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Overland Swaziland with Bonafide Moto Company · The Overland Journal Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: your host Scott Brady, and Matt is not with me
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: today because he has since flown back to the United
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: States in search of tacos. He told me, but I
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: am currently in Swaziland and that you can hear the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: sound of the birds and animals behind us. In fact,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: there's a sign that says pretty much don't go over
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: that wall because there's hippos and crocodiles within feet of
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: our current location. And Swaziland is beautiful. And I'm here
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: with two great friends, two guys that I met on
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: a land rover trip in Peru. And we've got Alan
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Shenton and we've also got Joe Fleming. And these guys
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: are with bona Fide Moto Company, and most importantly they're
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: good buddies. We enjoyed traveling together before and when they
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: heard that I was coming to Africa, they said, let's
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: go to Swaziland on motorcycles. So they were kind enough
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to line up a Triumph for me. So I've been
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: riding a twelve hundred XE thanks to Triumph of South Africa,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and Joe's been riding an eight hundred and then Alan
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: what have you.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Been writing a nine hundred street scrambler?
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Nine hundred street scrambler.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Nice?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So thanks for being here. Guys really appreciate you being
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: on the podcast. We're going to talk about some fun
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and varied subjects, just as our ride has been fun
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and varied as well. So we'll do our very best
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to keep this family friendly. There's been threatens to the contrary. So, yeah,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: this place is amazing. We're at Milwaune, which is a
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: game reserve close to the western border of Swaziland, and
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: it was so cool. I pull up to the gate
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and for these guys, they've been here a bunch of
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: times and it's I wouldn't say it's old hat, but
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a new experiences for them. So I pull
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: in through the gate and here's zebra everywhere and really
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: neat to see I think maybe even a spring bark
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: that we saw when we came through. Let's book blessed back. Nice. Yeah, So,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: speaking of Zebra, Alan, before he started being the adventurer
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: that he is today, he was the guitar man for
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Zebra and Giraffe. Right, that's it. So tell me a
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: little bit about your music career.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I played in a couple of bands over
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: about a twelve year period. I started in a band
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: called Harris Tweed, which became Dear Rita and Dear Eda
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: was quite successful. It was a very alternative singer songwriter
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: with a female vocalist, really you know, Indy, super indie.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And the friend lady of that then immigrated to Germany
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: and she carried on and she still has a career
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: to this day. And then a friend of mine had
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: started a band called Zebran Draft and I joined that
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: band and I played for Zebra and Draft for all
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: about nine ten years after that, and I was really
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: fortunate to have been quite successful, and it traveled the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: world up into Japan, played in Kenya. We recorded an
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: album in Los Angeles, or recorded an album in California,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: just outside San Francisco and a tangled Stinson Beach. We
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: rented an amazing studio then record an album. And we've
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: played big festivals, we've played small clubs, and I'm very
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: very grateful to have done a professionally for like twelve
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: years or.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: In all well, in one of the recent ones, in fact,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I believe it was your last concert. You opened up
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: for the Cure. That's significant.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Cure was coming to South Africa. They were
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: playing two shows Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the promoter,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Andy Mack, a really amazing fan of ours, supporter of
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: our music, had invited us to do a reunion show
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to play to open for them, and then we accepted
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: and it was amazing. It was really cool to share
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: a stage with rock legends.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And then I think you were in
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: another festival with Metallica and then what was you said
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: one of your most favorite bands to play with.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Was Our favorite band to play with was the Killers.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: We were the only support act in South Africa and
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: we opened two three shows with them, two in Capetown,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: I think when joebig or the other way around too in
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Joebig one in Cape Down. They were a great band
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: and it was very poignant for the time as two
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: thousand and nine twenty ten they were at the top
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: of their career. We were at the top of our
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: career at the time, and yeh, it was amazing playing
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: with like minded musicians and also just like minded music
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  Speaker 2: like to be able to share a stage in South Africa,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: so far away from the rest of the world and
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: here we are watching music or listening to music that
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: was so closely aligned right about the right time for
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: like that indie rock, alternative music.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Well, and it leads to a bunch of questions. But
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the first thing that comes to mind was did you
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: already have a passion for travel before you started traveling
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: as a musician or was it when you started to
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: travel as a musician that you started to see I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: want to go see the world.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I always had a passion. To my mom and
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: my dad instilled an absolute love for our country, South Africa,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: and for the parks that we have in our country
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: from a very young age, and they dragged us off
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: to Kruger National Park at least two three times a year,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: every single year, and we loved traveling. We never saw
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: other parts of the country, but we always went to
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: the game reserve. That was what we did too, three
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: times a year. So I loved traveling. I've always been
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: a fan of traveling and one of my favorite things
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: about being in the band in South Africa was to
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: be able to get in a car or the van
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: and drive the coast, the length and breadth of this
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: country and the people that we would meet along the
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: way and the places that we would see it truly,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think I don't I mean, don't quote me
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: on this, but I don't think there's anywhere where you
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: can go in the world where you will see such
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: varied terrain, from the beaches to the bush, to the towns,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: to the big cities to the small towns and so
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: on and so forth. It's just it's an incredible place
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to travel. And I was count myself very fortunate that
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I was one of the few people that got to
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: do it year on year, over and over again, and
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: then every night to be able to music in front
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: of people that truly enjoyed what you did.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I have to agree with you. I think
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: that of all of the places that I've traveled, South
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Africa pulls me back the most. Southern Africa pulls me
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: back the most. Between the namib which is one of
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the oldest deserts in the world with the tallest sand
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: dunes in the world, and then you've got the Kalahari
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: just to the north, and Rhino and the Yoka Wanga Delta.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's literally the birthplace of humanity as
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: we know it, and it really draws me back and Joe.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: That kind of leads me, like, what brought you from
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: being in eleven Bravo Army to living now full time
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: in South Africa.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: It was Instagram.
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, long story short before I've been in South Africa
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: now for just over six years, and prior to this,
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: I was living in California. I'm originally from North Carolina
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: and I had a job after college working for a
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: defense contractor. I got that job through being a veteran.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: I'd been to Iraq in two thousand and four, kind
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: of midway through college, and the job had taken me
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: to New York for four years, and then they transferred
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: me to San Diego, which I loved.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: It was everything having.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: I lived four blocks from the beach, had the mountains,
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: had a great job at a Harley there, got to
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: ride along Sunset Cliffs just.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: About every day.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: And then shortly say, about five six months into living there,
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: I'd come across this girl on Instagram who lived in
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: South Africa. I had actually come across her boyfriend at
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: the time, and he was in the like choppers and
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: like rat rods, and somehow I found him and then
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: he had.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: This girlfriend and I'm like, cool, I'll follow her no problem.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: And after months of just being followers, I'd never thought
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: anything of it. She had sent me a friend request
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: on Facebook and I wake up one morning on the
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: way just about to go to work, and I'm like.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: That's that hot chick from South Africa.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: I'm going to accept and then I'm going to get
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: to work. I'm not going to do a thing. I'm
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: going to just stalk her photos. And I ended up
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: not being able to stalk her photos. We ended up
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: messaging back and forth for hours. And then basically three
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: months later, I had taken a trip to South Africa,
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: stayed here for three weeks to get to meet her,
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: her son, met her ex husband, family members, we traveled
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: to Cape Town. I really got to see what South
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: Africa offered, and living in the States, I had no
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: idea what South Africa was like.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: I didn't know. I didn't really know that it is
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: what it is, and I loved it.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: And so I went back to the States, went back
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: to work and was miserable, and luckily at the time
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: working for a defense contractor, they were going through budget
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: cuts with the government and there was some voluntary layoffs
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: that were available to people, and I had a Cowork
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: who was like, like, you're miserable, Like you love this chick, Like,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: why don't you just take a lay off and move
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: And I was like, I think that's a great idea.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: And so I did that.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: And then basically two months after I had left South Africa,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: I was back. I sold to my Harley's. I had
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: like an old heritage soft tail at a Chopper that
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: was in boxes. Yes, Randy, if you're listening, I'm sorry
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: that you still own that Harley.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: It's still in boxes.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: And sold all my stuff and I moved here with
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: three suitcases.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: And what a story, man, that's amazing.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and what's so funny is that I probably have
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: thrown away one suitcase. I realized, like I really didn't
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: need all that stuff. So yeah, So now it's been
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: six years here and it's been like, I absolutely love
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: this place. It's it's an incredible country and which is
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: great and that's why you know we have bonafide medico
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: was that I wanted to travel the country and ultimately
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: I wanted to to share that experience with locals here,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: but also wanted to show that show the beauty of
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: South Africa to my friends in the States who you know,
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: more than likelihood, they don't know much about South Africa,
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: and so I think through me, they've been able to
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: see how beautiful this place is. And slowly I've gotten
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: a few people to come here, and hopefully many more
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: will come.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: So the first question that comes to my mind is
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: not so much to travel, because I can see that
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: that just runs through your veins. But where did that
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: creative impetus come from? Your photography is I believe world
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: class for what you do, and we featured you several
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: times in Overland Journal magazine and on Expedition Portal. And
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: what prompted that passion or that desire to become a photographer?
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: So I think, ever since I was a kid, I
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: always do thank my aunt for making me the photographer
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: that I am. That I like capturing moments. I really
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: hate to set up shots because as a kid, she
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: would always try to get us to come together and
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: always wanted to take photos. But at the same time,
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: I think I've always had a camera since I was
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: a kid. I always enjoyed taking photos and printing them.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: And even when I was in Iraq, like I was
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: in the infantry, supposed to carry my rifle, but I
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: always had. I think at one point I ended up
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: taking out two magazines so that I can put a
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: small digital camera in there and so that when we
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: were in town, I can take it out and take photos.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: And I took amazing photos there.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: I mean they were I don't think they're amazing like
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: the quality I have now, but I just really enjoyed it.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed capturing that moment.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, just capturing those moments. And I would get in
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: trouble all the time for it. Another intended to be
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: like let me get the camera out of here, get
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: the gun, you know, carry like okay, cool, cool, fine.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: But I never took courses to become a photographer. I've
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: had friends like Owl's really helped me out. He's got
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: a great eye for you know, he was in editing
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: for for a long time production and so he kind
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: of helped and would critique me. And I've always been
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: open to sort of critiquing of my photos. And as
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: the years have gone on of shooting photos from a motorcycle,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: I've seen what works and what I like and what
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: I don't like. And I'm very critical of my photos.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: If it's if it's any blurry or whatever, it's out,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: but it's really come through trial and error and just
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: wanting to capture beautiful moments of live ventures.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: There's been a couple of things that I've noticed is
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: that you're very present as a photographer, which means that
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you find a way to kind of in a fluid way,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: be a part of the scene as the photographer, which
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: that's people are awkward with cameras. Oftentimes I feel like
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: that I'm awkward with cameras when I could do a
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: better job of that. But you, I mean, you're tall.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: How tall are you? That's six seven, so you're six seven.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: But what you do is you you just kind of
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: crouch down and you you drop below the site line,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and not only does that give you a great vantage point,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: but it allows you to for people not to focus
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: on you.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: I've got a squatting position and I'm quite flexible, so
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: i just literally spread my legs wide apart, and I've
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: dropped my butt basically to the ground, and I can
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: get those low shots. And I do try to I
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: don't want to be seen as a photographer. I do
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: want people to just do their thing, and a lot
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: of times I'll just slowly step back and just try
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: to grab a.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Scene and you do you really, you really do achieve that.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: And I've also noticed that your camera kit is very small, minimalist.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: You run with a couple bodies, usually with a prime
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: on there. And as a result, i mean even it's
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: cool to see like you'll be riding down the road
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and you'll have a camera slung over your neck with
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a real like a thirty five millimeter prime on there,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: like no lens protector, no UV filter. I mean, we're
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: like bombing down these dirt roads and everything. And I
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: mean your cameras look like they both went through Iraq.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: But it's pretty amazing, just a reminder that. And they're
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: they're very nice cameras and very nice lenses, but they're
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: not extreme expensive pieces of equipment. They're like super appropriate
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: for what we do. But the quality of your imagery
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: is so exceptional because I think that you focus on
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: capturing the image, not the stuff, not the equipment, and
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: that's a nice result.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I'm not like a beauty photographer, you know, like, which.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Is a good thing because you're taking photos of me.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: I'll make that pretty.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think there's any there's no amount of
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: photoshop that's going to fix up for.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: Like, like in the motorcycle industry, one of the guys
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: that you know, I've always looked up to and I
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: really respect his work is Aaron Brimhole, and he's I mean,
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: the stuff he shoots, it's beautiful. I'm not the type
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: of photographer, and so I've embraced my style of shooting.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: And I think that's it's a huge step, is when
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: you embrace your own style and you stick with it.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: And I couldn't.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: I would be wasting my time to try to chase
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: other photographer's style. And you know, it's my kids. I've
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: every once in a while, like you know, just when
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: I was in India, i read for like seven days
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: and less censor was it was disgusting. And you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: there's some photos that took on the beach and you
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: can just see these spots all in the sky and
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I had to touch them up, but luckily my camera.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: So now I'm a third and I'm on a third
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: XT two and the one I had previously it was
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: beat to hell, like it looks like it.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Should be in a museum.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: And when I came back from India, they replaced it
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: and they swapped it out with a new one and
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I picked it up in the office. I put it
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: through my eye and I was like, oh, that's what
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: I camera is supposed to look at. It's supposed to
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: look like when you when you pull it up to
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: your eye.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: It was so clean, it was beautiful.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: So I'm not huge on care and like meticulous cleaning
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: of camera gear.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: I'll wipe with. I've got a good shirt that I
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: do wipe the lens with.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think you'd make you'd make other photographers
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: that cringe. Yeah, but you don't focus on it doesn't matter.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: But that's so huge though, because exactly right, Ellen, he's
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: in the you're in the moment, you're present and the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and the camera is at the ready and a lot.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, my camera's buried in my bag and so
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I've got to be intentional about taking it out. And
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: because I'm trying to, I'm being precious with it, right,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: So I'm not I'm maybe caring for it a little
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: bit more, but I'm missing ninety percent of the images
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: that you're grabbing. And I think that that's that's a
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: great lesson for those that are listening. If you have
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: a passion for photography. Make sure that the camera's at
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the ready.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: It's in the pockets. That's just one more thing you've
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: got to do to capture that moment. That's why I'll
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: always keep it slung. It's ready, and then I can
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: jump off the bike, jump into the grass, get a
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: s of you guys, you know this week, and that's
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: what I would do a lot of times, Just speed
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: past you guys and then look up ahead and find
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: a spot. And then sometimes I only have five six
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: seconds before you guys are yeah right behind me again.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Amazing, amazing, and Alan, you're riding this nine hundred Triumph,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: which is I mean, it's a great looking bike. You've
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: got a nice, great exhaust on it, which it seems
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: like the locals love. I mean, you get a lot,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: a lot of thumbs up, a lot of smiles and waves,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and I think a lot of that is because Swaziland
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: is such a smiling, waving country. The people here are
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: beautiful and it's been fun to follow you on that bike.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: You ride it really well, and you guys have a
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: lot of experience exploring the back roads of Southern Africa
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: in these in these modern classics. What kind of turned
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: you on to Triumph as a brand, and is this
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: your favorite bike? Is this the pinnacle for you or
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: would you want something different? What connected you to Triumph?
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting scud for me.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Being a musician, A guitar to me was a fin
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: To Strata and other people will tell you that a
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: guitar to them was a gibson of his ball. But
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: to me, a guitar was a Fender Strata Costa, and
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: a motorcycle was a Triumph Bonnible, a nineteen sixty nine
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Bonible was what a motorcycle looked like. And my dad
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: passed away when I was quite young, but I have
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: a photo of him that surfaced somehow. He grew up
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: in England and Birmingham in the forties and fifties, and
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I have a photo that surfaced of him that my
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: mom found or something like Adam was in a picture
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: frame and I took it and I studied that photo
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: and it was a motorcycle made in Birmingham in the
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: forties or fifties that he was riding. And that was
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: actually what got me into motorcycling. I didn't grow up
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: writing a dirt bike, growing up with a single you know,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: a mom as a parent, there was no way I
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: was going to get on a dirt bike. She was
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: never going to allow that. So I was about twenty
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: four to twenty five years old and I had this
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: photo and I was like, I want to get a
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: like my dad wrote, a motorcycle. I want a motorcycle,
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: and that's what a motorcycle should look like. And it actually, ironically,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: it wasn't a Triumph. It was a I think it
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: was an aerial Cult three hundred and fifty cc motors
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Circle and at the time it was about twenty thirteen
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: twenty fourteen. I think that the bike that appealed to
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: me that looked like that was a Royal Infield because
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: it still looked as though it was made in Britain
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: and it still had the styling features of that bike.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: So that was my first bike. But I always wanted
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: the Triumph Bonnival, but the Royal Infield was super affordable.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: They just imported them into the country. How long did
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: you have that bike? I had it for two years, yeah,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: two days.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Did you travel on it or just ride it around
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: joe Burg? Mostly?
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: No, we didn't travel with it. It was mainly a commute. Yeah,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: like I commuted to and back from work. I went around.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: My brother and law also had one, and we spoke
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: about once maybe doing a trip to Durban, and I
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: think we did, but we put the bikes in the
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: back of the car at the time. Got to Durban,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: we rode them around there. I was like a lightweight.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't really know how to ride them motorcycle. I
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: got my license, but I wasn't proficient ride by any
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: means some skills, and I knew that it was inevitable
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: that I would, as I would grow more into riding,
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: that I would upgrade. And I bought a Triumph Bonnival
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: and finally I owned the bike that I kind of
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: always wanted to own. Yeah, I loved my Triumph Bonnible.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: It was a T one hundred black they called it,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: so it was fully black, black, exhaust, black, everything, and
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I loved it. And then fortunately I had a pretty
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: gnarly accident and that sent that buck to the scrap yard,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: and I then was faced to the decision that I
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: needed to buy a new motorcycle, and I don't know
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: what I was going to buy it, So I immediately replaced
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: it with a secondhand Bonnable that was available quite quite
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: affordably on country, and I rode that whilst I was
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: just buying time because I'd heard that Triumph was going
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: to be working on a liquid cooled version of their bikes.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Now I'm not again, I'm not. I haven't been riding
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: bikes for three years, so I'm not going to be
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: someone to tell you that liquid coold is better or
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: worse than air could I couldn't really care. I was
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: more interested in what it looked like and how it performed.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: And as soon as the nine hundreds Scrambler was announced,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I was a little bit disappointed because I was kind
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: of anticipating more of a scrambler looking motorcycle, which I
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: think is exactly what you're on at the moment on
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: the twelve hundred. But the nine under was announced and
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: I'd actually said to Joe that I wasn't going to
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: buy it. I was like, oh, I'm not going to
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: buy the NINERD Scrambler. I'm going to wait. There's something
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: more Scrambler esque coming in sure, And then I rode
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: and to answer your question, yes, it is the most
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: perfect bik for me. I have thought about selling it
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: on several occasions when a new models come out. So
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: when the twelve hundred Scrambler came out, I thought, maybe
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I should get rid of my nine hundred. I'm going
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: to save up ye know how much dostle O the
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Bank came out, Maybe I should. But and Joe will
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: profess to this statement, is that I just that bike
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: and myself I just were like married together in terms
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: of fit.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Oh darling, you know, and it's great watch and you
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: write it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: It's funny, you know, when we do these trips. When
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: we do these trips, we've got a lot of guys
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: that come with us on varied bikes, got everything in
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: the mix, and a lot of guys will look down
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: on a small little bike like that, And I love,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I love disproving them, not with arrogance, but just with
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: the pure that's you know, sometimes riding a nine hundred
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: and riding it better in the garden at twelve fifty
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: or twelve ninety or twelve hundred whatever, actually says a
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: lot more then having an overpowered back that you can't
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: correct fast enough. You can't ride it properly. You can't
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: if you don't touch the ground. So I always joke,
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: and I always said, rather be the fastest hund and
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: hand undred than an average rider on a twelve hundred.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Well, and the bike's less expensive, you use less fuel.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, and it looks great. It isn't like it
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: looks lesser than it looks. I think it looks perfect.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I did exactly. I put the accessories on
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: that exactly what I wanted. So I put the vonds
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: and hands two into one pot, which I wanted because
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: it sounds great. And I do commute daily on that bick.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: My wife and I share a vehicle, so that the
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: bike is my is my vehicle my daily and I
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: put like some dresser bars on the bottom, led light bulbs,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: a little luggage wreck on the back, and a penia. Yeah,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: it looks exactly what I want a motorcycle to look like.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: And it seems to me that Johannesburg has such good
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: weather that you can almost get away with riding a
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: motorcycle every day.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I do ride every single day. I ride summer and winter,
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: and most of the people that I ride with do
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: the same. It's actually summer is actually the worst time
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: of the year to ride because of the risk of rain.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: So we have this.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Crazy thing in Johannesburg, where at least two three times
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: a week every day in summer it will rain at
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: about four pm, which is roughly aligned with trying to
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: get home in time. Sure, and we have these incredible
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: electric thunderstorms. But you know, I've always had my ren
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: sit in the back and I always have a pair
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: of boots on and I ride in the rain regularly.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: But this time of the year, actually now from March
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: right up until June July when it gets really cold,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: is the best riding time of a year.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that we've had. I mean, we've had
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: some rain, we've had some varied weather, but for the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: most part, it's been within a perfect little tolerant zone.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I think, yeah, it's great.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: It's great. I mean, we've been to Swaziland before where
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: it's forty forty two degrees during the day and it's
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: it's quite it's quite hot. It's quite challenging on these
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: dirt roads for long hours. You know, that's when you
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: don't have a problem, but if you have a problem,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: it can be quite can be quite challenging to be
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: in that heat. So this has been the perfect weather.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: A little bit of cloud cover, nice cool breeze. If
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the box are moving, you're you're You're cool. Yeah, I
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: was totally comfortable.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I mean when when we have to stop and solve
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: a problem where we're fixing a tire. We had a
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: flat yesterday and that was that was a good little
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: adventure and and we got into some more challenging terrain
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: and then this morning we had a really beautiful right.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: It was incredible going through out to that down. Really good.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We love I mean, we love Joina like very
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: like a tuned We often ride I'll ride up front
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: because often I know the road a little bit better
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: than Joe, and Joe will right at the back, and
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: often we always look for these little dirt roads. They'd
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: go to the side and I'll look back to see
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: if he wants to do it or not. Well, I
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: mean we even do that when we were based in
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: a vehicle.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: We always like where does that go?
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: See where that road goes.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: I think that's universal. I think every everybody that's listening
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to this podcast, whether they're in Norway or South Africa
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: or in Arizona, they're like, yep, I know that feeling
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: when you pass by that dirt road that climbs up
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the side of a mountain. That's what we did yesterday.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: We looked for the road that went up the side
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: of a mountain to the side of a mountain, and
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Joe nearly tried to make it to the top. That was.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: That was impressive.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: It looked like I had a guy then quickly realized,
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: I think I'm chewed up too.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: That was. That was funny because you and you you
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: didn't go down or anything like that, but you were
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: you were perched on the side of this hillside realizing like,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not go Where am I going to go?
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: I'm just going to freeze here? Like I got to
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: a point where I'm like, okay, you've gone too far.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: If I went any further, I think it could have
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: been quite disastrous. And then I just stopped, pulled the
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: brakes and then looked at you. Well, you guys are
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: looking at me.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: What is he doing?
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: And I knew I could get some help, And then
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: you you taught me a very good less and then
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: I'll remember for I mean forever now and we'll be
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: able to tell people as well that you know, the
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: fun failed. Tip the bike into the incline and then
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: you can walk the wheel out a little by little,
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: and then that got it, that got the bike.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: To turn ninety degrees.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so that I could exit, And that's something I
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: could have done on my own, which is great. I
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: think if I would have been on my own there,
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: I mean I probably would have just dropped the bike
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: and then dragged dragged it around, gotten back on it
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: and gone.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it's always nice when you pick up those
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: little pieces of things. Right. So, speaking of adventure bikes,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: we're all traveling extremely light. I think Alan, you might
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: have the most stuff on your on your bike, but
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: we're all traveling essentially with one bag. And it shows
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: how you can do that. You can't keep the bikes
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: really light, especially in a country like Swaziland, because we're
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: staying at these little lodges or what was the name
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: of the first place that we stayed at, Bulembu, and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: tell us the story about that, that little village.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: So Bulimba. It's an incredible little town and I love this.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: I love the story behind it and how we found it.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I don't even know, but we just stopped there. It's
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: right on the border, so they forget the border post
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: called Joseph Staal and it was a very successful asbestos
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: mine owned by the British and up until I think
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: early nineties, and the mine was closed. It was liquidated
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: a couple times actually, but eventually it was completely closed
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: and the town was abandoned. Everyone fled the town and
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: they chose better pastures in Swaziland. And it kind of
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: coincided with the AIDS crisis in Swaziland at the time,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: and there was a lot of orphans that were that
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: were left behind as part of the AIDS crisis and
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: the town Bulembu went through a couple of I think
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: the hands of the town changed a few times, but
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: eventually it landed up in the church's hands. The Bolembu
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Ministries and Balimba Ministry owns and operates the Tanya and
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: as part of the deal that they made, they look
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: after two thousand orphans in that town. Incredible, two thousand
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: and eights orphans that they look after. And how do
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: they do it. They do it through tourism as one
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: of their pillars. They've got a lot of great mountain
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: biking trails, obviously ourselves visiting. They've got beautiful little residences
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: that you can rent at. They make honey very successfully
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: that they export, and then they also make bread that
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: they export throughout the rest of the community.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: So we hate a lot of that bread. We did it.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: It's a nonprofit organization that looks after atrom children.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: It was it was really special and all of the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: people there you could see this, I mean, and so
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: far everybody in Swaziland has had this kind of joy
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: behind their countenance. But those people seemed very relaxed. And
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: we were sitting out in the morning waiting to have
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: breakfast and we could hear the workers, you know, singing
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: in as they were working. It was just really you know,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: it was incredible to hear that really special, that was
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: really neat. So in our case, we decided to eskew
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: camping and stay in these very affordable little lodges and
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: little home stays and like the place that we stayed
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: at last night had fast that's roofs and but the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: food was was incredible. And it's one of those things
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: that I think it's important for the listener to know
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: is that you have this idea that overlanding has to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: include camping, and this entire trip, we're not going to
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: camp because our experience was made better by interacting with
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the locals and staying, like right now at a game
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: reserve where we see warthogs cruising around and there's cactus
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: in the I mean a cactus. There's there's crocodile. Crocodile
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: in the water in the water behind us. Maybe I'm
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: missing Arizona, Texas exactly, but it was. I think it's
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: made so much more rich when you're able to interact
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: with a culture, especially one that's as special as this. Now,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: maybe with the draw of a place like Namibia in
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: addition to the people being beautiful there, but there's so
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: much open space that you actually do want to do
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: more camping in a place like maybe, or if you're
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: in the Kalahari where there's just not a lot of
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: people and not a lot of infrastructure, so then the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: camping becomes the high point or the joy of course
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: of that experience. But it also allowed us to pack
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: super light and I've got a small ether duffel on
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the back of my bike strapped down. Joe, you've got
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: to triumph top case. Yeah, and then Alan, you've got
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: just one pannier.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll go to a single penny and a tank bag
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: which I'll just keep my the stuff I need sense, sure,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: sunglosses tie push on. Yeah.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: No, it's nice to be able to travel that simple
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: and that light and you just kind of deal with it.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe not all your clothes are always clean or whatever,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: but you just kind of take each day as it comes,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: and I think that's pretty nice. I did laundry in
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: my room last night because I was just running out
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: of stuff.
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: And normally on my trips, I mean, being a photographer
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: and also like I don't know if I'm one of
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: those big gadget guys, but I always like bring towards
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: this that. And in the past couple of years, I've
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: started taking note of what I didn't use on the
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: trip because I realize oftentimes I just get so overwhelmed,
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: where is this or I need this? And so for
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: this trip, it was great to pack quite light. Granted
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: the first day I had twelve beers tall beer.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: You made a priority tour.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we needed beer for the first night.
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: The night the place we say, the first night, there's
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: no alcohol in the town, so we prepared. We had
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: twelve Jack Black cans, and I was so glad onceas
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: are gone, because then a saved weight, saved space, sure,
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: and then everything basically fits in the bag.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's an important reminder and it is
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: something that we talk about on this podcast all the time,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: is that whether it's a nine hundred or eight hundred,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: both are very affordable motorcycles. Even the twelve hundred XC
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: that I'm on comes in write at about fifteen thousand dollars,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: which can be ten thousand dollars less than some competitors
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: on the market. And we're traveling super light. We don't
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: have a lot of gadgets, so it's experienced rich. We're
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: not distracted. I mean I think I had an Apple
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: adapter so I could listen to music break, but like
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: for the most part, I just don't have a lot
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: of stuff with me that's making me worried or distracting
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: me or fiddling with stuff on the bike. It is
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: nice and then you can focus totally on the experience
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and like getting here today, we just like there's a pool,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: we're going to go, you know. So we did have swimsuits,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: but there was enough room for that. That was important,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: that was important to bring along. So that kind of
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: brings us a little bit back to riding motorcycles in
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Southern Africa. Alan what would you recommend someone that is
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: maybe wants to travel in Southern Africa on a motorcycle.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Who do they connect with to rent bikes? You guys
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: do trips as well. What would you kind of say
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: is a high point adventure in addition to the one
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: that I just did with you guys, But what would
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: be like a high point adventure for someone that wanted
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: to come and visit Southern Africa on a bike.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, this terrain, all this part of the world
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: is so well documented for adventure motorcycle travel. The market
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: is incredibly saturated. Pretty sure, if you went on Google
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: right now and you just searched travel by a motorcycle
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: in South Africa, you'd probably find thirty forty different credits
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: and sites where you could probably arrive at the airport,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: pick up your GS twelve hundred and disappear with the
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: GPX track. And we ourselves specifically don't focus on that.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: One of the things that I battled with as a
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: motorcycle rider getting into the industry so much later on
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: in Love I think it was twenty four to twenty five,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: is that the traditional motorcycling model didn't appeal to me.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: So living in Joeburg and they had my old endfield
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: and we'd ride out to Hottebersport Dam, which is where
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: all the motorcycle riders go on the weekend. And I
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: didn't enjoy it one bit. And I was like, that's
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: so weird, you know, like I don't fit into this
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: traditional model of motorcycling. And it's the same with adventure motorcycling.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: And so what we did is we kind of thought, well,
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: like I want to see I want to see Swaziland.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: I wanted to show Joe Swaziland. I wanted to show
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Joe list to do he hadn't been. So we just
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: kind of went and did like reki trips over and
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: over again, and we figured out that these rekis other
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: people wanted to join us, and those other people that
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: wanted to join us on those reki trips or on
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: the actual trips, they didn't quite fit into the other crowds,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: whether the hot abers Put crowd or the GS crowd
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: or the KTM crowd or whatever the crowd was. It's
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: irrelevant of what motorcycle. It was just a persona that
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: was going on those trips. So what we did is
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: we focused really on the experience the stuff we do
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: in between riding the motorcycle, because riding the motorcycle is
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: only one part of it. And it's the same like
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: you guys always talk about it in overlanding. It's like sure,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: like overlanding's great, but the destination is getting there safely,
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: Like that's that's why we do it. So what we
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: really wanted to do is put together trips. That's where
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: the experience was everything. And we're people that were like
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: misfits and maybe didn't fit in with the traditional clubs
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: or the traditional groups, or they maybe didn't have the
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: skills sometimes, you know, I found like a lot of
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: I found the same thing with like four buffering is
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: that it's like very macho, very it can be like
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: super macho, and like it's quite intimidating. Like my first
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: four buffour vehicle was a Suzuki Jimney, and I would
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: rather at these lack four buffour courses and they'd be
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: all these guys and their defenders and the hand cruisers
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that, and there's something about it, macho
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: about it that makes you feel a little bit like
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: you're not worthy or whatever. You know. Jimney Jimney was
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: great card went goes anywhere, but there's something about that
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: and we wanted to remove that. So that's that's essentially
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: what bona Fide Mortoco is is that Joe wanted to
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: explore the country. I wanted to show him the country.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: He wanted to shoot photos of me showing him the country,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: and other people wanted to do the same thing as us,
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: and that was essentially how the business was born.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Is we just so if you were going to give
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a top three trips, I think including this one here
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: in Swaziwan really special. What would be your top three
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: trips for people to come on in Southern Africa if
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: you were to list them off.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: So Swaziland's definitely there. That's one of the reasons why
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: we took you here is that it is it's my
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: favorite trip. The distances are short, but you can make
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: the distances long and technical. So you know, we're actually
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: only thirty eight kilometers right now from the border, but
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: we could take thirty minutes to that tomorrow, or we
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: could take four hours if we chose them to roads
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: and we went up through the reserves and so on
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: and so forth. If you're in trouble, you're not far
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: away from help. There's always a city of petrol station,
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: tire fixer repairer somewhere.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Drums, Yeah, we have drums starting in the background.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: Now that's Africa.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Africa.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: So Swaziland's definitely my favorite trip. And you know, we've
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: only scratched the surface. We're literally sitting on the western border,
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: so is it like we are And there's so much
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: more to see in this country, but this is a
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: really beautiful part of it and gives us a bit
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: of everything. Sini Pass and the Sutsu We've done that
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: numerous times. It's a great adventure. The road's getting more
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: and more difficult due to the fact that no roadworks
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: have been done on the pass in a couple of years.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's a really great country to go to.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: On the other side of Sonny Pass, there's beautiful ty
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: roads that have been laid, so it's a great place
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: to get a bit of both. Last year we did
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: an amazing event in the Cedarburgh, which is not an
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: area that I had previously traveled in and it is
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: really beautiful. So that's just in between Cape Town and
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: the Oatenik Work Mountains, that whole area there. There's beautiful
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: mountain passes, and we spent four days in that region
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: and that is a really special area.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: It's luck nice on the bike, yeah.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Lovely on the bus.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: So like if you see, because we grew up in
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: Johannesburg and we live here, we've mainly you know, we're
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: so close to the city, you're so close to Swaziland,
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: We're so close to Kruger. So this is where we travel.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: But if you grew up in Cape Town, you would
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: travel in the Cedarburg. It is a beautiful It's known
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: as leopard country, so there's there's hundreds of leopards had
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: in that area and it is just beautiful, beautiful terrain
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: and beautiful roads. It's a really special place. And I
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: mean I'm only talking about South Africa, so if we
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: go Southern Africa, you know, Botswana.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Is just so special.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: A couple hours to the border, you're in Botswana. It's
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: really beautiful. One of the things one of the challenges
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: with Botswana is that there's a lot of straight, long
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: roads and if you go off road in Botswana, it's
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: immediately in each sand.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, if.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: You want to let danitize them, then do take four
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: hours to do twenty kilometers. Then they'res on places to
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: go and maybe it is also like really well documented
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: for riding, but often also on adventure and dirt bikes.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: But Jo and I have dreams to take modern classics
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: to those very destinations through the Machadigi pans in Botswana
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: all they along to the Skeleton coast in the Mobia
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: like it can be done, Like you know, we've also
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: part of the tale of one of our business models
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: is to offer training because we realize that a lot
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: of people you don't need the best motorcycle to do
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: these trips, but one thing you definitely need is a
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: little bit of knowledge and a little bit of help.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: So we've really focused on that because then you will
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: take you one of two one hundred ups on apos.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I've always felt that if people would just invest
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: the first dollars that they would spend on their vehicle
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: or their motorcycle on training, it would completely not only
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: change how well they performed as a driver or a writer,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: it would change the things that they would buy too,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: because they would realize, oh, what I actually need is
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: when everything else fails, I need a way to get unstuck.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Or like we found when all else failed, you need
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: a way to fix a tire or whatever. You find
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: out that things that you need are totally different once
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: you have that training and experience. So if there is
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: there a story that you've always wanted to tell, there
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: is there an adventure that you've always wanted to go
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: on and document with with video with motion, has there
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: ever been something that you'd love to go there and
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: do this?
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: I think I think I've done a couple of trips
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: to Botswana where in a vehicle in a car, and
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: I'm desperate to do that on a motorcycle and for
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: it to be documented properly. And I'm desperate to do
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: it on a modern classic on what most people would
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: think is a less capable motorcycle. I mean, I could
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: probably go on YouTube right now and find one hundred
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: videos of guys riding more appropriate motorcycles through what's one
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: end of the view. But I'd love to go and
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: do it on a boontable with standardize.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: I think it could totally be done. I mean, like
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: we saw today, just like I'll be up on the
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: pegs and thinking I'm all hardcore and then come around
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: a corner and here's somebody in a CRV just like
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: picking in their way, the locals picking their way through.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: So I think, like to your point about Sonny Pass,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, the one thing that a bike like the
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: twelve hundred XC allows is a lot more speed, so
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: you can travel across the terrain at much higher speeds
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: because it can take larger events, right, whereas if you
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: just slow down. Yeah, I think about I mean, every
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: local in the world one twenty five or they're on
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: a one fifty little Honda with their buddy on the
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: back and the buddies holding a goat, right, and they
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: get through all of the same stuff that we do.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: So I think it's totally feasible. In fact, it might
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: even be a little easier when your feet are closer
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: to the ground and you're not traveling so fast.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Always because the feet close to the ground. Yeah, and
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: slightly slight speed, but I mean that makes you enjoy
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: what you get to look, you get to see things.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: That's been one of the things that I really enjoyed
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: about this trip is that we have sections where we
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: kick the speed up and we let it hang out
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: there a little bit, but then we slow down and
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: we have a great lunch, or we stop and talk
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: to the locals and take take selfies with their cameras,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: and yeah, it's it's been. I mean, Southern Africa is
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: amazing for me. It is definitely this draw to continue
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: to come back. So Joe, tell the listeners where they
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: can learn more about you? Where do they find you?
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: On Instagram?
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: So, being six seven, I've got a very appropriate Instagram
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: mandle it's so tall right.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Now, So tall right now. Yeah, I think it was.
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: Kind of a spin off of like so hot right
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: now that I'm so hot right now, but I was like,
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: I'll take so Tall right now. So yeah, most of
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: my work is all on So Tall right now, like
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: a documented most of my stuff goes up there. That
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: seems to be the best platform for me. Also Instagram,
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: and then both Alan and myself run the Bonafide Motoco
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: Instagram account as well.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: And then and then if somebody comes to Johannesburg and
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: they need a haircut or a beard.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: Trim, yes, they will tell.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Them a little bit about your part of your day job.
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so the other pillars of bona Fide. So actually
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: how Bonafide Motoco started was through Bonafide Beards. Kind of backtracking,
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: I've had an amazing talent of growing facial hair, and
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: in the military, my lieutenant called me Chops because I
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: would push the limits on my sideburns. I hated shaving
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: because I have to shave every time.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: I had.
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: My wife enjoyed me on Instagram because I had a
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: handlebar mustache when I lived in San Diego, so I've
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: always had facial hair. So my wife said, you know
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: what all so she made a beard bomb and I
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: think the first batch was close. Second batch spot on,
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: and I loved it.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: So we came up with Bonifie Beards, got a website.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: And all of our products that we've had through the
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: years are all natural. And after a couple of years
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: of selling the product, we were like, you know what,
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: we need a retail space. And there was a coffee
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: shop near our house called Urban Grind, big wood Cloud building.
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: They make sweet They make the best cup of coffee
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: in Johannesburg. And we got to know the owner and
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: he had some space and he said, look, I'll build
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: a shop for you.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: So he started building the shop and it was the
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: first time in my.
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: Life that I actually had a hot towel shave, and
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: that was actually probably one of the first times in
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: my life that I was really jealous that it didn't
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: have hair.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Because I wanted to have the experience. So being bald,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: I've not been in many barbershops. And then Alan, how
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: to how do people find out more about you? On Instagram?
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, you can find me Ellen Shinton on Instagram and
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: otherwise Bonafide Medico. Our website is www dot bonafidemotico dot com.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: We run everything through there. There's a lot of content
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: on there. All of our events so announced on there.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's a great place to catch up with us.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Well, and it's been so fun hanging out with you guys. Obviously,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: you guys produce great content that we feature in the magazine,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: but most importantly I consider you guys great friends and
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: it was so nice to enjoy Southern Africa with you
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: and hopefully I'll get you both out to America for
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: some adventures. But I think we're gonna wrap up this
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: podcast because the locals they're dancing around the fire and
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: there's what's going on. There's a very cool vibe happening
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: right now in Swaziland. So we're gonna let you all
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: go and we're going to get right back to the adventure,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: so we'll talk to you next time. Cheers by, Cheers
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: H