Video clips to put a smile on your dial
These are no blockbuster Steven Spielberg productions but made just for fun and a smile.
Okay, the heading is a massive exaggeration. But this is movie house and some puffering is surely needed? Creating small video clips turned out to be much more work than we initially anticipated. It is still a helluva lot of fun to create these quick overviews of journeys on motorbikes. Maybe it just gets your wanderlust going.
There are loads more clips on our Youtube Channel
Chasing the line between salt and sun
Short clip of our time on the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It is a near 10 000km2 salt flat. Riding there is a freaky weird experience but something we will never ever forget. Grateful that we were able to see it in its splendour when wet and now in the dry.
The salt is rock hard and a blast to ride. Just pick a direction and let the bike drift. In the Salar, there are a few small islands dotted with massive cacti that are said to be only growing something like 2-4cm per year.
Music courtesy of GOODLUCK they are an incredibly talented band from Cape Town and graciously allowed us to use this cool song for the clip. “Be Yourself” – this video goes out to all the people who are not afraid to be who they really are. Just Be YOUR AMAZING-CRAZY-ONE-OF-A-KIND-BEAUTIFUL SELF!!”
Bolivia – The road into the sky
Bolivia is an adventure motorcycle heaven. From the moment we rode through the border post we had fun riding mountain passes, mud roads, salt lakes, and the Lagunas area at over 4500m altitude. Our motorcycles suffered at the extreme altitude but they managed to work enough so we can see the best of Lago Colorado the red lake and other unbelievable places in the South of Bolivia.
In between, we had time to enjoy local festivals, all before Covid stopped our journey in Sucre. This is a short clip to show you the mindblowing landscapes in Bolivia. The music is from the incredibly talented Joe van der Linde, he is a South African musician. Check out his Youtube channel: ‘Joe’s Homegrown Listening’.
Peru Incredible Mountain Roads
The incredible roads to explore with motorcycles in Peru. For Adventure motorcycle travel addicts the roads in the high altitude areas of the Andes mountains in Peru is unforgettable experiences. This is just a quick short glimpse of the type of terrain and landscapes that awaits a rider.
Quick snap riding Chafer canyon road to White Rim Trail – Canyonlands Nat Park Utah
This is a quick short riding down the start of the White Rim Trail starting at the Shafers canyon pass. It offers incredible views riding down Shafer canyon road. The video speed has been increased just a little bit to not waste time….
The White Rim Road is a 71.2-mile-long unpaved four-wheel-drive road that traverses the top of the White Rim Sandstone formation below the Island in the Sky mesa of Canyonlands National Park in southern Utah in the United States.
The entire route took us a day to ride with all the stops for photos. It is not brutally technical but has some bits that could be hair-raising for unskilled riders. Also if vertigo is not your thing this is maybe not the place to ride. As for adventure or dual-sport motorcycle rides, this is an absolute blast with views and landscapes that will blow the mind!
Some images from a South American journey – Article for FujiFIlm South Africa
South America is the fourth largest continent and the one with probably the most dramatic landscapes and diverse regions. It hosts deserts, forests, volcanoes, incredible mountain ranges and the world’s tallest waterfall. The people of South America are passionate, lively and fiercely loyal, with a rich and colourful history.
Images from each Central American country we visited.
Central America that narrow isthmus of land that is bordered by North America and South America. 7 countries make part of this land of volcanoes, tropical forests, high mountains, coffee, and incredibly passionate people.
According to the media, Central America is a dangerous hell hole to be avoided at all costs.
We traveled there for a bit more than 1 year and it could not have been further from the truth. Central America is a gritty lively colourful place where you take responsibility for yourself. This is why travelling there is so rewarding.
Perito Moreno Glacier calving –
There’s a lot of luck involved waiting to see building size ancient ice break off a glacier. If you do not see it happen, the sound reaches your ears by the time the calving has already taken place. We were at Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina at 8am when the gates opened and spend the best part of 5 hours there. During this time small pieces of ice broke off, nothing to oooh and aaaah about.
A friend was observing and quick to say he thinks there is a bigger blue gap forming in the ice. I quickly set the camera to burst mode and dialed in the settings that I thought would capture such a moment. All of a sudden we could see the blue crack grew wider. 72 photo bursts later are what you see in this clip. We were incredibly lucky to experience such an event.
Perito Moreno is one of the only glaciers in the world that is growing instead of shrinking.
It is 30km in length, 5km wide, 170m thickness and the part above the waterline is about 70m. The glacier covers approx 250 km2 -The glacier was formed during the last ice age, it’s around 18,000 years old. The Southern Patagonian Ice Field covers a whopping 4,800 square miles and is made up by 48 glaciers. -The glacier was discovered by a captain of the Chilean army Juan Rogers in 1879
2018 Dakar Rally 40th edition Peru – Field notes
We follow the Dakar rally for a few days, this is an extract from the article.
“We were still in Ecuador working our way South when Elsebie one morning while doing some route planning mentioned that the Dakar rally will start in Lima, Peru this year. It was only about 2000km or so away. We made it in time to Lima with an afternoon to spare.
The day before the start of the 2018 Dakar, the 40th edition, we loitered around parc ferme in Lima overwhelmed by the Dakar porn around us. It was early Friday afternoon and we thought the place would be a ghost mall, well, it was not. Peruvians are obsessed with the Dakar. The place was crawling with people creating dust that hung in the air with a reddish glow as the sunset over the excitement and happy noise of people.”
Suzie and kelvin aka Avvida with us at the 2018 Dakar rally in Peru.
Travelling Ecuador for 3 months on motorcycles.
From the Amazon to Chimborazo volcano at near 6000m altitude. Riding parts of the majestic Andes mountains. And eventually the beautiful coast and its quirky wildlife. What makes Ecuador so special? It’s people!
Music: YSE Saint Laur’Ant – Forever Mind
Short clip of some of the amazing riding and fun to be had in Colombia
Apologies it is not a Nat Geo docu. It is the first time I tried timelapse and with pure luck I was able to get these photos to create the video clip of volcano Fuego erupting in Guatemala. Viewed from the roof of our hotel in Antigua just before 6am the morning. The volcano summit is at 3763 m and is known as a Stratovolcano volcano. At 36sec is a closer view. The total time from the explosion to where I stopped was about 15mins -20mins.
More info from insivumeh.gob.gt/vulca: “In a special report from 2 February, INSIVUMEH noted increased activity at Fuego characterized by explosions occurring every 5-15 minutes. Ash plumes rose as high as 750 m and drifted 15 km W, causing ashfall in areas downwind including Sangre de Cristo and San Pedro Yepocapa. During 2-7 February explosions generated ash plumes that rose 0.4-1.1 km above the crater and drifted at most 12 km NW, W, SW, and S. Incandescent material was ejected 150 m high, and avalanches traveled down the Taniluyá (SW) and Ceniza (SSW) drainages. Shock waves from explosions rattled nearby structures.”
Africa videologue – Stupid enough we took no video from our 11 months journey from South Africa to Italy. In the end we concocted this slide show video clip from our photographs to create this very, very short film: South Africa to Italy in 1min 40sec.
Bit of Portugal for Instagram: Go on a trip with someone fun!
France videologue– Some light entertainment riding through France. Pretty cool country to experience on a bike, camping, drinking wine, châteaux and the French charm. Fernweh France 2min 38sec