New mountain bike trail absolutely awesome

Date: 31 August 2017 By: Anton van Zyl

“Absolutely awesome.”

This was the opinion of the group of cyclists who tested the new mountain bike route at Leshiba Wilderness on Sunday afternoon. The 12.1 kilometre route on top of the Soutpansberg was recently finished and opened to guests.

Leshiba Wilderness is situated some 45 kilometres west of Louis Trichardt, out on the R522 road to Vivo. The reserve has one of the country’s most unique environments with a high biodiversity of flora and fauna, many of which are rare and endangered. The 2 500 hectare game reserve is home to a large variety of animals such as leopard, giraffe and most species of antelope. Leshiba’s birdlife includes nesting pairs of Black and Crowned Eagles, Bat Hawks, the rare Narina Trogon and Knysna and Purplecrested Turacos, along with 255 other species.

According to Peter Straughan of Leshiba Wilderness, work on the new mountain bike trail started some nine months ago. Oldrich Van Schalkwyk (Leshiba’s manager), with the help of three workers, took the route designed by Devlin Fogg of BikeLife and, using an existing network of horse and game trails, cleared and expanded them to be more suitable for cyclists.  

The route is quite challenging, but can be negotiated by beginners as well as experienced mountain bike riders. The first couple of kilometres are easy to navigate with only the odd patches of sand providing a bit of a challenge. The scenery is stunning and the single-track route goes past some open stretches of grassland where giraffe and other animals can be seen.

Once the route starts climbing up the mountain, it becomes more technical, but still manageable for the average cyclist. Even in the middle of winter the landscape is green and most of the route meanders between beautiful bushveld trees and shrubs. The rocky sections will entice the more experienced riders and force them into doing more than one lap.

The new trail starts close to the reception area, which means that the cyclists don’t intrude on the privacy of the guests who stay over at Leshiba. From here it is well marked and there is no need for a tour guide. The route also ends at the same spot. The route can be completed in less than ninety minutes by the average rider.

Peter added that many additional routes existed that the cyclists could follow on the farm, but these would be along the normal roads and game tracks. The roads stretch to the top of the mountain, offering an unbelievable view of the Soutpansberg mountain range and the areas below. “The reserve is 4km wide by 7km long and there is a wide network of roads and animal tracks over varied terrain,” said Peter.

Leshiba is a tourist’s treasure chest, offering self-guided walks and hikes as well as guided walks to Bushman rock paintings. Leshiba has seven rock-art sites where Bushman (San) paintings and Khoekhoe/Khoikhoi hand and foot paintings can be found and three sites that provide evidence of habitation. The paintings are between 200 and 2 000 years old.

Other activities for overnight visitors include horseriding, game drives, 12 well-marked hiking trails and guided walks. For the ladies (and men) Leshiba offers a range of massage therapies designed to relax the body, soothe the spirit, improve muscle tone and evoke a feeling of well-being.

The mountain bike trail is currently open to all visitors who stay over at Leshiba, but groups of cyclists and trail runners who want to do a day trip to the reserve will also be accommodated. Booking in advance is essential, however.

For more information Leshiba can be contacted at Reservations: 011 483 1841 or Kathryn on 083 266 9502. The email address is [email protected] and the web address is www.leshiba.co.za.

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Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

More photos... 

Part of the group of cyclists who tried out the new route at Leshiba Wilderness.

The rocky sections on the route are more challenging, but still thoroughly enjoyable.