The final few hundred kilometers home

Lesotho: Starting another day in Africa in Africa with a coffee in the hand.

Last moning in the mountains of Lesotho. It was going to be another brilliant sunny day.

I don't think these guys always have an easy life. It happens year after year that they get snowed in, and then the food must last until the next truck can come through.

One rides down a steep descent to cross the huge man-made lake over the bridge in the distance. It is about 40 km from the dam wall.

There are many rocks like this one that left a hole in the tar road. Should a stone hit a car what would insurance companies say? An act of God and then refuse to pay out?

During heavy rains I would think twice before riding there. Falling stones from heaven ...

Changing down in gears and starting the descent. One cannot do that on brakes alone.

I wonder how long will this road last before the elements take it back and make it a dangerous gravel track over the mountains.

When the KLR reached 77 777,7 km it was on the Makgadigadi Pans in Botswana, surrounded by a white 360 degree emptiness.

At this point the KLR reached the 88 888,8 km mark.

The final dress rehearsal of about 4 300 km is over and I am satisfied with the KLR and how it carried its heavy load over mountains and through rivers. The only problem remains the laptop with its short battery life. I consider reverting to my old much slower netbook that I used on the previous trips.

There is now only one long ride for the KLR before it goes to Cytech for the final preparations, and that is end of April to the Gariep Dam for the national KLR bash.

I look forward to end of May, the start of the long ride into the unknown!