This is The Raw Beauty of the Karoo 🇿🇦 vA20-S2

I ride from a farm lost in the remote parts of the Karoo to Cradock, or Nxuba, in the Eastern Cape, in South Africa. The empty gravel road is such a delight to ride, and the raw beauty of the Karoo, what a wonder! The last climb before going down to Cradock is a bit rough, but what a wonderful day on the road, and as I arrive in Cradock, I notice that the city feels much more African than the previous cities I cycled across. Cradock definitely marks the beginning of my return in Africa.

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#southafrica #africa #karoo

(Somewhere in the Karoo) – Op. Ready to go! – Oh, you’re ready to go? – Yes. – In the cold? – Yes,
it’s gonna be cold. Yeah, yeah. – Hey! You’re on your way?
– Yes, I’m on my way. Yeah, yeah. – Nice and cold day. – Yes.
Well, hopefully, it’s… Yeah. It’s still gonna be cold,
but at least sunny. Yeah. – Yeah. – It should be… – As long
as it doesn’t rain, then it’s… – Then it’s fine. Yeah, yeah. – Yeah. And as soon as you start moving,
at least you get a bit warmer. – Yes, then I’ll get warm. – Yeah.
– It’s just if it… I have gloves. So if it’s too cold, then my hands
get cold. But I think it should be fine. – Okay. Good – Cuz I have gloves in case. – Well, that’s good. You mind
if we pray for your journey? – Yeah. No problem. – Does it…? – Oh, okay.
I don’t know how… Okay. – Yeah. No, no. It’s fine. Yes. – Sorry.
Before we pray, are you saved? – Huh? – Are you saved?
Are you sure when you go to…? When you die? – I’m Catholic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. – You’re Catholic? – Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. – All right.
Okay, good. Let’s pray for you. – Yes, Lord, and I thank you
very much for being able to meet this nice person, Lord. And whereas he’s got
a lot of travels all on his own, will you protect him and guide him
on his way, our Lord? And let him also experience
your power on his way. We ask this in your name alone.
Amen. – Amen. – Amen. Thank you! – Short and sweet. – Thank you
very much! Yeah. – Would you mind if I… – Thank you! – …had a picture
with you? – Yeah, of course. No worries. No problem at all.
– And enjoy! – Thank you very much! Thank you very much for your hospitality!
It’s really a… – It’s such a pleasure. And thank you for your generous…
– It was really great. It was really…. Really, it was a blessing to have
a place to stay on this… – Yeah. – It’s a pleasure. – …remote…
– Yeah, it’s cool. – …remote area. – And thank you for your generous
contribution. – Oh, it’s okay. I mean, it’s… – Thank you very,
very much! – Yeah, it’s… – You don’t wanna take it at the cycle?
– It’s okay. – Yeah, at your cycle. Yeah, that would be nice. – Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. – Thank you! – Hopla! – That’s it. – Oh, thank you so much… – You’re welcome. – …for staying
with us and telling all your stories. We will watch you. – Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. – And travel safe. Yeah. – Thank you very much! And who knows, maybe one day,
I’ll do The Freedom Challenge and… – You’ll come back again. – Yeah.
– Maybe I’ll come back again, but I’ll… – Upright this time. – A little bit higher.
Yeah, somehow. Yeah. – Enjoy! – Ah, do enjoy. – Thank you very much!
Yeah. – All right then. – Danki. How do you say? – Enjoy!
– Baie danki. Yeah. Baie danki. Hopla. – Bye-bye! – Bye-bye! – Bye-bye! – Let’s go! Bye-bye! And the dogs are happy to see me, also. What an experience! Wow! Oh my god. Morning, my friends, from the remote Afrikaners’ world, here on the farms
in the Eastern Cape in the Karoo! What an experience! Wow, this… Oh my god! What did I do? Hopla! This way is difficult for me. What… I’m still completely flabbergasted.
That was incredible hospitality. That was really, really, a true— probably my truest, my deepest—
South African experience. Wow! What a beautiful welcome! 57 km for today. It’s a bit like yesterday.
I think about 700 m to climb. 57 km of gravel road
to Cradock! Let’s go, guys! What a beautiful, cold morning!
So it rained. It rained last night. But the weather is supposed
to clear up during the day. I’m still amazed. That was…
What a place! What a farm! That was so deeply Afrikaners’
somehow, so… It was so true and profound. Wow! Here, a few sheep in the distance. It’s quite interesting. Actually,
most of the sheep here are here for… They make merino wool
from this, from the sheep here. It’s quite funny, because more than half
of my clothes… What is in front? More than half of my clothes
are made from merino wool, so… Some might come from here. Oh, there’s a big herd
of… I don’t know what. It’s not springboks.
It’s something else. Here’s the merino wool! Merino, merino! So, you know, what’s amazing
with the merino wool is that actually it doesn’t stink,
even when you sweat in it. So here we’re done with the downhill. And now we should be climbing slowly,
slowly for the next 30 km, I think. The river does have a bit of water. There’s something drinking
a bit down there. Oh, what a beautiful,
cold morning in the Karoo! South Africa is really
incredibly beautiful. What’s that there? Oh, it’s an ibis. So here is the T-junction. This way
is down to Somerset East, I think. And straight ahead, Cradock on the R337. DOOH n Bosch. It’s funny. Before… With the design I have,
with the big back wheel, I’ve always thought that my bicycle,
my tricycle, looks like a dragster. But now, with my yellow thing, I have the impression
of being on a fighter jet. Some beef biltong getting ready. Hopla! – Hello! – Hello, hello! Buffelshoek. So I forgot to mention, but on the farm… So they didn’t ask really for a… I asked
how much they wanted, and they did not… They refused to give me a price. So they told me, “You just give whatever
you think our hospitality was worth.” Yeah, so it was very nice. So I gave… Because I make money
from traveling and from making videos, I gave a reasonable amount of money, but… What is great is
that they gave me so much food. The breakfast this morning was
amazing. I have a lot of energy. So… Yeah, I paid as much as I can
generally afford for accommodation, for this type of accommodation. But oh my god! The hospitality here. Yeah, it just blows my mind. The hospitality in South Africa
really, really blows my mind. There are so many animals
on the road this morning. Hard to film with a GoPro, though.
A few, maybe deers down there. Grootvlei. Grootvlei—I guess
it means “the great valley”. Look at the Karoo! Oh my word. Run, run, run, run, run, run, run! Springboks again. – Yves! – Hello! Yes!
– What are you doing here? – I’m going to Cradock. – I’ve been following you
from France. – Nice! – All the way to Cape Town. – Yeah, nice. It must be
funny to meet me… – Yeah. – …in the middle of nowhere.
– It’s crazy. Listen… But I thought you were
going back through the West Coast. – Yes, but for southern Africa,
I’m going back east. – Yeah. – And then I’m gonna rejoin the West Coast
and go through Angola and… – Okay. – But first, I will do a detour
via Lesotho, Mozambique, and Zim. – Okay. Nice! Can I take a photo? – Yeah,
sure. Yeah. I’ll just go in the sun. Hello! – So I think my wife won’t believe this.
– Yeah, it’s quite… – This is crazy. – It’s a funny place
to meet someone you know. – Yo! I came around the corner.
– Yeah. – And I saw the flags. And I thought, “Who’s this?”
– You were like… – And I saw it’s a trike. So I thought,
“No, it can’t be. It can’t be Yves.” – Yes, somehow. Yeah.
Somehow… – Okay. – …it was me. – But you’ve got a very big
mountain pass there. – Yeah, I know. I have a big climb before Cradock.
– And it’s gonna be cold. – Yes, I have… It’s okay. I have a jacket. And it’s
sunny. So it’s… – Okay. – It’s okay. – It helps a bit. – Yeah. – Where
did you sleep last night? – And… In a… I don’t… Firks… Just next
to the T-junction. – Yes, yes. – Just after, from here.
– Fietskraal, Fietskraal. – Yes, Fietskraal. Yes,
Fietskraal. – Oh, yeah, yes. – Yeah, yeah. Yeah. – Friends
of ours… I just stay… – Yeah. – …up in the same road. – Ah, okay.
Okay. – Yeah, so 20 km from there. – Okay. – Yeah, but… – Nice. Oh,
so up in the mountains then. – Yes, yes. On top of the pass. – Okay.
Oh, on top of the… – Yes. – Of the pass. It’s beautiful. – Yes. – Yeah, yeah. – Yes.
I did that yesterday. – Oh, you did. – Yeah. – Nice! Okay. Well, good luck! – Thank you very much! Yeah.
– Safe travel! – Have a good day! It’s funny. Bye-bye! It’s really funny to meet someone
who knows you in the middle of nowhere. It’s the second vehicle I crossed today.
And the guy stops, and he’s like, “Yves!” What a beautiful day, man.
Oh, this is the best you can have. Hello! – Hello! – How are you?
– Fine. And you, sir? – Good, good. Where are you going? – In the house.
– In town? – Uh-uh. In the house. – Oh, to the house? – Yes. – Okay.
Have a good day! – Cheers! – Before the climb. Hopla! Some of the naartjies. That’s the naartjies
Jorrie gave me in Pearston. Putain! There’s too much wind.
My flags are good to be visible. But I can’t put my camera on my bag
anymore when there is wind. It’s cold. I’ve got a horse rider coming. I can see I am getting
closer to Lesotho. Mussels. Oh, yeah. Hello! End of lunch. Let’s go. Let’s go, baby! Go, baby, go! Bye-bye! So up there, we can see the pass,
the road going up the mountain. And straight ahead, we can see something
that looks like a bit of African snow. Swaershoek Merinostoet.
Willie Jordaan Merino. Oh, merino again. Merino wool. – Good morning! – Hello! How are you?
– I’m good. And you? – Very good. – Where are you going? – Cradock. – Cradock? – Yes. – Okay. – And you?
– I’m going to Vaaldraai. – Vaaldraai? Have a good day then! – The same
to you. – Good journey to you. Yeah. It’s beautiful here.
– Yes. Bye-bye! – Bye-bye! Oh, man. It’s hard, but it seems
less steep than yesterday. Maybe just that section there. And then it seems
it’s gonna be reasonably hard. Steep. Freaking… Now I have
a strong headwind. Oh my god. I’m struggling a lot now.
This is very steep. Oh, man. Come on!!! Yes! Yes. Oh, man! This section was mental. And I don’t wanna use more
than the minimum mode for the battery, because I need to get in shape for Lesotho,
man, Lesotho is gonna be insanely hard. Wow, wow, wow! Come on!!! Yeah. Oh, man! F*/*/*. Yo! Oh my god! Yes,
this is gonna be better now. Look at that! Oh, man. You see, it’s so steep. When I brake and I stop pedaling, just one brake on one side is not enough
to stop the tricycle from going down. The summit is just there!
Let’s enjoy the view first! Oh, man!!! Yah! Look at this view! The Karoo! Here is the summit.
Here is my magic tricycle. And we made it! Yes,
yes! Ah, great success! Look at this view! Wow!
Oh my god, that’s beautiful. So now it’s downhill
almost all the way to Cradock. Yes. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! It’s too complicated to film! Look at this isolated farm. Wow! Now I’ve got this… I’ve got this crazily corrugated road now. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I can’t move. Look at that! Oh my god! A beautiful horse. And I think that’s the gate
to exit the farm area. So on the other side.
So we are out of the farm area. Less than 10 km to go to Cradock, guys! That was two wonderful days in the Karoo! And we can start to see Cradock! Yes! A big bull. Finally, a bit of cattle on the road. I was told that in the Eastern Cape, there are cattle on the road
and it’s very messy, but… I didn’t see any of it at the moment. And we are back on the asphalt. Cradock Saad. – Hey, hey! – Hello! – Hey, hey,
hey! – Hi! – Oude Pastorie. Hello! Mini bus station. – Hello, man! – Hello! And a beautiful church.
– Hello, man! (My GoPro was off…) – A bit of a street market. – From Cape Town now? – Hello! Widest range, biggest savings.
Victoria Hotel. – Hello, hello! – Hello! Hello! Hello! – From Cape Town, eh? – Yes. Good. How are you? Hello! – Hello, man! It does feel
a little more African here. Hello! – Hello! – Bingo entertainment. Hello! – Hello, man! How are you doing? – Good.
How are you? – I’m good. I’ve been waiting to see you,
man. – Nice! – I see you on TikTok. – You see me on TikTok. Yeah.
– It’s good to see you. Yeah. – Awesome! – It’s good to see you.
Can I have a picture? – Yeah, sure. No problem. – Yeah. Please, man. Thank you so much, man!
– You’re welcome! – Oh, wow! Ah, man. It’s good to see you,
man. Ah, thank you so much, man! – You’re welcome! – It’s a pleasure
to meet you. – Nice to meet you, too. Yeah. – Have a safe trip! Thank you!
– Thank you very much! Yeah. Have a good day! – Thank you, my man! – A bit of climbing to finish the day. Hello! – Hello! – Lots of potholes here on the road. Wow! What the hell? I mean, there is
zero maintenance of the road. It’s been a very long time
since I’ve seen such bad roads. It looks like Ethiopia or maybe even Sudan. Okay, I think I’m supposed
to stay somewhere around here. Hello! – Hello! – It freaking looks like you are in one
of the poorest countries in the world. The roads. I mean, the roads
are better in Burundi than here. – Yeah, because the wind is so terrible,
eh? – Yes. Yeah, it’s quite windy. – …was keeping you back? – Huh?
– Or it helped you all the time? – No. It was not in the right direction
today for me. – Oh, welcome! – Thank you very much!
– And you can go straight ahead. – Straight? Okay. – Yes. – Great. Ah, yes. – I was keeping an eye on the gate. – Ah, okay. Yeah. I got confused
because I saw the arrow. – Oh, there is… – So I thought
it meant the entrance is… – Yeah, yeah. – …on the other side. – The arrow is
for this gate, not that gate, cause… – Ah, because there are two gates.
Okay, it makes sense. – I’m Anna. – Yves. – Hi, welcome! – Nice to meet you! Thank you very much! Yeah.
– You’ve got a lot of guts. – Yeah, yes. – So how far are you doing this? – I came from France with this,
actually. – From where? From France? – From France. Yeah. – And where
did you start in South Africa? – In South Africa, I arrived from Namibia,
so from the Northern Cape. Then down to Cape Town, and now
I’m going towards Lesotho. – And how long is your trip? – It’s been four years
since I’ve been on the road. – Wow! Wow! – But I go slow. Yeah,
very slow. – Okay. Yeah, I see. 12 days. – Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
yeah. – Resting a little bit? – Yeah. No, because I work online.
So I need to do some work. – Oh, okay. Okay. – That’s why.
– Good. Well, welcome! – Thank you very much!
– I’ll take you for the tour. – Great! – And there’s an extra blanket
in the cupboard. – Okay. – There’s an electric blanket
on the bed. – Oh, okay. Okay. – So you can decide
which side you sleep. – Okay. – And you can put that on.
I just wanna turn the light off. We’ve got… Sometimes,
we don’t have pressure, water pressure. – Ah, well… Okay. – But you must just
let me know. Then I’ll put on the pump. – Ah, okay. – Okay. – If it’s too low…
– Yes. – …I’ll let you know. – I don’t realize it, because
my house is lower, so we will… – Oh, so then it goes down.
– You will first notice… – Okay. – …that the pressure is down. – Okay. Okay. – Because they put it off
at night. – Oh, the pump, the… Common thing. Oh, they put it…
– Yes, yes. – Okay, to save electricity. – Yes, and water. – And water. Okay. – So… – Oh, so in the evenings,
there’s less pressure. – Yes. So, there are the instructions
for the plates. – Okay. – Drinking water is… – Perfect. – And the ice… – If there is
no more, I can… – You can just… I’ll fill up when I clean.
– I can ask you. Okay. – Okay. – Okay. – There’s milk and chocolate,
and rusks for you for tomorrow morning. – Okay. – Coffee, tea, sugar. – Perfect. – You can use the utensils. There’s
a little bit of oil and salt and pepper. – Oh, perfect. But it’s good to know
that… – And, Yves, please excuse. In the photos, this is not
the lounge suite. – Oh, I don’t know. I don’t remember how it looks
in the photos. – But it’s been refurbished. And I was… I actually was thinking
it was going to come back today. But it will be delivered next week. – Okay, so… – So, in the meantime,
you’ve got nice… – Oh, why? Because there’s supposed to be a sofa
or…? – Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. – Okay, okay. – Yeah, but I…
– So next week, I’ll have a sofa. – Now you have to sit up straight,
but next week you can lay. – Okay. – The television switches on and off
on this side. – Okay. – The last one. – Great. – And it’s full DStv if you want
to watch… – Okay, I don’t use the TVs. – But it’s rugby and cricket, and soccer. And this is just a little bit
of information about the town. And this is the big church
in the middle of the town. – Ah, okay. Yes, I’ve seen it while arriving. – It’s a replica of the St Martin-in-
the-Fields Church in London. – Oh, okay. Yeah, because I thought it looked different
from the other ones in the region, from the Graaff-Reinet and Pearston. – It’s actually the third oldest church
in the country, but it was built… The steeple of the church fell down. And then, the minister
was married to an English girl. And she missed England…
– Okay. – …so much that she… And then they made
the church look like the… – Okay. – …church that she had from…
– So it’s English style then. It’s English architecture.
– Actually, it’s the St Martin-in… – It’s Victorian architecture. – It’s the St Martin-in-the-
Fields in London. – Okay. – So you can just Google St Martin-
in-the-Fields and look, and it’s… – Okay, I’ll have a look.
– …the same church. – Yeah, yeah. Okay. Oh, it’s interesting.
– Yeah. And there’s a braai next… Let me show you. – Oh, there’s
a braai. – Yeah. – Yes, yes. That’s… I like the braai. – You can sit here,
and you can enjoy the garden. – Perfect! – I don’t think you will swim,
but… – No, I don’t think so. Yeah. – Here is the braai. – Oh, awesome! – So
we can just… – So it’s this thing? – You just roll it there and… Yeah. – Ah, I just roll it. Okay. – Yeah,
it’s okay. – You just roll it. I’ll let the gardener… – It’s okay.
– …put it there on Monday. I don’t think you’ll braai
when the wind is blowing. – Oh, yeah. Okay. No, it’s okay.
– But you can. – Yeah. No. – It’s not heavy. Do you want us
to carry it there? – It’s okay. I’ll do it myself. – Okay.
– If I want, I’ll do it myself. If I want it before Monday,
I’ll do it myself. – Okay. – It’s not heavy.
But now, I’m tired. – Okay. If you’ve got washing
that you want me to do… I don’t do ironing,
but I will wash for you. – Okay. Maybe not at the beginning.
But at some point, yes, I’ll… At least before leaving. – Okay. Tomorrow I am playing
bowls competition. – Okay. So you’re not… You’re busy. You’re not… – I’m going
to be very tired tomorrow. – Okay, so tomorrow
I won’t ask for anything. – No, you can ask. You can ask, but… All right. – Thank you very much! – This is my key there. Welcome
and enjoy your stay! And… – Thank you very much!
– Seeing that you’re so long here… One night, we can have…
Perhaps, if we braai, I’ll invite you. We can have a nice chat.
– If you want. If you want, yeah. You’ll let me know. – I’ll let you know.
– Thank you very much! Yeah. So here we are in Cradock. Look at that. That’s
the perfect apartment for me. Kitchen. A bit of space.
I can work out here. I guess the only thing
I miss is a big sofa. But it’s gonna come next week. So that I can work on the sofa
and just sleep on the bed. A nice bed that looks very comfy. Bathroom, clean. Hello! Toilet. Clean. Awesome! Oh my god! These days… Oh, these two days across the Karoo, across the farm areas
were absolutely awesome. I love the Karoo. See you for the next
adventures! Ciao, guys!