a great place to view seals . We motored up through trendy Camp’s Bay with its wide white beaches and luxurious homes and we joined the rush hour traffic on the freeway back to Cape Town. In one 15 min stop and start traffic jam we painfully learned just how stiff the clutch pull is on a big twin. We turned the Bikes in at 6:00 and spent the rest of the night trying to get the grins off our face. How much did all this cost? Just under $150 each!
For more travel adventure see the Rodos Adventure
