November 2008
Garden Route Tour
The tour was absolutely awesome. There was a great mix of scenery and conditions and the accommodation was top notch. Add to this a great bunch of fellow riders and guides and the overall experience was well above expectations. I would thoroughly recommend it.
Adrian
Auckland, New Zealand
September 2011
Selfguided Tour South Africa und Namibia
Hallo Jurgen,
auch unsere zweite Reise mit Karoo-Biking, diesmal nicht mit dem Motorrad, sondern mit einem Allrad Pick-Up, war wieder ein voller Erfolg. Die Tour durch den Südwestteil von Südafrika und die Südhälfte von Namibia bot in den vier Wochen ein überaus breites Spektrum von Naturerlebnissen, historischen Plätzen, interessanten Begegnungen, außergewöhnlichen Unterkünften und kulinarischen Erlebnissen. Dank der sorgfältigen Reiseplanung durch Karoo-Biking hatten wir Vier auch ohne Führer keinerlei Probleme, uns selbst auf den teilweise entlegenen Pisten unserer 7.500-km-Rundreise zurechtzufinden. Egal, ob auf dem Bike oder im Geländewagen, Karoo Biking bietet außergewöhnliche Reiseerlebnisse.
Beste Grüße aus Bonn.
Achim
Bonn, Deutschland
September 2008
Selfguided Tour Cape Town and Garden Route
The route planning, choice of accommodation and pre-ride briefing by Karoo Biking (Juergen) was very professional.
We were taken care of from the moment we arrived at Cape Town Airport until we left South Africa. The route was scenic and interesting, the landscape varied and perfect for riding the BMW’s through a range of terrains.
While most riders only enjoy the endless sunshine of South Africa while visiting this exotic location, we rode into what was termed ‚the worst storm front in 7 years with a cold snap from the Arctic‘. The week before our arrival and after we departed the temperatures were perfect for riding a bike around the southern tip of the continent. We rode in rain, snow, hail and ice covered streets – definitely an experience despite the cold toes and just another reason to return and have a look at the country again in the future – with hopefully much more pleasant temperatures!
Juergen, thank you for organizing a memorable trip.
Chris Franzen & Josef Miklavc
Dubai, UAE
October 2010
Cape Town – Windhoek Tour
Dear friends bikers, do you dream of South Africa and Namibia ? Gravels roads, desert, wild animals and so many other wonderful sites are waiting for you.
Thanks to Karoo biking, which provided us with a true and efficient organisation, turning our dream into reality, during the November Tour.
Don’t waste time to prepare the tour, Jurgen knows quite well all the best places, which you will enjoy to visit. The level of accomodations fulfil pretty well the needs of the most demanding bikers. It was really top of the class. Adding here and there some surprises secretely and well prepared by Jurgen. We brought back eternel memories from a group of friends, sharing the pleasure of african sun set aperitives, sun rise breakfast, and more surprising an unbelievable diner in the desert, under a wonderful starry sky.
The strong professionalism of Jurgen and the tool box of Werner made us very confident in the Tour. (Nevertheless Jurgen could not achieved the conversion of the french group to the Shyraz red wine !! But with particular recovery efforts in the very last days)
Thanks a lot to them both for the friendly spirit they have showed all along the Tour.
For the future french candidates of this tour, I wanted to provide them with the here after comments from my french friends bikers, who took part of this wonderful adventure.
Martine & Alain
Toulouse, France
October 2010
Cape Town – Windhoek Tour
nos rêves d’Afrique ont été comblés. Des paysages grandioses, des pistes à la portée de tous. Des conditions d’hébergement remarquables et toujours de grande qualité. Et enfin une surprise inoubliable d’un diner étoilé qui a marqué notre mémoire. Que du bonheur …
Irene et Daniel
Toulouse, France
June 2008
Garden Route Tour
The Garden Route Tour was the 4th organized tour my wife and I have been on and the 1st with your company.This was the best in a number of ways, the organization was the best I have seen so far – unique and 1st class accommodations and pretty much one gourmet meal after another.The Route was a terrific balance of tar and gravel roads with spectacular winding mountain passes, coastal 2 lane roads and pastoral rural towns which seemed to be from time gone by. This tour is a great introduction to South Africa as so many climate zones are visited and the roads are in such good condition. We were pleased that a low GS650 was available for my wife and my GS800 performed flawlessly, either of these bikes are excellent for this tour. This was the 1st time my wife and I rode on gravel and we found that we were up to the task, any competent road rider will be able to handle the gravel portions of this tour, and of course now we have enough experience for Namibia!
Thanks for a great trip.
Carl & Dorothy Clarkstone
Port Alberni, BC Canada
September 2007
Cape Town – Windhoek Tour
Dies war bereits meine dritte organisierte Tour mit Karoo-Biking und ich würde gerne sagen, dass es wieder getoppt worden ist, aber inzwischen wurde ein so hoher Grad an perfekter Organisation, an die Teilnehmer angepasster Routenführung und an ausgewählten Unterkünften erreicht, dass es schier unmöglich erscheint. Und doch gibt es auf jeder Reise immer wieder Höhepunkte die überraschen, sei es landschaftlich, wo Jurgens Anteil daran ist, dass er die Route dahin führt, sei es eine besondere Art der Unterkunft oder aber auch ein besonderes kulinarisches Erlebnis. Zu diesem gesamten Wohlfühlpaket tragen natürlich auch die einzelnen Teilnehmer bei, die sich alle vorher nicht kannten und die ich im nachhinein als eine tolle Truppe bezeichnen muss.
Sollte bei dem einen oder anderen die Meinung aufkommen, dass diese Reisen nicht billig sind, so kann ich an dieser Stelle nur sagen, den Preis wert sind sie allemal. Für meinen Teil bin ich bereits wieder am planen und Stellen, die ich noch nicht gesehen habe gibt es noch viele. Ja denn Jurgen, ein verwöhnter Kunde droht mit Auftrag und wie ich Dich kenne wirst Du diese Herausforderung gerne annehmen und auch meistern.
Sind nächstes Jahr sicher wieder da. Wünsche Dir und Deinem Team einen schönen Sommer und eine gute Saison.
Bis dahin
Jörg
The video clip below was recorded and edited by Jörg, in the course of his motorcycle tour in September 2007. Many thanks for giving Karoo Biking the permission to show this clip on our website. JM
February 2007
Garden Route Tour
Jurgen,
After being back in the UK for over a week now, we still can’t get the sights, sounds and smells of South Africa out of our heads. The tour exceeded our expectations in all ways. The accommodation and restaurants were obviously carefully chosen and always of high standard. The selection of locally produced food and wines each evening were something to look forward to at the end of a day’s riding. And the riding was fantastic with a good mix of tarmac and gravel roads. The R1200GS performed wonderfully two-up and on the day when Donna opted to ride in the support vehicle into Die Hel the bike brought back memories of off road riding from earlier years. Speaking of the support vehicle, our driver Brendon was great and provided a wealth of knowledge on the local flora and fauna especially on Donna’s trip into Die Hel. We had a great group of people on the tour from a variety of countries but what really made the tour special was our guide, Celia. She always had a great attitude and her local knowledge of the Klein Karoo gave us a special insight into the region. She seemed to be related to half the people in the region and knew the rest. Thanks for the great holiday and hope to see you again.
Cheers,
Gordon and Donna Miller
Lancashire, England
November 2006
Cape Town – Johannesburg Tour
‚Karoo Biking certainly know how to organise and deliver a biking holiday experience of a lifetime in all aspects! We are looking forward to many more trips with Karoo. In fact we are already planning our next!
….’The itinerary was superb and varied – a good balance of travel, sight seeing, local culture, history and wild life, catering for my groups personal needs and tastes with impeccable attention to detail.
Our route took us along quality, open, deserted roads and gravel tracks through gorges and mountain passes. We therefore had plenty of opportunity to enjoy adventurous biking with stunning views along our way.
All accommodation was individual, tasteful, comfortable and hospitable, and all in beautiful settings – villages, towns, mountain game reserves and even alongside a traditional Zulu camp.
Our meals, both in the guest houses and local restaurants selected for us, were of high quality only surpassed by the excellent SA wines we sampled along our journey and specially chosen by our personal tour guide who possessed detailed knowledge of the country’s wine industry.
This brings me onto our tour guide. Celia made our holiday, she was and is fantastic and if your party size affords it I would strongly recommend requesting a guide!‘
Katrina
Shropshire, England
The video clip below was recorded and edited by Bill, Katrina’s husband, in the course of their motorcycle tour in November 2006. Many thanks for giving Karoo Biking the permission to show this clip on our website. JM
September 2006
Selfguided Tour Karoo, West Coast and Cedarberg
What can we say….. our friends & family called us crazy: „You want to spend your honeymoon on motorcycles rather than on a sandy beach????“
Guess what, it was the best decision we could’ve made! Jürgen’s route planning for the two of us was simply ingenious, the choice of accommodation (we MUST mention Charles and his lovely house in Prince Albert!!!), the suggestions for scenic routes and ways to avoid the main roads – simply fantastic. Add to that the hospitality we found everywhere and the friendliness towards bikers (which you don’t always get in Europe), amazing! Finally of course the story about Dave losing his wedding ring because he was being sick with a stomach bug and lost so much weight that the ring dropped off his finger and – because it was found by a room maid and returned to the landlord – finally made its long way to be reunited with the panicking groom in Cape Town before we flew back to old Blighty. The bikes (F650 Dakars) were our first choice and we loved riding them. So much that we’re now considering swapping our Japanese bikes at home for them (once the wallets permit us to do so).
We’ve definitely lost our hearts to South Africa, and we’ll be back (once we get a chance in our jobs to get more than 2 weeks off!!)
Anyone not sure whether to go for this kind of trip – for whatever reason – don’t hesitate, it is actually feasible even for those who are not sooooo experienced riding on unsurfaced roads. Just take it easy and take in the beautiful countryside. (and don’t forget the sundowner drinks and to imbibe on the lovely SA wines….)
Dave & Sabine
England