50 Years Of Yamaha XT

A spectacular weekend away with an amazing variety of Yamaha ADV machines…

Pics by… everyone!

In 2023, we ran a story about a 45 year XT weekend away – celebrating, you guessed it, 45 years of Yamaha XT. This year is the 50th year of XT and we went along, for what can only be described as the most chilled weekend of the year…

Around sixty people, literally from all over the country descended on the sleepy town of Gariep Dam and made their way to the super friendly, comfortable Chargo Lodge built on the banks of the Orange River.

It was festive! Yamaha SA had set up some branding and brought along some interesting T7’s for peeps to look at, including the new T7 Low, which they were kind enough to lend to us for the weekend. More on that soon – but we need to add that it was the perfect machine for this trip.

Refreshments were flowing, bikes were being tinkered with and there was a proper air of Camaraderie.

People had come from – literally everywhere, Namibia, the Cape, Natal, Gauteng, Polokwane… and many had made a holiday out of the journey which, if you have the time, is the correct thing to do. Dads and sons, a couple of couples, young and slightly more mature – a great cross section of lekker peeps.

The collection of Yamaha adventure machines was so impressive to see. This is a great brand that has wormed its way into thousands of South African Riders hearts.

Dinner and the briefing was at around sevenish… or was that 8… who cares, there was lots of bench racing and general Yamaha chatter happening. The briefing went something like this:

Breakfast is from sevenish – or is that eight-ish. Then you feel free to do as you like, you can go for a ride, loaf next to the pool or even wash your bike.

We’ll meet back here for lunch at One-ish with some picture opportunities in the afternoon…

And so the weekend progressed. After a late night – and a little thunderstorm in the morning just to settle the dust, breakfast happened at nine-ish, with clutch out at ten-ish – and bikes dispersed all over to explore the Gariep Dam and surrounds. There was no set route, you teamed up with a buddy or two and took off in your own direction at your own pace.

Invariably, you met up with other riders who would tell you where they had been and you’d take off to see what they had described.

It was a lot of fun.

We hooked in with world traveller Schalk Van Der Merwe on his well travelled XT660R and had a great ride. The Gariep dam floweth over right now, so the dam wall was the central theme as we explored the winding roads to all of the lookout points. We went into the Forever resort to check out the Marina and spent a poignant hour at the Norvalspont Concentration Camp.

Established in 1900 during the Anglo-Boer War, the camp initially housed Boer women and children, with approximately 400 interns by February 1901. By February 1902, there were as many as 3479 detainees. By the end of the war 412 men, women and children had died in the camp.

The names of those who died in the Norvalpont Concentration Camp are recorded on a memorial on the site to honour their memory.

Man’s cruelty to man is often pretty astonishing… but it is an important part of our history and a reminder to rather just try to be lekker.

Completed on December 17, 1890, to connect Noupoort Junction to Bloemfontein, the Norval’s Pont bridge spans 500m and was rebuilt in 1904 after being blown up by retreating Boer forces.

We Zooted back to the lodge in time for a monster burger and to get the pics sorted, which all started happening at around half past four-ish!

Once again, we marvelled at the collection of bikes – from pristine XT500’s to new T7’s, two beautiful Rally Teneres, 1200 Super Tens, TT600’s and even a little XTZ 125.

You see. Get a bunch of bikes together and happiness reigns supreme.

Dinner was scheduled for 7-ish but was probably only served at 8-ish, so in between, Sean and Mike, who put the weekend together, ably assisted by Yamaha SA’s Adrian Bac held a lucky draw prizegiving with gifts donated by – well everyone. Yamaha South Africa, Flying Brick, Shimwells, MIRA… and some bespoke prizes from two of the riders, Martin Bam and Ian Blomeyer. It was great! Everything from Motul chain lube, to buffs, tee-shirts, a custom carved clock and soft luggage was handed out to all of the smiling faces.

Sunday was an early start, people had a way to travel. Goodbyes were a protracted affair with old friends threatening to do it all again soon.

We managed to get a bit of video (Above), caution… cool guitar music in the background, don’t let your boss catch you on the phone…

We shot out on the bikes for a couple of hours again, just to get a few more pics, and to find some of the spots that we hadn’t seen yet.

After a lazy, late breakfast on the stoep overlooking the river, it was time for the long trek home to the Big Smoke.

What a cool weekend it was! New friends made, new bikes ridden – and best of all, an area explored that in the past, we’d just driven or ridden through.