Heritage Ride – iSimangaliso MTB 4-Day
Text: Fiona McIntosh. Article from the May 2014 issue of Ride Magazine.
Every year sees new events jostling for space on the MTB calendar. The most exciting new kid on the block in 2013 was the iSimangaliso MTB 4-Day, the brainchild of two obsessive mountain bikers, Shane Webster, organiser of the Big 5 MTB Series, and Andrew Zaloumis, the CEO of iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
“I’m embarrassed to admit that before Andrew pulled out a map, I had no idea that the iSimangaliso Wetland Park was such an extensive, diverse area,” acknowledged Shane Webster. “And I’m not alone in this. It’s sad. The park (South Africa’s first UNESCO World Heritage site) boasts eight ecosystems, and with sharks and whales in the marine section, the Big Seven. Yet here we are in Zululand, with this absolute treasure on our doorstep, wanting to travel off to other parts of the country to ride.”
The duo developed a route that follows ancient migration paths, many of them through areas that are not normally open to the public, from the Lebombo mountains through uMkhuze, Phinda Private Game Reserve, False Bay, Western Shores and all the way to the Indian Ocean. In August 2013, 120 riders lined up for the start of the first iSimangaliso MTB 4-Day (powered by Nashua). From the start at the overnight camp at Mantuma in uMkhuze, it was a nice, easy 12km warm-up, before riders left the park and headed into the Lebombo mountains. Soon it was time to engage granny gear for a mother of a climb on a rocky track – 450m of vertical gain in a few short kilometres.
By the time they reached the first water point at the top of the Fangs, most participants were questioning whether they were up to this ride. But Webster had been clear in the briefing: the first 20km of the day are the most challenging of the whole event – in fact, he maintains they’re probably the toughest hills encountered in any MTB event – but after that, it’s really plain sailing. Get over the Fangs of the Lebombos and it’s four days of incredibly diverse scenery and fairly easy riding.
So, after enjoying the views, it was back in the saddle, largely along narrow paths leading on and off the district road, before the route wound down to Bheki uMkhonto School, through a gauntlet of hundreds of singing schoolchildren who’d come out in support.
Then came the reward for all the hard grind – a glorious stretch of twisting singletrack down to the valley and onto a well-worn footpath used by the local farmers back into the reserve. The going was easy, but cycling through Big Five country means you can’t relax.
This is where the iSimangaliso MTB 4-Day differs from any other event: there are no guides, but rather riding in pairs, watching out not only for surprised game rushing into your path, but also, as one or two cyclists discovered to their dismay, cunningly camouflaged burrows newly dug into the singletrack.
Day 2 was the biggie, 92km with two moderate climbs, but most riders rated it as the best riding they’d ever done in their lives. From Mantuma Camp, the first 20km was a gradual downhill on tourist-grade jeep track, a dawn-break pleasure cruise with the usual morning game sightings. Soon after crossing the uMsinduzi River, the route followed a well-worn rhino path past a waterhole and up onto the uMkhumbi Plateau, where the spectacular views over the Phinda area and sweeping savannah grasslands down to the coast were in sharp contrast to the forested areas of the first part of the day.
There was time to relax and enjoy the vistas while crossing the plateau, before a technical section down the fence-line between uMkhuze and &Beyond’s Phinda Game Reserve and through the park’s gates.
Cycling along the Munyawane river valley through this world-renowned Big Five reserve was a rare treat. Eagle-eyed rangers had checked the route to ensure that there were no lurking lions in the vicinity, but it was still an adrenalin rush of note. The gentle undulating terrain ended with a short, steep hill up to the water point, where Phinda went all out to ensure the cyclists enjoyed their famous hospitality, then it was downhill onto the Mzinene River floodplain.
“Here we developed two routes; one wet and one dry,” explained Webster. “When it’s wet, the mud on the floodplain becomes sticky black bog that’s impossible to ride, but when it’s dry, the cattle and game paths are flat, hard and fast.” Fortunately, the rain held off on the inaugural event, allowing riders to follow the dry route through the forest that lines the floodplain – wonderful riding in and out of fever tree groves and reed beds, with spectacular sightings of pink flamingos as the river widened into False Bay.
The next section, another stunner, initially followed the wide, grassy Nkwazi and Mphophomeni hiking trails through the False Bay forests down to Lake St Lucia. After another easy section along the lake shore, it was back through the gate and onto the grounds of Hluhluwe River Lodge, where owner Gavin Dickson had cut some very interesting single-track through the forest and the lounge – yes, the lounge – of his lodge, out onto the patio where he and his chefs were waiting to serve tea and chocolate cake.
From there it was a very sharp descent to a rickety old footbridge across the Hluhluwe River, which the wise walked across, and then onto footpaths before recrossing the river on an old, disused district road bridge, through a management gate, into the Bonamanzi reserve and the final legbreaker to the race village.
The following morning, it was downhill to the Nyalazi floodplain for an amazing 20km of flat singletrack – one of the highlights of the tour – and into the newly opened Western Shores of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. “Little Sani”, the 8km section through gum trees that formed part of the original plantation, is the only section that resembles other races; then it’s a wonderful section of open grasslands towards the Kwelezintombi Pan.
Arriving at the main water point of the day, most riders took time out to explore the uMthoma aerial boardwalk, high up in the trees overlooking the Eastern Shores, before a glorious spin through open grasslands and pans inhabited by elephant, rhino, hippo, buffalo, giraffe, zebra and numerous antelope species, and backdropped by forested coastal dunes. A short section of urban riding through the town of St Lucia, the gateway to iSimangaliso, and it was onto the iGwalagwala forest hiking trails to the finish at the Skiboat Club in St Lucia and a couple of cold ones around the pool.
On the final day, riders negotiated the boardwalk along the edge of the estuary then took to the hiking trails and tracks of the iPhiva pan area – open to cyclists and hikers – before crossing the grid into the big-game section of the Eastern Shores.
It was easy cruising on management tracks and tourist dirt roads past natural pans, until the final challenge of the ride, the 100m climb up to the final water point at Mission Rocks, a magical viewpoint with the Indian Ocean on one side and views across Lake St Lucia on the other. From there it was a fast track back to the finish, but rhino on the road slowed the progress of several riders – and left them with lasting memories.
The event is timed to accommodate racing snakes, but as many a rider observed, there’s no other event like it anywhere on the planet. So don’t race it. Enjoy the ride.
Up to it?
The 260km four-day route involves some steep climbs and long days in the saddle, so put in the training time or suffer. The technical sections are short enough to be walked and there is back-up support if you need a lift. It’s a good introduction to multi-day events. The next iSimangaliso MTB 4-Day takes place from 21 to 24 August 2014. Enter online.
More info on the town of Mkuze | More info on the Elephant Coast area |
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