tarsus – Joburg2Kili

A change of plan, our first bush camp and some R&R at Elephant Sands

Posted on 11th Aug 20161 Comment

Going into Day 10 we all decided to make a slight change to our original plan which meant we would get to our rest day location, Elephant Sands, a day earlier allowing us two rest days. So we packed up camp at Woodlands Stopover and headed out on the A3 towards Nata. We had a tailwind behind us for most of the ride which meant we managed to clock in the kilometres a lot quicker than in the past few days. Once we reached the town of Motsetse which was around 108km we decided to call it a day and locate a bush camping spot in the area.

Mike-bushcamp (640x480) — Mike giving us permission to camp on on his plot

We found a well-driven dirt road just off the main road and Warrick and Gareth went to see if they could find the owner of the land to get permission for us to setup camp there. They were successful and spoke to the owner called Mike who had no problem with us bush camping on his land.

We found a relatively clear area surrounded by trees to setup the tents. Warrick was in his element and built a very decent fire for us for the night where we enjoyed our first experience of bush camping in the middle of nowhere.

bush-camp-botswana — First bush camp in Botswana

The next morning, we had to get up relatively early as we had a long ride ahead of us to get to Elephant Sands where we are now having two rest days (we all thought it was going to be around 110km but Warrick had miscalculated and it was actually 125km). Within the first 10km we started to see lots of Baobab trees and decided to stop to get a few photos. When we stopped, Gareth couldn’t unclip his shoe from the peddle as it turned out that one of the screws had fallen off. After a few attempts to get the shoe off he finally unclipped it but he needed to find a screw to put the cleat back into place on his shoe. Luckily, Gareth and Derrick managed to find a screw that they could saw down to size that was able to fix the problem.

We then got back on the road and headed to the next main town which was Nata. As it was getting really hot (over 30 degrees) we decided to grab a quick ice-cream at the Engen garage. The boys were all still feeling hungry so we then ended up at Barcelos for a chicken burger and chips. We thought we only had around 40km to go until Elephant Sands from Nata but as Warrick had got the distances miscalculated it ended up being a further 54km to go. We were all feeling very full and sluggish after our burgers and ice-cream so it was mentally tough to get going again. We were all really hoping to see some elephants whilst we rode on the Kasane road to Elephant Sands as we kept on seeing the signs but unfortunately none were to be seen except for some red hartebeest, a few cows and donkeys.

Elephant sign on the road from Nata to Elephant Sands

We finally made it to the Elephant Sands turnoff where Bobby met up with us as he had already gone ahead with the trailer to setup camp earlier in the day whilst Bryan followed us in the Jeep. Literally as we turned onto the dirt road, Derrick came crashing down as we hit very soft sand and so he decided to call it a day. Cam managed to ride about halfway up the very sandy road before getting into the car but Warrick and Gareth deflated their tyres down so they could ride on the road all the way to camp.

As we arrived at Elephant Sands there was a herd of elephants drinking by the waterhole. It was such a treat to see them after a hard day in the saddle. The lodge has a deck literally overlooking the waterhole so you are able to get really close to the elephants here which is amazing. We are staying here for two days to rest, sleep and enjoy some time in the African bushveld.

Joburg2Kili Campsite Setup at Elephant Sands

Team mascot checking out the elephants from the deck

Elephant Sands Wi-Fi has been down for the past week and thanks to Bryan he managed to help them fix the problem which has allowed us to update all our supporters again on our progress. Tomorrow we will be back on the road again for about 100km of cycling up towards Pandamatenga where we will need to bush camp again.

Joburg2Kili for Qhubeka (powered by Tarsus) has begun – A Quick Update on our first 2 days

Posted on 31st Jul 2016Leave a comment

Our send off yesterday was absolutely amazing and we are so grateful for everyone that came to support us. Jeep kindly let us start our journey from their Fourways dealership where we were greeted by friends, family, sponsors and fellow cyclists who rode a portion of our first day with us. We were led out by ER24 and had a convoy of Jeeps follow us out the dealership which created an awesome atmosphere.

We then rode out past Lanseria Airport to Stornoway Lodge where they had setup a water/coffee stop for more of our supporters that came to wave us goodbye. After a short stop most of the cyclists that joined us left and then reality set in as there were just five cyclists left – the four Joburg2Kili cyclists plus a supporter, Deon Bester, who rode with us the whole way to ATKV Buffelspoort along with his wife, Sonja who followed in her car – thanks so much Deon & Sonja for the support!

The rest of the ride was quite tough as we had a fair amount of climbing until just past Harties where it flattened out. We had a quick stop off at the Steers on the N14 to get our energy levels back up and then rolled into camp mid-afternoon. Our total distance for our first day was 100.8km which took us 5hrs27 in ride time. We were all pretty exhausted from an awesome first day of our Joburg2KIli journey.

Thanks to ER24 for leading us out to Harties

This morning was quite a slow start to pack up but I think we will be pro’s at packing up camp in a few days time. We were very grateful to have Anthony and Giovanni from Qhubeka come through to see us off this morning which really gave us much needed motivation for a tough day on the bike.

The first half of the ride included 18km along a rutted dirt rode which was brutal on our bodies. We then hit the tar rode to Sun City and thought things could only get better but unfortunately the wind picked up making the last 50km of our ride really hard but thank goodness we had Racefood Farbars to keep our energy up. We were all very happy to roll into Bakgatla Resort in Pilansberg this afternoon which is where we are spending the night. Our total distance today was 86.58km which took us 5hrs34 in ride time so longer than yesterday due to the wind.

Tomorrow we off to Marakele which is a 93km ride – please help pray for no headwinds!

Thanks Qhubeka for coming to send us off today – Day 2

Drone pic of us taking a break on the dirt road – Day 2

Tarsus Technology Group joins the Joburg2Kili for Qhubeka Expedition as Headline Sponsor

Posted on 25th Jul 2016Leave a comment

Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 July 2016 – Tarsus Technology Group, a leading distributor of IT hardware brands in Southern Africa has joined the Joburg2Kili for Qhubeka Expedition as the Headline Sponsor.

The Joburg2Kili Expedition involves four South African adventure enthusiasts, Warrick and Camilla Kernes, Gareth Pickering and Derrick Fourie, who will be cycling Qhubeka Buffalo bicycles 4630km from Johannesburg to Moshi in Tanzania over a 10 week period to raise awareness and funds for the Qhubeka charity. Once in Moshi they will climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

As an avid cyclist himself and development champion, Miles Crisp, Group CEO of Tarsus Technology Group says, “We are pleased to be supporting the Joburg2Kili Expedition as they are helping to raise awareness for an amazing cause, Qhubeka, which provides bicycles to school children improving mobility and further boosting academic performance.”

The Joburg2Kili for Qhubeka team will be departing on the 30th July 2016 and will be riding from South Africa up to Eastern Botswana to Victoria Falls in Zambia and then onwards to Lake Malawi. Here the team will ride along the Western shore of the lake as they head North into and across Tanzania to the town of Moshi at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. The cyclists will have a support crew following them in a Jeep Wrangler both for safety and to ensure they can carry sufficient supplies along the way.

The team will be riding an average of 100 kilometres a day over a 10 week period. Rest days are planned for every fifth or sixth day. The distance of each day depends on where the next suitable campsite is, the longest riding day on the single-speed Buffalo bicycles will be 136km.

For more information on the Joburg2Kili for Qhubeka Expedition and how to make a donation in support of Qhubeka, please visit the www.joburg2kili.com website.

For press information please contact: Warrick Kernes (082 559 7786)

ABOUT TARSUS TECHNOLOGY GROUP

Established in 1985, Tarsus Technology Group (Pty) Ltd (“Tarsus” or “TTG”) is a leading technology solutions provider. It has transformed from a traditional distributor of the world’s leading IT hardware brands to being the partner of choice, providing holistic business solutions to solve the most pertinent business needs through technology solutions.

Today, Tarsus exists not only to provide world-class supply chain services to resellers but to also equip them to better serve the end-users through a range of value added technology services and specialised solutions offered by Tarsus. These services and solutions are tailored to meet the ever‑changing needs of the end-users and allows for both Tarsus and resellers to create more value from the value chain.

This shift moves Tarsus towards a customer-centric business model where the team is focused on providing solutions to meet the needs of the end-user through their reseller partners. Tarsus has become a trusted advisor who provides a complete and tailored solutions to clients.

As part of this transformation journey to offering solutions, Tarsus has completed key acquisitions, targeted specifically as a response to changing market forces impacting the operating environment such as the increasing prevalence of the nexus, virtualisation and new consumption models. These strategic acquisitions have placed Tarsus in a unique position, where they have a robust solution stack from which significant advantage can be derived.

Headquartered in Johannesburg with branches throughout South Africa and represented in SADSC as well as East and West Africa.

For more information, please visit www.tarsus.co.za

ABOUT QHUBEKA

Qhubeka is a South African non-profit organisation that helps people move forward and progress by giving bicycles in return for work done to improve communities, the environment or academic results. Having a bicycle changes people’s lives by increasing the distance they can travel, what they can carry, where they can go and how fast they can get there. Qhubeka is World Bicycle Relief’s programme in South Africa.

World Bicycle Relief is a US-based non-profit organisation dedicated to transforming individuals and communities through The Power of Bicycles. Since 2005, World Bicycle Relief has trained more than 1,100 field mechanics and provided more than 220,000 specially designed, locally assembled quality bicycles to disaster survivors, healthcare workers, students and entrepreneurs in the developing world.

For more information, please visit qhubeka.org and worldbicyclerelief.org