SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: On Tuesday 10 September Travel Channel launched Henry Coles’ World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides (South Africa) at the Harley-Davidson® dealership in Morningside, Johannesburg.
After a sneak peak of the show, which showcases unique sights across South Africa’s vibrant culture and landscape, journalists were treated to exhilarating rides on the back of Harley-Davidson® motorcycles, courtesy of members of the Harley Owners Group (HOG).
Nick Thorogood, senior vice president, content and marketing at Scripps EMEA, said: “Henry Cole brings his passion about motorcycles to life and brings it to our screens. We were really thrilled that, in the programme, we took Henry from one part of South Africa to the other having some extraordinary adventures and meeting some extraordinary people.’
Commented Cole: “I’ve been here before and loved it on the Garden Route (on the south-eastern coast of South Africa), but I was driving a car so that didn’t count. I really wanted to try and experience South Africa at grassroots level; what it’s like to be there out on the road. My job is to show viewers how lovely the country is.
“What Travel Channel allows me to do is to try and convey the passion I have for riding. In a car you are a bit of a spectator, but on a motorcycle it is all about taking part, it’s all about the flies in your teeth, it’s all about individualism, but most importantly it’s all about freedom.’
He continued: “This is the country of the solution, not the problem. And to ride through this country on that bike and to meet the people who I met and to ride those 3,000km was a dream come true, even for an old biker like me.’
The series was shot over a month as Cole travels from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a specially commissioned replica of Steve McQueen’s classis 1960 Desert Racer, stopping in Soweto and exploring the Cradle of Humankind.
In Kuruman on the outskirts of the Kalahari Desert, Cole has to switch bikes after which he continues his journey to destinations such as the Witsand Nature Reserve, Loeriesfontein, Matjiesfontein and Hermanus.
Henry Coles’ World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides (South Africa) airs on Travel Channel on DStv Channel 179 on Monday 30 September at 20h00.
The series, comprising five 60-minute episodes, is the first to be filmed in South Africa and will be broadcast in more than 130 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
Report by Martie Bester
