While the large animals like Giraffe, Zebra, Eland, Kudu and Roan usually get the most attention, Summerplace Game Reserve is home to over 40 species of larger mammals. This variety not only makes visits more interesting for guests, but it helps ensure a balance of the local ecosystem. Here’s a summary of which animals you can expect to see at Summerplace Game Reserve.

Summerplace was originally a cattle farm, which underwent a shift to a self-catering family accommodation and mountain biking destination in 2020. Then, in 2021 the owners acquired the neighbouring farms and transformed it into a game reserve. It’s now all three – self-catering family accommodation venue, mountain biking destination and game reserve.

As a farm in the Waterberg, there was always some resident wildlife, including Kudu, Waterbuck, Impala and most larger mammals, such as Duiker and Warthog. But the removal of the fences from neighbouring farms, which already had some game, saw the arrival of Zebra and Wildebeest and an increase in the number of Waterbuck among others.

The introduction of Giraffe in the past year was quite exciting. They’re not easy to transport and they’re a wonderful addition to the reserve. A total of 18 were brought in and there have already been two babies born on the reserve. Other animals recently introduced are antelope, including Eland, Roan, Sable, Tsessebe and Southern Reedbuck. These antelope species are all part of the Summerplace conservation programme. In early April 2023, more Mountain Reedbuck will be introduced to the reserve.

In terms of canine predators, there are Brown Hyena, Black-backed Jackal and Bat-eared Fox; while the feline predators include Leopard, Caracal, African Wild Cat and Serval. Other small predators at Summerplace are Honey Badger and Small-spotted Genet. Other interesting small mammals include the Ground Pangolin, the Cape Porcupine, the Aardwolf and the Aardvark.

Here’s the full list of mammals at Summerplace Game Reserve as at end of March 2023: Aardvark, Rock Hyrax, Scrub Hare, Jameson’s Red Rock Rabbit, Cape Porcupine, Springhare, South African Ground Squirrel, Tree Squirrel, South African Galago (Bush Baby), Chacma Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Ground Pangolin, Aardwolf, Brown Hyena, Leopard, Caracal, African Wild Cat, Serval, African Civet, Small-spotted Genet, Slender Mongoose, Banded Mongoose, Bat-eared Fox, Black-backed Jackal, Honey Badger, Striped Polecat, Plains Zebra, Bushpig, Common Warthog, Giraffe, Greater Kudu, Bushbuck, Eland, Blue Wildebeest, Tsessebe, Roan, Sable, Common Duiker, Southern Reedbuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Waterbuck, Steenbok, Impala.

“This kind of diversity, such as we have at Summerplace is a sign of a healthy eco system. If we were missing any key components, we would need to investigate why,” said John Mackie, Summerplace Game Reserve’s Conservationist.

Four animals that are found in the region, but have yet to be confirmed at Summerplace Game Reserve are: Striped Polecat, Dwarf Mongoose, South African Large-spotted Genet and Southern African Hedgehog.

“We’d like visitors to be on the lookout for the Southern African Hedgehog when hiking, running or riding,” said Mackie. “David Baber, who has lived at Summerplace for more than 50 years, says that they were quite common when he was a youngster. But none have been seen in 30 years.

“That matches a worrying pattern all over Southern Africa. When small creatures like that disappear, it could be a sign of bigger things to come. Certain frogs, insects and birds are good indicators of a healthy ecosystem. It’s a bit of a mystery as to what has happened to Southern African hedgehogs in general. We are very keen to hear if any hedgehogs are spotted at Summerplace for this reason,” added Mackie.

‘Your microphone is muted’. ‘Can you hear me now?’ You won’t experience this when you hold a corporate conference at Summerplace Game Reserve. Zoom or Teams meetings are fine for quick chats, but to establish real business progress, in-person discussion and debate is still the most impactful form of communication and strategisation. Here are five compelling reasons your business should book its next conference at Summerplace.

FULL FOCUS

There’s something about leaving familiar surroundings and heading away for a corporate breakaway that helps create a sharp focus on the theme of the conference. By being distanced from daily chores and responsibilities, you and your colleagues or clients will sharpen your focus on the important matters being presented or discussed to ensure there’s efficiency and progress.

IT’S A BREAKAWAY, BUT NOT FAR AWAY

Summerplace Game Reserve is just a 2hr15min drive from Pretoria and another 30 minutes from Johannesburg. An easy travel distance that takes you away from the chaos of the city and into the tranquility of the bush. The roads to Summerplace are in good condition and the final gravel road has been rebuilt to make it possible for all motor cars to reach Summerplace Game Reserve comfortably.

NO LOADSHEDDING DISRUPTIONS  

Summerplace Game Reserve is fully powered by solar, which means that loadshedding won’t disrupt your business conference or your accommodation experience. Although remote, Summerplace Game Reserve uses satellite Wi-Fi to ensure you’re always connected at our conference venue and lodges.

DOWNTIME REALLY IS DOWNTIME

At Summerplace Game Reserve there is no city noise, grimy air, or night-sky light pollution. It’s pure Waterberg wilderness, which means that the downtime at your conference delivers true relaxation in a peaceful environment for your colleagues or clients.

ENGAGING BUSH ACTIVITIES

As one of the leading wilderness trails destinations in South Africa, Summerplace Game Reserve offers a network of engaging trails for mountain biking, trail running and hiking. We have a fleet of rental eBikes – ideal for those that don’t own their own bikes but who want a memorable riding experience. With over 40 species of large mammal wildlife, we also offer sunset game drives to bid a scenic farewell to the day.

To find out more about our corporate conference options, email bookings@summerplacegamereserve.com

When you visit Summerplace Game Reserve, you’ll most likely encounter free-range Roan Antelope. This is quite special because in 1985 there were only around 200 left in South Africa. A concerted effort was made to capture, protect and breed Roan and today there are around 8000 in the country. Here’s why we have brought Roan to Summerplace and how they are faring.

At up to 300kg in weight and 1.4 metres at the shoulder, Roan is the second-largest antelope (after eland). It has a grey or brown coat, a black-and-white clown-like facemask (darker in males than females) and long, large tasselled ears. Both sexes have backward-curving horns, although they are shorter in the females.

Paul Rose, a Director at Summerplace Game Reserve has a passion for conservation and, in 2021, he wanted to focus on introducing the likes of Roan, Sable and Tsesebe to Summerplace. But it first needed to be determined if the environment was appropriate for these antelope.

“We commissioned Ecologist David Lotter to examine Summerplace’s suitability to these antelope and were pleased with his findings. Although Summerplace is in the Waterberg, much of the veld isn’t typically harsh. It offers a better feeding regime than most traditional Waterberg reserves,” explained John Mackie, Summerplace Game Reserve’s Conservationist.

“At 3500 hectares, Summerplace is a nice large piece of land with lots of space, food and water. These are all very positive aspects for Roan. They’re highly selective feeders and they don’t tolerate competition at all. They will only eat and drink if there are no other animals nearby, which is why they don’t necessarily thrive in most national parks,” added Mackie.

“For this reason, at Summerplace, we need to keep the numbers of Blue Wildebeest, Zebra, Impala and even Waterbuck under control as they are competitors to Roan for feeding. We need to run with lower numbers of those animals than Summerplace can carry in order to grow the Roan population,” explained Mackie.

The long-term goal is to encourage the production of free-range herds of Roan at Summerplace. That means they’re not camp-bred and don’t require intervention of vets for survival. Mackie and his team, with significant input from friend and Roan expert Else van den Heever, were careful to source Roan from different gene pools with the right mix of ages and sexes in order to encourage free-range breeding.

“We have brought in a total of 56 Roan over the past 15 months. The good news that the calves that are being born are surviving. We have lost just one bull due to tick illness have probably had more than 12 calves,” explained Mackie.

“This is what you want. They are obviously adapting well to Summerplace and are starting to form natural herds and beginning to breed appropriately. It is however important to monitor them closely and look for signs of distress.

“Camp-bred Roan aren’t exposed to much in the way of disease and predators. Being quite a high rainfall area, Summerplace does have high tick volumes, which we actively manage (more on this in a subsequent article). And with Leopard, there is a natural predator here too,” he added.

Summerplace has undergone conversion to a game reserve over the past year and is now home to a wide range of game, some of which are endangered, vulnerable or protected species. The only member of the Big Five at Summerplace Game Reserve is Leopard. Although recently that changed when there were some unexpected visitors.

In late December, two Cape Buffalo were spotted at Summerplace Game Reserve. By the time Dave arrived in the area where they were seen, they were nowhere to be seen! A search was mounted to find the two visitors, who had somehow made their way onto Summerplace from a neighbouring reserve.

“We think they crept under the fence because we can’t find any damage to the fence,” said Dave. “They were two young females and we immediately set about trying to capture them to return them to their home next door.”

The Summerplace team began searching for the two buffalo, a surprisingly challenging task. With high summer rainfall, the bushveld vegetation is lush and where it’s dense, which is where buffalo prefer to be, it’s very difficult to see game.

The plan was to hire a vet to dart the two buffalo so that they would be sedated for moving to the other side of the fence.

“We eventually found them with a ground search. The vet managed to dart the one, but not the other. That one succumbed to the tranquiliser and we were able to load her onto a low trailer. We then woke her up and loaded her into a game transport trailer and returned her to where she came from,” explained Dave.

The search and capture of the second buffalo is ongoing. Twice a helicopter search has been carried out, but with no success. She’s been spotted on the ground though in a certain area, but the heavy recent rain has made it impossible to reach that area with any vehicles.

“She’s a young cow. If anything, she’s on the timid side. She’s certainly not aggressive. But we will eventually capture her. She’s in a part of the reserve where there aren’t any of our mountain biking or hiking trails, so no real danger to humans.” explained Dave.

“If you include the fees for the helicopter search (twice) and the vet as well as the amount of time our staff have invested in this search, we have spent a rather large amount of money and time on trying capture this remaining buffalo. It’s certainly been something different for us, but we will be happy once we can capture and return her to her home reserve,” added Dave.

There around 400 000 Cape Buffalo in Southern and East Africa. As a member of the Big Five, the large bulls are popular hunting trophies. Buffalo are high risk in terms of disease and projects to breed disease-free herds are seeing good success.

The Trail-shredding Experience – Summerplace Game Reserve – Friday 9-Sunday 11 June 2023

Join us for a weekend of trail-shredding at Summerplace Game Reserve, including the stages that will be used for Round 2 of the 2023 SA Enduro Series on 9 July. Experienced riders only please!

The Trail-shredding Experience cost is R1250 per person and includes:

• Trails fees
• Guided rides with qualified guides
• Basic mechanical support
• Meals: Friday dinner, Saturday brunch and dinner, Sunday brunch

Not included: Accommodation, drinks, any spares required for bicycle repairs.

Self-catering accommodation and camping available. To book, send a WhatsApp to 083 3025123 or email bookings@summerplacegamereserve.com

The Summerplace Mountain Bike Team has enjoyed a successful few months on the South African racing scene, with our riders excelling at regional, provincial and national level. Find out more about what our team members have achieved and what’s coming up for them in the next few weeks.

It was always going to be a big year for Lilian Baber. Her final year as a Junior came with some pressure and she’s handled that with poise. Lilian has focused on XCO racing and has won every race she’s entered, including the South African championships! It’s not her first national XCO title, but it’s her most prestigious because the Junior category has International Cycling Union recognition.

Lilian also contested the South African Marathon Championships in Paarl where she finished a close second to secure the silver medal in an event that took the riders on a very challenging course. Her primary focus over the next few weeks is the African XCO Champs in early June, followed by a month of racing in Europe.

Inus du Preez is enjoying a good season. In his second year in the Under-23 men’s division, he’s up against immense depth, especially in events were the Under-23 and Elite men are combined. It’s Inus’s first year of racing under the guidance of a coach and he’s improved considerably over last year.

He’s secured a couple of top five finishes at provincial XCO races in the Western Cape and Gauteng and he was seventh at the South African XCO Champs, just three minutes off the second and third-placed riders. At the South African Marathon Champs in Paarl, Inus finished 22^nd in a race that combined the Under-23 and Elite men.

Liz Pretorius has been focusing on marathon racing this year. She finished 6^th overall at Round 1 of the King Price Trailseeker Series event at Banhoek, but had a mechanical problem at Round 2 at Buffelsdrift. She won the overall title at the Liqui Moly MTB Challenge at Sondela, Limpopo in late May as a race-sharpener ahead of the Trailseeker race at Van Gaalen in June.

Respect Ramahasia is also focusing on marathon distance events. At Round 2 of the King Price Trailseeker Series at Buffelsdrift, he finished 53^rd overall and 18^th in the Senior Men’s division. He was then fifth overall the Liqui Moly MTB Challenge at Sondela in late May and will be in action at Round 3 of the Trailseeker Series at Van Gaalen in June.

While Respect and Liz will continue to race in local marathons over the coming weeks, Lilian and Inus prepare to head to Europe for a month where they will contest four international races in Switzerland and France. This is part of Lilian’s preparation for the 2023 UCI World Championships in Scotland, while for Inus, it’s a chance to experience the intensity of European racing.

A big thanks for Lynnwood Cyclery for ensuring the team’s bikes are in peak racing condition and the Paul and Ashlea Rose for their commitment to developing South African cycling talent and backing our riders.

The Summerplace Enduro on Sunday 9 July forms Round 2 of the South African Enduro Series and Round 3 of the Gauteng Enduro Series, presented by Suzuki. A strong field of racers from around the country is expected to tackle the iconic trails, which trail-builder, David Baber, has been building with a truly Waterberg feel.

Following the success of the 2022 Summerplace Enduro, which formed part of the Gauteng Enduro Series, there was no hesitation by Cycling South Africa and Gauteng Cycling to include the Limpopo venue in the national and provincial series respectively. The quality and variety of the trails is important for an Enduro event and Summerplace comfortably ticked those boxes in 2022. But for 2023, more trails are being built that will add even greater value to the Enduro event.

“We only used the trails on our original land for the 2022 Enduro event. At the time we had recently acquired neighbouring farms and have since been steadily building trails on that land, which offers some generous elevation and more variety for Enduro lines,” explained Baber, co-owner and trail-builder at Summerplace Game Reserve.

“We are planning to have six Enduro stages for this year’s Summerplace Enduro, four of them brand new and the other two will be chosen from our existing trails, which riders enjoyed in 2022,” he added.

The new stages are all on a long, south-west-facing slope that offers good elevation, longer riding distance and rocky ridges. This will make the event more challenging in total distance and duration as the transfers will be longer than in 2022. The new trails that will be used for Summerplace Enduro stages are: Tumbleweed, Load Shredder, Skyfall and Red Mountain.

The Summerplace Enduro stages will range in duration from 1 minute 20 seconds to around five minutes for the winners; and they include fast, flowy sections, rocks, flat corners, berms and jumps. All the stages have flow, but it’s flow that Baber has created using the natural features and gradient.

“I have been mindful that this Enduro needs to test riders’ skill, stamina, line-choice ability and bikes in order to be considered worthy of a South African series event. But on every stage, I have made sure that there’s fun because that’s ultimately why we ride mountain bikes, right?” smiled Baber.

Round 1 of the 2023 Enduro SA Cup https://www.treadmtb.co.za/duncan-kotze-conquer-tough-conditions-to-win-enduro-series-opener/ took place at Thaba Trails in Johannesburg in February, where KwaZulu-Natal’s Keira Duncan and Gauteng’s Julia Kotze were the overall men and women’s winners. In order for racers to be in contention for the SA Cup series titles, they need to complete all four rounds, which should see a strong contingent of racers at the Summerplace Enduro in July.

Those keen to get a preview of the Summerplace Enduro stages would benefit from The Trail-shredding Experience from Friday 9-Sunday 11 June 2023, where all the stages will be included in the weekend’s riding, with local trail guides. More details here. https://www.summerplacegamereserve.com/copy-of-david-baber-master-trail-bu

Lodge accommodation at Summerplace is already booked for the weekend of the event, but there is still camping space as well as accommodation at neighbouring venues. Email bookings@summperlacegamereserve.com for enquiries.

Everyone knows that the better your skills, the more you can enjoy your mountain biking. But not everyone makes an effort to invest in improving their skills. Well, that wasn’t the case for 49 mountain bikers that attended the fourth annual Waterberg Summer Skills Camp from 4-5 January 2023 at Summerplace Game Reserve. Here’s what went down and information about the next one.

If ever there was a perfect venue to host a mountain bike skills training camp, it’s Summerplace Game Reserve. Every January there’s a group of mountain bikers of varying levels that spend three days at the Waterberg Training Camp and leave with improved confidence, honed skills and an eagerness to keep improving.

Organised and hosted by Summerplace Game Reserve, the skills camp is aimed at all levels of rider – and all ages. The majority of the participants at the 2023 edition were youngsters, but there were also parents of those riders that enjoyed the benefits as well as adults relatively new to mountain biking keen to develop their ability.

Summerplace Game Reserve is one of South Africa’s premier mountain biking destinations and is specifically geared to deliver stimulating, memorable mountain biking experiences, including training camps, skills clinics and various mountain biking events or races. There’s a range of primarily singletrack purpose-built trails, which include features and obstacles to challenge mountain bikers.

The Summerplace Game Reserve Trails Team, under the expert guidance of co-owner, David Baber, is constantly building fresh trails and upgrading existing trails. Ahead of the January Skills Camp they enhanced the main skills area in front of the Bike Village with more jumps, rocky roll-downs and other challenging features.

A total of 65 people attended the multi-day camp, which was structured to ensure the riders were challenged and progressed at their own pace. Obviously, parents of the children were there, some of whom participated in the skills camp, but all of whom made it into a fun, family getaway to the bush.

There were six experienced and certified coaches that took the riders through a range of skills over the three days in an effort to ensure they better understood the fundamental elements of corners, technical climbs, roll-downs/drop-offs, technical climbs and jumps.

“Most skills clinics take place over a few hours. But to attend a skills camp over a couple of days at an appropriate venue like Summerplace ensures that everyone gets ample time to learn and practice their new skills techniques. The skills coaches at this camp are also available to help any rider with a little extra time and focus to ensure that everyone leaves a more competent mountain biker,” said Markus van Niekerk, Chief Skills Instructor.

“A multi-day skills camp like this also creates an opportunity for families to spend time together as well as allow mountain bikers to meet new people with a similar passion and even make new friends,” added Van Niekerk.

The 2023 Waterberg Winter Skills Camp will be held from Friday 30 June-Sunday 2 July. Details are still being finalised, but it’s sensible to make an accommodation booking soon to avoid disappointment as numbers are limited. Email bookings@summerplacegamereserve.com to secure you place.

Mountain biking is part of our DNA at Summerplace Game Reserve. How can it not be when we have world-class trails, good year-round weather and staff that live and breathe mountain biking? We also invest in our people and have established a Summerplace Mountain Bike Racing team for 2023, comprising entirely of staff members. Meet the team and find out about their goals for 2023.

There are five members of the Summerplace Mountain Bike Team. Four of them are young and very competitive. They are Lilian Baber (Lily), Ignatius du Preez (Inus), Eliz-Mari Pretorius (Liz) and Respect Ramashia. The fifth member is David Baber, who is an occasional competitor, but always-on manager of the squad.

Although the team is new, there is a lot of experience and credibility within the squad members, who are fortunate to be able to do all of their training and race-preparation on the Summerplace Game Reserve trails and roads.

For 2023, Lily and Inus are focusing on XCO racing during the first half of the year. They are competing at all the SA Cup XCO rounds as well as the XCO National Championships.

Over the past few years, Lily has been a multiple national XCO champion and is aiming to add the Junior Women’s national XCO champs title to her list of titles this year. She won Round 1 of the 2023 SA XCO Cup in Stellenbosch recently and, with the support of Summerplace, looks set for a strong showing this year.

As of end-February 2023, Lily is No. 8 on the UCI XCO Junior Women rankings. She will be racing some international events later in the year, including a couple of UCI World Cup rounds and, if selected, the World Championships in Scotland.

Inus races in the Under-23 Men’s division which competes with the Elite men. Against a strong international field at Round 1 of the 2023 XCO SA Cup in Stellenbosch earlier this month he finished a respectable 19^th (14^th South African).

Both Inus and Lily will compete at the 2023 SA Marathon Champs in Paarl in early March. It’s always a prestigious event and fits in well with their racing schedule for the first half of the year.

In the second half of the year, Inus and Lily will add some Enduro racing to their schedule. Lily is the current South African Junior Women’s Enduro Champion and is one of the fastest women overall in this discipline. Despite not focusing fully on this discipline yet, Inus is the current Gauteng Under-23 Men’s Enduro Champion.

Liz and Respect have committed to racing the King Price Marathon Series. With six events in four provinces, it’s not only the largest marathon series in South Africa, but also the biggest in the world!

At Round 1 in late January at Banhoek, near Stellenbosch, Liz finished a very respectable sixth overall in the women’s race and third South African. Both Liz and Respect will contest Round 2 at Buffelsdrift, Pretoria on 11 March.

“We are very proud of our mountain bike team. They are highly committed and very focused on their goals,” said Simone Baber, Summerplace Game Reserve Director. “We have had really beautiful kit made with Santini and the team members are great ambassadors for Summerplace Game Reserve wherever they are training or racing.

“By committing our riders to XCO, Enduro and Marathon races throughout the country, we are both spreading Summerplace Game Reserve awareness and supporting our talented staff members. We want every mountain biker in South Africa to come and enjoy our amazing trails and wonderful bushveld hospitality,” added Baber.

To find out more about Summerplace Game Reserve, visit the website here: https://www.summerplacegamereserve.com

Summerplace Game Reserve has become one of the premier mountain biking destinations in South Africa. There are a few reasons for this, but mostly, it’s the trails. And the man behind the trails is David Baber. Here’s some insight into one of South Africa’s finest trail-builders.

Most call him Dave because that’s less formal than David. But also, because he rides with most of the guests that visit Summerplace and he develops a relationship with almost everyone that has ridden his trails. He likes to show other mountain bikers his trails and he likes to see the smiles and hear the satisfied post-ride banter. Dave is in touch with his target market every single day.

Dave turned 50 recently. Because he rides daily, he’s fitter and more skilled than most 50-year-olds. He also only builds trails at Summerplace. It’s his land which he has lived on all his life. He bought Summerplace from his dad when he was 22 with a loan from the bank and he predominantly farmed cattle for more than three decades.  When his kids, Ben, Josh and Lilian, started mountain bike racing in 2012, Dave started to build trails for them on the farm.

“They all raced XCO. When I saw different XCO courses I came home and built trails that would help our kids train for that kind of racing. That eventually developed into building longer trails as my passion for building trails and riding them grew,” explains Dave of how he got into trail-building.

Ben and Josh no longer race, but Lilian (18) has continued and is the current top all-round Junior women’s racer in the country. She is the reigning national Enduro and XCO champion and finished a close second at the 2023 SA Marathon Champs.

“Because I travel with Lili a lot for her racing, I make a point of either riding or examining the trails in different parts of the country. I have also done a few Enduro races to get a feel for the trails at popular South African trails parks to ensure I’m staying ahead with what I’m building at Summerplace,” explains Dave.

There is over 100km of mountain bike trails at Summerplace now, most of it singletrack. Although Dave is aware of other trails parks in the country, he likes to ensure that his trails in the Waterberg have a signature feel. Dave has a way of embracing the gradient and natural features to ensure his trails are consistently engaging and rewarding. Because there are a number of rocky ridges at Summerplace, many of the trails incorporate these. Rocky roll-downs are common, all of which are all rideable. If there’s a very technical rocky feature, Dave creates a B Line around it.

“I don’t like boring trails, so I ensure all my trails have features to stimulate the rider. If there’s no rocks, then there are plenty of flat corners or some jumps to ensure riders of my trails are challenged,” he explains. “The general skill level of mountain bikers is constantly improving and I like my trails to cater for experienced, competent riders.”

Having said that, there are still ample trails at Summerplace for those who aren’t too skilled or strong.

Around 18 months ago, when Paul Rose became a partner at Summerplace Farmstay, they acquired the six neighbouring farms and created Summerplace Game Reserve. This expanded the land area to 3500 hectares and expanded Dave’s mountain bike trail canvas, which he has relished! They also employed a team of eight to help Dave build and maintain the trails.

“We are constantly building new or enhancing existing trails. While we have the machinery to build trails, we still build the trails by hand. This gives the trails a more natural feel, both from a riding perspective and an aesthetic perspective,” explains Dave. “I like to find the flow in nature on my trails and the only way you can really achieve that is by walking the land to mark out the line for new trails.”

Although he does build them, don’t expect to find many berms at Summerplace.

“I place berms where they are obviously needed, but only to ensure flow is maintained. The way I build my trails already includes natural flow. I also want to reward riders that know how to corner properly. By building too many berms you take that away. Berms also require constant maintenance and as a wilderness trails park, that’s not our focus,” adds Dave.

Dave is a qualified mountain bike skills instructor. He uses that to help anyone that’s struggling on certain features at Summerplace.

“Most trails feature hesitancy is because the rider hasn’t been taught how to ride that particular feature. I like people to leave Summerplace better riders than when they came, so I find myself giving skills advice quite often. We do also offer formal skills training sessions at Summerplace for those that want a fully focused formal session or two,” says Dave.

Dave is an ambassador for Lynnwood Cyclery, https://www.lynnwoodcyclery.co.za the Specialized store in Pretoria. He currently does most of his riding on the new Stumpjumper Evo, but also loves his Enduro.

Ask anyone that’s ridden mountain bikes at Summerplace about the trails. You’ll get a smile, followed by compliments. If you haven’t yet ridden David Baber’s trails, you’re missing out. Summerplace Game Reserve has elegant self-catering accommodation as well as camping. This is important. You need a few days to really ride all the trails and appreciate Dave’s craftsmanship. Book your next mountain biking trip here https://www.summerplacegamereserve.com/copy-of-accommodation-1  and see why Dave’s trail-building is so respected.