On adventure bikes to Wakkerstroom

Follow gravel roads through farmlands and past mountains on an adventure bike trip to Wakkerstroom. If you’re up for the challenge, you can ride the steep climb up Ossewakop. But be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart, says Willem Rudolph.

For a quick break from Johannesburg over the Women’s Day weekend in 2024, Willem Rudolph took his wife to Wakkerstroom. They wandered around the little town and enjoyed the serenity of the Wakkerstroom wetland.

The pretty Wakkerstroom church with Ossewakop in the background. Pictures by Willem Rudolph
The village has quaint shops and places to get a bite to eat.

While they loved the pretty setting, just as magical was the way there: a mostly gravel route through the countryside. Those country roads were just begging to be ridden on a motorcycle. So that’s what Willem did: he returned to Wakkerstroom on his adventure bike with a group of fellow riders.

The route to Wakkerstroom

For the first trip, which was in a 4×4, Willem had plotted a route that was 80% gravel and this is the one the bikers followed. They set off from Witkop Blockhouse, riding to Villiers and onwards to Wakkerstroom. The route meanders through the farmlands of the escarpment before dropping into the cauldron of the Battlefields region. The adventure bikers rode past resting fields, through avenues of blue gum trees and along gently undulating track. The landscape unspooled before them as the ribbon of road wound its way through the countryside.

Good gravel roads on the way to Wakkerstroom.
Stopping to stretch legs with farm buildings in the background.
The route winds into the hills.

The highlight was the view over Zaaihoek Dam, which is revealed as you crest a rise. “I knew the dam was coming up, but I didn’t tell anyone. Everyone stopped the moment they came over the hill. It’s a magnificent sight. 

“This route is very pleasant on a motorbike,” says Willem. “It’s ideal for someone who would like to wet their feet when it comes to dirt riding. Over more than 300km, we had only some 20m of sand.” But that doesn’t mean it will always be an easy ride. Anyone who regularly travels on gravel roads knows that they change according to weather conditions. In the rainy season, you might have issues with patches of clay, which could be extremely slippery on a bike.

On the approach to Zaaihoek Dam.
Zaaihoek Dam is a glittering jewel nestled between hills.

The iconic Ossewakop

Wherever you are in Wakkerstroom, you can’t miss the sight of Ossewakop. The hill is so named because of the design on the side: an enormous Voortrekker wagon and the dates 1838–1938. On the previous trip, Willem hadn’t made it up Ossewakop, so there was some unfinished business there.  

The entrance gate to the Ossewakop 4×4 Route lies some 5km out of town on a gravel road. The route to the top is just 3.5km but you’ll need all your skill to manage it. Because it’s a steep climb, sections have been covered in concrete while other areas feature tweespoor track in paving. If you’re on a bike, you’ve got to keep your momentum to make it up the slope. There is nowhere to turn around.

To add to the level of challenge, overgrown shrubs on either side of the track encroach upon the path. “I was sort of halfway when I thought to myself that I don’t have any business going up. I was trying to stay on the cement while being smacked by branches. But I just had to keep going,” says Willem. In his opinion, you need to be at least an intermediate rider to keep your balance and maintain momentum up the steep slope. Once you reach the top, you have to bump your way over rocks and grass. “It’s quite challenging physically. I track my heartrate when I ride and I burnt 809 kilocalories and recorded a maximum heartrate of 138bpm. So going up Ossewakop was like doing a 20km cycle.”

Made it to the top! The ascent of Ossewakop isn’t easy.

Good to know

Since Willem did this ride, the community of Wakkerstroom has cleared the overgrown shrubs on the ascent to Ossewakop. The stones forming the iconic images of the ox wagon and Staffordshire Knot have also been repainted.

The view from the top

The access route up Ossewakop leads from the back of the hill and up the ridgeline. After you’ve ascended along the cement and paving, you ride across grasslands towards the front of the hill. “There’s no actual road,” says Willem. Essentially, you’re following jeep tracks of 4x4s that have gone before and have flattened the grass. But if you follow the track on Tracks4Africa, it’ll take you to the viewing point.

The breathtaking view from the top of Ossewakop.

At 2,146m, the lookout point offers expansive views of Wakkerstroom and the surrounding countryside. “It’s beautiful once you get there: you can see the whole town and wetlands laid out in front of you.” There’s a bench where you can relax and a plaque that commemorates the significance of the the stone design.

The headmaster at the local high school decided to construct the giant ox wagon for the centennial of the Great Trek in 1938. Schoolboys were responsible for packing the stones in the right position, where they were then whitewashed to stand out against the hill. Each giant digit in the date is 27m long.

Homeward bound on gravel

For the way back to Johannesburg, Willem decided to follow another route. “Life is too short to do the same track two or three times. We’re blessed with so many awesome dirt roads in this country that you shouldn’t have to repeat a road.”

He used Google Earth to identify back roads through the koppies and mountains he’d seen on the way to Wakkerstroom the first time. After drawing out the route with another app, he imported it into Basecamp and onto the Tracks4Africa map.

The route exited Wakkerstroom in the direction of Amersfoort, then turns west to run through mountainous terrain. It ran roughly parallel to the first route, but was thoroughly off the beaten track. “You don’t even pass through Villiers. There are no fuel stops on this route, so I carried extra fuel on my bike,” says Willem. 

Homewardbound from Wakkerstroom on an adventure bike.
Riding past flocks of sheep on the way back.

“The way back exceeded all my expectations, I found it even more scenic than coming down on the original route.” The route led through the deep countryside, past solitary silos and across old metal bridges. At one stage Willem came upon such a pastoral scene – sheep grazing next to a brook framed by a weeping willow – that he thought he’d crossed onto private land. “I wondered if an irate farmer would come over the hill, but the next minute I saw a signpost with the speed limit.” 

A little over 330km later the route ended back at the Engen 1Stop where the ride had started. A weekend in Wakkerstroom delivered again.

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