4000 Km’s – North to South
By Penny Winter
I first met Benji in November 2018. It was 3am outside a backpackers hostel in New Delhi and my streetwise South African imagination was running wild. I had paid K10 to hire a bike from a friend of a friend of an acquaintance for a month because the bike hire company I’d contacted weeks earlier no longer had a suitable bike for me… now I was having misgivings whether this guy who lived 3000kmaway in the South of India and his bike would even materialise from under the street lights , and if he did, how I was going find my way out of this dervish city and north through Uttar Pradesh to Mussoorie, a town up in the Uttarakhand foothills of the Himalayas where my intended 4000km journey from the North to the South of India in 30days was to begin… I rode some of the way with another UK biker Barry Joyce but mostly, I rode alone.
Such are our misconceptions of India, I was in a cold sweat despite the warm sleeping breath of Delhi and anxious to start as early as possible to miss the chaotic traffic (which never actually stops). Well, Benji did arrive on time and I was presented with a beautiful clean well serviced 400cc Royal Enfield Himalayan. Benji helped me strap my luggage on and gave me a preloaded Indian simcard with 1.5G data per day (yes per day for the then equivalent of R60 for the entire month) and the best google maps route to follow via spectacular vistas, places of interest and fuel stops etc. There is good cell signal in most parts of India and his bikes are fitted with cell phone holder/charger so your maps app can run 24/7, which believe you me, you certainly need.
From then on Benji whatsapped me daily suggested routes, practical tips and colourful places of interest. If I was ever in a hot pickle as to what food I should order off a mystifying menu or how much to reasonably pay for accommodation, or stranded with a bike issue like a puncture, I would get Benji on the line and let him do the negotiating, a brief telephonic debate would ensue, then Benji would comprehensively translate to me what had been decided and the third party would demurely comply. It was brilliant!
Nothing quite prepares you for your first glimpse of the majestic Himalayas with your own eyes, their sheer magnificence as they gleam white against blue above the grey cloud inversion layer is unforgettable. My route took me southeast via Lake Tehri and on down the Alakananda River Valley, a major tributary of the Ganges, sparkling clean and milky blue with glacial melt (why was I expecting anything else?!). Then it was down onto the vast populated plains of Rajasthan, through the Jim Corbett National Park and into Agra to entangle myself in the biggest traffic storm of my life, a captivated spectator of the 400yr old Mughal built mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, in the flamboyant pyrotechnic throws of Diwali.
From there it was southwest to the ancient temple city of Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur and Udaipur. By this time my understanding of the road rules was beyond intimidated, my lucky last minute escapes out of the paths of charging busses were in excess of 9 lives, and my courage had fled. I found it easier to park my motorbike at my lodgings and catch tuktuks around towns. The drivers, armed with local knowledge and enthusiastic hooters, were generally fearlessly keen to show one everything of possible interest, the best places to take photos, to eat, cheap stone carvings etc where “I’m on a bike, I have no space!!!” is regularly repeated by you, and answered with a big smile and a head wobble in the hope of an improvement on the pre-negotiated fee one must always agree on BEFORE you climb in (NB)
And then I was over the chaos. I rerouted for quiet backroads, peace and space! And yes, India has plenty of that too. I headed on through the Purna Wildlife Sanctuary to Agonda, a rustic local fishing beach just south of Goa for a few days, casting hot biker-gear and caution to the wind. Floating bootless in the Indian ocean (just like a happy Vaalie in Durban, I thought) and enjoying the fume free sea breeze (blowing across the gentle waves from mother Africa, I imagined).
Then I headed inland, enormous banyan fig trees, coconut and rubber plantations giving way to towering tropical jungle, up astounding twisting mountain passes, around countless dizzy hirpin bends, breathtaking vistas and inland into the highland coffee plantations of Coorg, through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and tea covered hills of Ooty, Coornoor and Valpari where I met up with Benji and his friend Barry ,a legend in his own right having ridden solo from UK to India via the silk route in his day. They joined me through the Anamalai Tiger reserve to Munnar and finally Cochin airport to catch my connecting flight home. I was out of time with unfinished business! A year later I would be back to ride another 3000kmexploring Kerala and finally reach Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India.
But that is another story…
How to do India on a bike:
South African’s need a visa (start application online with the Indian consulate) and a return air ticket.
Benji is my recommended go to bike hire contact (and now good friend) If he can’t ride with you, he will help you plan your route.
If you like remote, he can arrange a backup vehicle with driver/ mechanic for luggage/husbands etc. for about rs50 000 to be divided among the riders.
Comfortable ensuite accommodation averages rs2000 pp per night sharing.
Food averages rs500-1000pp per day depending on where you eat.
Fuel costs are very similar to South Africa
There are MasterCard friendly autobanks in most centres (R1 ≈ rs4.5 plus bank charges)
Bike hire costs up to rs1400per day but may vary depending on what you ride and where you need bikes collected or delivered, it is best to contact Benji directly regarding this. I found the 200cc Hero X-pulse @50km/litre very adequate. Big bikes are not particularly suited to getting through tight congested Indian traffic
He can also arrange airport transfers (public transport and Indian trains can initially be intimidating).
I felt extremely safe as a woman travelling alone, of course it helps to have a competent reliable contact to help with logistics and planning, plus it is less third world than you think and is very affordable for South Africans
+91 94471 33833 (they are four hours ahead of us)
prakashbenjamin@gmail.com
I have re-visited twice and solo-biked around a few more interesting parts of the vast and fascinating Indian subcontinent in 2019 and 2022, only to discover how much still awaits discovering.
I am planning to go back to explore the Himalayan mountain territory of Ladakh with Benji and Barry this September when the snow has hopefully melted and the Sach Pass (4390m) is open.
cool feature