Find your next backroads adventure
For over twenty years Nick Yell has travelled the length and breadth of South Africa, off-the-beaten-track and mostly off-road, in search of the stories other people miss. This site is a living record of that journey: original routes, little-known historical facts, small towns with big characters, and authentic people; many of them found well off the main roads.
Whether you’re chasing your own next adventure, on two or four wheels, journey vicariously with Nick and you’ll find gritty travel stories, hidden gems, tested routes, and hard-won advice, all of which should greatly assist you in your planning.
Whether you’re chasing your own next adventure, on two or four wheels, journey vicariously with Nick and you’ll find gritty travel stories, hidden gems, tested routes, and hard-won advice, all of which should greatly assist you in your planning.
A life on the road
Nick Yell, Travel writer, off-road vehicle journalist and author
For over two decades, ex-advertising executive turned travel writer Nick Yell has explored the wild corners of southern Africa on two wheels and four. Author of the best-selling book Circling the Great Karoo (2008), Nick has penned nearly 500 articles for major publications including Business Day, Sunday Times, and SA4x4.
Built on first-hand dirt-road experience rather than guidebook polish, his work chronicles back roads, overland tracks, and remote campsites. Today, he bases himself in Britannia Bay on the West Coast, living on the road in Gioia, his campervan, while planning his next journey into the back of beyond.
About MeBuilt on first-hand dirt-road experience rather than guidebook polish, his work chronicles back roads, overland tracks, and remote campsites. Today, he bases himself in Britannia Bay on the West Coast, living on the road in Gioia, his campervan, while planning his next journey into the back of beyond.
General Travel South Africa
The country, beyond the usual routes. Not all Nick's stories feature adventure bikes or 4x4's as the heroes. He has also written many general travel stories, incorporating the towns, coastlines, and quiet corners he's explored over twenty years of travel writing, told the way they deserve: unhurried, first-hand, and free of the highlight-reel treatment most travel content settles for. If Adventure Motorcycling and 4x4 Tracks are about how he got there, then this is about where — and why the destination was worth the journey.
View the blogAdventure Motorcycling
Two wheels, no shortcuts.
Nick has spent two decades exploring South Africa on two wheels — with a loaded rolltop kit bag behind him he followed the kind of routes that separate a holiday from an adventure. His travels range across the length and breadth of the country, from remote back roads to routes most riders never find, though it's the drylands of the Karoo, Bushman land and the Kalahari that keeps pulling him back.
Often accompanied by rally like route notes, as well as the bikes and gear that got him there. Nick recounts the moments — good and bad — that only happen when you're exposed to the elements on two wheels.
View the blogNick has spent two decades exploring South Africa on two wheels — with a loaded rolltop kit bag behind him he followed the kind of routes that separate a holiday from an adventure. His travels range across the length and breadth of the country, from remote back roads to routes most riders never find, though it's the drylands of the Karoo, Bushman land and the Kalahari that keeps pulling him back.
Often accompanied by rally like route notes, as well as the bikes and gear that got him there. Nick recounts the moments — good and bad — that only happen when you're exposed to the elements on two wheels.
Books
Two books. Two very different genres. Circling the Great Karoo (2008): A travelogue which sees the writer following the region's extensive fossil trail on an old scrambler motorcycle. It details his journey on the dirt tracks of the Great Karoo and blends the region's ancient and more modern history with his experiences and the people he meets along the way. Karoo Tales and Images (2007): this limited edition work of fiction, contains O' Henry-like (sting-in-the-tail) short stories that combine his experiences of the people and places in the Karoo with his often quirky imagination. The latter is only available from second-hand bookstores while Circling the Great Karoo is obtainable from Takealot and other online bookstores.
View the blogCampsite and Other Select Accommodation Reviews
Slept here. Worth it — or not.
This is Nick's honest record of where he's pitched a tent or parked Rovik, his old Landrover camper: the facilities, the ablutions and the overall ambience that often make up for any practical shortcomings. No sponsored gloss, just what you'd want to know before considering a booking.
View the blogThis is Nick's honest record of where he's pitched a tent or parked Rovik, his old Landrover camper: the facilities, the ablutions and the overall ambience that often make up for any practical shortcomings. No sponsored gloss, just what you'd want to know before considering a booking.
Overland Routes and 4x4 Tracks
Twenty years of dust, low-range gearing, and river crossings that don't always go to plan. These are some of the 4x4 tracks and overland routes across southern Africa Nicks has experienced — from the sand and rock-choked passes of the Richtersveld to the remote tweespore of the Karoo. Every route is written from behind the wheel, with the practical detail you need before you commit a vehicle to the ground: track condition, vehicle, fuel and time requirements, as well as the campsites and accommodation worth the detour. This isn't a highlight reel. It's a historical record — for overlanders planning their own route, and for anyone who wants to feel the corrugations through the page.
View the blogContact Me
Short description