David Baber and his team have extended the trails network at Summerplace Game Reserve to better cater for Beginner and Intermediate mountain bikers and offer more distance for Advanced riders. Here’s what’s new and why you should ride it as soon as possible…

Summerplace Game Reserve has always offered exciting trails for Advanced, skilled mountain bikers. But during 2024, landowner and avid mountain biker, David Baber, has been on a quest to add more trails that appeal to Beginner and Intermediate mountain bikers. He’s also made some of the existing trails less intimidating.

Earlier this year, the Orange Route was built. A mostly singletrack 23 km trail that explores the northwest section of the reserve, including three ascents and descents of a hill that adds a decent amount of elevation and some special views.

Over the winter, David and his team have added trails to the Langwater section of the reserve – on the left as you drive from the main gate to the Bike Village. This is primarily a savanna area with very gradual climbs and descents. This allowed for the building of trails that link the existing small game-drive roads to deliver a Brown Route, that measures 28.4km and a longer Yellow Route, that measures 39.2km.

The Brown Route is ideal for Beginner and Intermediate level riders, starting on Aloe trail and exploring the south eastern area of the reserve.

Aloe’s rocky roll-downs made it somewhat intimidating for many riders in the past, but the trails team has added loads of soil to ensure they’re now roll-downs and more accessible to a wider range of riders. These roll-downs deliver the required momentum to fully enjoy one of the most fun, flowy trails at Summerplace Game Reserve.

Mellow Miles, Killing Kilometres, Salad, Eco Mode and Great Gnu are all new trails, which take the Brown Route into the wild-life rich plains area of the reserve, where Giraffe, Zebra, Tsessebe, Kudu and Impala are regular sightings from the saddle.

The Yellow Route follows much of the Brown, but is more appropriate for Advanced and Intermediate riders looking to add distance with some engaging features.  The Yellow Route previously included Marula Flow, Marula, Aloe and Rooibos trails. It still has those, but has a fresh trail called Chicken Legs, which is now the descent off Marula Hill. It includes some switchback turns that have been superbly crafted with packed rocks. The switchbacks only occupy a short segment near the top and near the bottom of this descent, which has stunning views of the Waterberg and is a load of fun to ride.

Baber has also designed additional Beginner and Intermediate routes on less challenging sections of the original routes. So there are now five Beginner Routes totalling 78km in distance and four Intermediate Routes that offer a total distance of 94km. With 15km of jeep track and gravel roads, the new Pink Route is designed specifically for Novices.

“With our gravity trails now well established and attracting both high profile events and recreational riders seeking a challenging trails network, we have spent this year focussing on adding trails that all mountain bikers can enjoy. We now have a total of 12 mountain biking routes catering for all levels of rider,” said Baber.

Summerplace Game Reserve offers a wide range of self-catering accommodation as well as a restaurant that serves meals for hungry mountain bikers. To book your stay at Summerplace Game Reserve to ride the new trails, click here.

Many of the new trails will be incorporated into the two-stage Glacier Waterberg Traverse, which takes place at Summerplace Game Reserve from 9-11 May 2025. To find out more, or to enter, click here.