* Swartberg Tour
* Lesotho Part 6
* Technical Corner
* Katberg Tour Day 4
* Featured Pass
By the time you read this newsletter we will be deep in the heart of the Swartberg taking another group of adventurous guests through the many treasures the Swartberg has to offer. Today we have a big day, driving from complete isolation at Bosch Luys Kloof via the Bosluiskloof Pass, Seweweekspoort, following the back roads to the Cango Caves and on to De Rust, followed by Meiringspoort and a timeous arrival at Prince Albert for an evening of fine dining at the Mont D'Or Swartberg Hotel.
Backtrack six days as we are preparing for the tour and a major weather system is moving in from the Atlantic with gale force winds (110 kph!), heavy rain and snow over all the high lying areas of South Africa. We've been anticipating snow on this tour for many years, but it's never happened. Maybe this will be the one? Guests have been advised to pack blankets and beanies. It's going to be cold.
We will give a blow by blow report on our return.
We arrived at Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village with time to spare and headed off to visit Kome Caves, which is about 35 km away. The Kome Caves are a group of cave dwellings made out of mud in the district of Berea, Lesotho 25 km east of Teyateyaneng. The caves are still inhabited by the descendants of the original people who built the caves. The site has been classified as a National Heritage Site.
The Kome Cave Dwellings were built and protected by Chief Teleka of The Basia (cat) Clan in the early 19th century. The main purpose for the cave dwellings was to serve as a hideout from adversaries during the drought in the late 18th century. The name of Ha Kome comes from the Kome family in the Basia tribe, the first inhabitants of the cave.
While their exact history is unknown, the current inhabitants are descended from Basia tribesmen and women who first made the overhang home in the late 1800s.
The Mefcane (“the Crushing”) was a period of intense socio-political unrest during the 1820s and 30s throughout southern Africa, defined by widespread drought, forced migration, and inter-tribal warfare. To flee the ongoing violence, the Basia began using the overhang as a hideout at some point in the late 1800s, though trademark cave paintings indicate San Bushmen dwelt there even earlier.
In time, the Basia came to build homes out of mud, which have been continuously occupied since then. Today, several families who live in these dwellings welcome visitors into their homes. The huts look like igloos, with a low tunnel like entrance and no windows.
* Hello Summer?
* Tours & Trips
* Lesotho Tour Part 5
* Technical
* Katberg Tour Part 2
* Featured Pass
With the shortest day of the year behind us, we can look forward to small increments of additional sunlight as we slowly move into the second part of the winter. From a Cape Town perspective it's been a very mild winter so far and not nearly enough rain has fallen. Local dams are standing at an average of 68% compared to the same time last year at 84%. The second half of winter is almost always more severe than the first half in the Western Cape, whereas upcountry, things tend to be the opposite.
The southern parts of the Western Cape, the Little Karoo and parts of the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape took a walloping in June with lots of infrastructure damage. Most of the roads have been either partially or fully reopened to traffic - and just in time for our Swartberg Tour which starts on 7th July.
In the grip of a 5 year financial winter is the Tiffindell Ski Resort. All the legal wrangles have finally been tied up and the property is officially up for sale. It will be interesting to see how the next Tiffindell chapter unfolds and whether The Ben MacDhui Pass will ever be driven again.
We have been inundated with inquiries for our 2025 Katberg Tour. It seems we hit the sweet spot with this inaugural version. Half of the places have already been pre-booked.
We've had a cancellation for our 11th August Grabouw 4x4 Novice Training Day. Book here.
We are looking to grow our tour offerings in 2025 by engaging other guides to help with the workload, so next year we plan on doubling the number of tours. This will also allow me to explore and create new tours (like the Katberg Tour). More news on this development when its cast in concrete.
Our route followed the Fish Tunnel for a while before branching off to the west, following a quiet dirt road up the northern flank of the Waainek Pass. This was a delightful drive with some nice technical bits thrown in to keep the adrenaline flowing. We passed the main farmhouse near the summit, then faced the very long descent down to the coastal plateau at Somerset East.
* Wild weather
* Sold Out
* Katberg Tour Report Back
* Kraai me a river
* Lesotho Tour - Part 4
* Wild Coast (It's a wrap)
* Featured Pass
A severe cold front combined with a cut-off low pressure system ravaged the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape areas over a vast area, causing floods and damage to infrastructure. It also happened to coincide exactly with the start of our Katberg Tour. Upon reflection we were fortunate in a way, as the worst of the storm burned itself out whilst we were in the relative safety of the Mountain Zebra National Park. We will cover that in more detail elsewhere in this newsletter.
Oudtshoorn and De Rust took a beating, with a chunk of the main road washed away. Meiringspoort also sustained serious damage and remains closed at time of writing. As it's a main trunk route, authorities are already hard at work effecting repairs. More news as we get it.
This morning the MPSA website was down for about an hour, due to our server (Xneelo) having done a systems upgrade. They omitted to update the security certificate resulting in our site being down for abour 30 minutes. Our long standing IT partner New Web Consulting in Cape Town, jumped right in and got the problem resolved in double quick time. That was the first time in 13 years that the site has been down.
All our tours and training days are now fully booked, but we do take options on cancellations - just send us an email to
Despite the cold nights, we find winter a really good time to run tours. The days are normally sunny and calm with crystal clear skies. Being inside a vehicle allows for comfortable touring without it being too hot. Then there are the crystal clear skies devoid of the haziness so prevalent in summer. Both our mid-winter tour offerings are proving to be very popular.
We most certainly had some challenges during this tour which included illegally locked gates, lots of rain, one incapacitated vehicle and credit cards that wouldn't work. We'll get into the details over the next few episodes to bring this tour to life in words and pictures. It's fascinating that when the chips are down, the group stands together as one, ensuring a successful outcome. This was most certainly the case on this tour, when there were a few tears shed at the farewell function.
Day 1 - We gathered at the Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock on Monday 3rd June just ahead of the storm system. We got all the radios installed before the deluge began. SANPARKS allowed us to use their conference room, which they kindly warmed up to 30 C which was a bit of a shock after the 10 degrees outside.
We knew the next day was going to be very wet with a forecast of rain the entire day and throughout the night. We made an early call with knowledge from the MZNP rangers that all the 4x4 routes had been closed and declared the first day to be a free day, where guests could choose to do as they pleased. After a hearty dinner, it was a case of getting an early night and as the chalets all have fireplaces, the parks board shop ran out of firewood fairly quickly.
* Voting done and dusted.
* Tours Updates
* Lesotho (Part 3)
* Technical / Engineering
* Wild Coast (Collywobbles)
* Featured Pass
The voting is over. Now we wait for the results. I have always been quite impressed with the IEC organization of elections, but this year they fell woefully short. They have had four years to prepare and no less than 8 previous elections to have learned from. How is it possible to stuff things up on such a royal scale?! You only had one job!
All the tours for the rest of 2024 are fully booked. We only have two tickets open for the Grabouw Training Day (11th August).
We had rain forecast (again) for the second day on tour and departed from Oxbow Lodge punctually in low cloud, heading for the infamous Moteng Pass. Personally this pass holds tons of allure for me for its raw energy, tortuous bends and dramatic scenery. I would rank as my number one tarred pass in SA & Lesotho.
Just after leaving Oxbow Lodge, we noticed a lovely thatched lodge being built close to the same river that Oxbow Lodge is built next to. We were informed that the government had ordered the builders to stop building, as the waters of the new Polihali Dam would be too close to the lodge. It will be interesting to see what the final outcome is.
The climb up to the summit of the Moteng Pass was no problem, but when we reached the spacious view site, we found several trucks occupying the space. We managed to wriggle our vehicles in between the trucks to enjoy the lofty views. Speaking to some of the truck drivers, we established that an abnormal load truck was stuck further down the pass and that only small vehicles could squeeze past.
Trucks breaking down on the pass is regular occurence. We descended slowly taking in all the drama as we lost altitude. We could see stationary trucks lined up for many kilometres down the valley.
* Out & About
* Tours Update
* Lesotho (Part 2)
* Local History
* Wild Coast Day 9
* Technical Topics
* Pass of the Fortnight
On a recent trip between Swellendam and Knysna, we counted 14 stop-gos over a distance of 145 km. Whilst it affects fuel consumption negatively, the traffic was managed efficiently and our ETA remained on track. It's great to see our roads being maintained. More please! We will happily live with the stop-gos.
June: The inaugural Katberg Tour remains fully booked. We are looking forward to this one - smack bang in the middle of winter.
July (7 to 13) Swartberg Tour: We have had a cancellation, so there's one ticket up for grabs.
August 11th Grabouw Training Day. There are two tickets left. This is a perfect way to brush up on your offroad driving skills or as a novice to discover your vehicles capabilities in a natural trail environment.
October (23 to 28): Kouga-Baviaans Tour. There is one place available.
November: Wild Coast Tour - Fully booked
December (1 to 7) Ben 10 Eco Challenge. There is one place available
The A1 road is taking strain with the volume of heavy construction vehicles that are plying back and forth to the Polihali Dam construction site. A large number of deep potholes have taken a foothold, so driving has become a sort of hit and miss story with trucks, buses and cars dodging the hazards and often appearing on the wrong side of the road. After a while we all got the hang of things and moderated our driving style to match the locals.
We passed the (unsightly) ore dumps of the highly profitable Letsing Diamond Mine. Apparently diamonds processed from the mine are transported away by helicopter as a security measure. The Letsing Mine marks the start of the Tlaeeng Pass. This is the big daddy of the Lesotho passes in terms of altitude. It tops out at a lung wheezing 3275m, but the pass itself doesn't hold the allure of Moteng or Mafika Lisiu in terms of scenery and dramatic driving conditions. The pass ends at the crossing of the Matsoku River, which sources at Mont-Aux-Sources close to the RSA/Lesotho border.
The next pass, which is the Pass of Guns starts immediatey after the bridge and ascends up the Mahlasela Hill (3220m). The Pass of Guns dates back to the previous century when a skirmish took place here to prevent invaders from gaining access beyond the hill.
* Tours Updates
* Lesotho Double Tours
* Technical Corner
* History Hoekie
* Wild Coast Tour (Day 8)
* Pass of the Fortnight
There are only a few places left for the rest of 2024. All tours are fully booked, other than the following:
August 11th: Grabouw Training Day. An ideal opportunity to learn the basics of off-road driving and recoveries and discover what your vehicle is capable of. There are 4 places open.
September 23rd - 28th: Kouga Baviaans Tour. We have had a cancellation, so there is one place open.
December 1st to 7th - Ben 10 Eco Challenge. We have two spots available on this epic adventure tour. Earn the badge!
We are going to be introducing some innovative concepts into our 2025 tours calendar. One of those will be a double tour of Lesotho (in autumn and spring) and a brand new Great Karoo Tour, which we are busy conceptualising at the moment. We will also be offering personalised bespoke tours tailored for your special group of friends and family.
Sixty one guests, thirty vehicles, seventeen days, rain, mud, sunny skies, but no Chevrolets.
For our Lesotho tours, we run a joint venture with Lesotho expert, Philip Rawlins. It is no easy feat, combining two leaders to reach the synergy levels where things work well for all the guests, but both of these tours were very successful, with the second tour enjoying considerably better weather than the first.
Instead of doing our usual detailed day by day report, I'm going to focus on some of the highlights of both tours in a combined story.
What seems like a lifetime ago (now that the proverbial dust has settled), takes us back to April 3rd, when the V2 group assembled at Philip and Elrita's spotless guest house, Resthaven, in Matatiele.
On this tour we only had one "new" couple in the form of Ras and Elizabeth Myburgh. Both of them slotted right in with ease and were soon an integral part of the extended MPSA family. Everyone else had toured with us before, which makes my life much easier. Initial forecasts indicated a fair weather tour, but two days before the start, things changed with a fair amount of rain in the forecast. This did not in any way diminish the enthusiasm of the group, but to put things in perspective, the temperature at Maletsunyane Falls was 4C for the V2 group and a week later it was a balmy 24C for the V3 group.
* Trips & Tours Update
* Lesotho V2 Tour (Overview)
* History Hoekie
* Technical Corner
* Wild Coast Tour V7 (Day 7)
* Pass of the Fortnight
June: Katberg Tour (1 spot available)
July: Swartberg Tour - (Fully booked)
August: Grabouw 4x4 Training Day (6 places left)
September: Kouga Baviaans Tour - (1 spot available)
November: Wild Coast V9 Tour - (Fully Booked)
December: Ben 10 Eco Challenge - 2 places available)
In our last newsletter we indicated the next newsletter only being released on the 25th April, but we have had a few days to pen a shortened newsletter from the lovely grounds of Resthaven Guest House in Matatiele, surrounded by roses and tall trees. I can vouch that it was a boisterously noisy final night. The mountains had worked their magic bonding all the guests into one big, happy family.
The tour kicked off a week earlier on the 3rd April in pleasant weather after a night of solid rain, leaving the countryside wet and refreshed and the moment we hit the gravel road to Underberg, the mud puddles gave a foretaste of what was to come in the days ahead.
Clearing through the SA Border Control was seamless and soon we were enjoying our first pass, the timeless Sani. The weather was kind and we were able to enjoy the amazing views down the Mkhomazana River Valley from the 2867m high summit at the highest pub in Africa, where a warm fire welcomed visitors for a light lunch and hot chocolate.
For first time visitors to Lesotho, it was something of a wake up call to have to change down to first gear in places to ascend the Black Mountain Pass, which summits at an ear popping 3242m ASL after a climb of 1066m, making Sani Pass look like a poor cousin. All that altitude gain is swiftly lost as the road twists and turns its way into the north where it ends some 32km later near Mokhotlong, where we joined the A1 route northwards towards Butha Buthe.
It's quite a reality check having to tackle such a massive descent and learn to stay off the foot brake, using mainly engine compression to slow our vehicles down, but one soon learns that overheated brakes often leads to brake failure as can be attested by the many car wrecks rusting away down the ravines. Afriski had a few vehicles parked alongside the chalets and were to have their first snow of the season exactly one week later.
The passes got ticked off one after the other in a blur of incredible scenery as we traversed the Tlaeeng Pass and Khalo La Lethunya (Pass of Guns). The rain held off as we worked our way to the New Oxbow Lodge, which has been closed for a few years since Covid and only recently reopened. The lodge still looks the same which has a dated, rustic, traditional Lesotho dolerite stone look about it, but we were pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness of the rooms and the delicious food. It was cold up there in the mountains, but fires in the pub and dining room kept the vibe going. It rained hard throughout the night.
* Newsletter Advisory
* Wild Coast getting wilder
* A bridge too far
* Website Improvements
* Lesotho
* Technical Corner
* Trip Report (Wild Coast - Day 6)
* Featured Pass
We will be out of office until 22nd April, whilst on tour in Lesotho. This means the next scheduled newsletter will only be issued on the 25th April.
In the last year the Wild Coast has taken a hammering on social media. It started with the floods which damaged the major roads and decimated some of the smaller roads. Bridges were washed away (one of them on our route, at the Mthakatye River) and some of them have yet to be repaired by a recalcitrant Eastern Cape Government, who seem to be oblivious to the value of tourism to an impoverished area. People have taken to social media complaining about bad roads. Another bit of bad news was the closure of the Mazeppa Bay Hotel, where the owners cited a litany of reasons (bad roads, Covid, lack of government support) for their failure.
That led to an out-bursting of social media negativity. Strangely there are neighbouring hotels (Kob Inn, Trenneries, Seagulls, The Haven) that have rallied and are doing very well with the same bad roads and Covid issues, so perhaps there were some management issues in the Mazeppa Hotel case?
Now here's an odd thing. Our November Wild Coast Tour is fully booked, yet the May tour was poorly supported. We have run the two tours in the same months for the past 5 years, so what is going on? We did a bit of head scratching and the only conclusion we could come to is that the May tour falls just ahead of the 2024 general election. We took the bold step of cancelling the tour and slotted the new Katberg Tour in it's place, one month later. That tour is almost fully booked (1 place left).
We are planning another two Willd Coast Tours in 2025 which will fit into our best practice box of 6 nights/5 days. Those tours will be more affordable as well.
Speaking of bridges, the one in Baltimore this week has made headline news and it's inconceivable to think that a bump from a ship could bring that giant Meccano set down in a few seconds. The captain is being hailed as a hero for timeously calling a May Day, which allowed authorities to close the bridge, resulting in a low death toll. Imagine the amount of organisation cleaning all that up and rebuilding?!
* A lifetime in 14 days
* Tours availability & information
* Technical - How to winch safely
* New products
* Trip Report - Wild Coast V7 Tour - Day 5
* Pass of the Fortnight
So much has happened on the last two weeks, that it seems like we've been in a whirlwind of non-stop activity. In this newsletter we have a lot to cover, so let's start at the beginning. Thank you for the many compliments received about the new format of the newsletter. There wasn't a single negative comment. You speak, we listen! Ons bouw zo voort!
{index}
Most of the last two weeks went into our recce trip of the new Katberg Tour. Many people ask why we do a recce trip. The answer is simple, there is simply no substitute for hands on real-time experience of a route. There are a host of things that you can never assume from a map or Google Earth. The original version of the proposed tour was simply too long and tedious to cram into that perfect tour time frame of 6 nights/5 days, so we put our heads together and came up with some neat solutions.
We clipped off 3 days of the original design (at the start) and will now start the tour at the Mountain Zebra National Park. We discovered a lovely boutique hotel in Bedford called the Duke of Bedford, which we have woven into the tour and we have extended the stay at the Katberg Hotel by an extra day as the places we want to take our guests are bountiful in that area.
Never before have we created a tour that has garnered so much interest. We opened bookings yesterday and already 11 of the 12 spots have been taken. By the weekend this tour will likely be fully booked and we will most certainly be running it again in 2025. The booking link is supplied lower down. The Katberg Tour will include:
* 2 nights at Mountain Zebra National Park in self catering chalets;
* A guided 4x4 route within the park; game viewing; a visit to Egg Rock near Cradock;
* A drive over the completely unique and isolated Tarka Pass (based on tyre tracks no-one has been over that route in a very long time!);
* A drive through a disused train tunnel (we'll tell you about the resident ghost when we get there);
* Drive the huge descent down the Waainek Pass to Somerset East;
* Spend a night at the Duke of Bedford boutique hotel:
* Drive De Beers Pass, Browns Vale and Post Retief
* Drive De Waalskloof Pass - another remote road less travelled with amazing views
* Visit Devils Bellows
* Descend the 4x4 only Katberg Pass with its big boulders and landslides to add some adenalin
* Katberg Hotel and Golf Estate for 3 nights to replace the adrenaline with red wine
* Hogsback, waterfalls, forests, hobbits and fairies and the Wolf River Pass
* Sindile Dam, Keiskammahoek
* Drive some proper two spoor routes through the Hogsback Forests
* Fort Fordyce Nature Reserve - Fullershoek Pass
* Mpofu Nature Reserve - Blinkwater Pass
* Katberg Forests over private land.(with special permission)
* Tours - Katberg here we come!
* Lesotho - Updates and latest information
* Offroad Tips/ New Products
* Ben 10 Eco Challenge (Day 5)
* Featured Pass
In this issue we have deviated from our normal style of content (a change is as good as a holiday, they say!) We have included some 4x4 advice and new product reviews - none of which are sponsored - so you know we are being honest and not influenced by an advertiser. Tell us if you like the new format by sending us a WhatsApp to 083 658 8888. After all, there's no point in producing a newsletter that doesn't attract an audience. If you don't tell us, we don't know.
This Saturday we are trialling the new 5dr Jimny on a wide ranging recce tour from Cape Town to Katberg with plenty of gravel travel along the way. We've been mentioning the creation of this tour for about a year and now it's finally happening. Here is a foretaste of what to expect:
Day 1: Start at the Kronenhoff Lodge in Kirkwood heading north up the Doringnek Pass with a stop at the Zuurberg Mountain Inn for refreshments, before tackling the historical and gnarly Zuurberg Pass. This road was once the main wagon route north to the interior from Port Elizabeth. We follow a good gravel road over the wide open plains of the Karoo before reaching Somerset East. Our route heads west down the Bruintjieshoogte Pass and on to Pearston. From there we ascend north over the Buffelshoek and Swaershoek passes before approaching Cradock via Maraiskloof. Our second night will be spent at the Mountain Zebra National Park in self catering cottages.
Day 2: This day will be spent inside the Mountain Zebra National Park for guests to enjoy the game viewing. MPSA willl lead the group on the 4x4 route inside the park for those wanting to test their skills. Our second night is also spent in the park.
Day 3: This is a day of true gravel travel exploration as we head south on the R337 to Mortimer, where we split away from the main road and tackle the Tarka Pass, which is a long winding pass following the course of the Tarka River. At the mouth of the canyon our route continues southwards to the Witmos settlement, after which we head for Somerset East down the big Waainek Pass. We skip past Cookhouse and on to Wienandsnek, heading north east via Cameron's Glen, where we will gain altitude as we ascend De Beers Pass. More gravel awaits as we traverse many game farms and continue east up De Waalskloof where we get to the summit of the Katberg Pass, which is a fitting way to end the day as we descend slowly through the hairpin bends and forests to reach our next overnight stop - the Katberg Golf Estate and Hotel. It's a real gem in the heart of the most exquisite scenery.
Day 4: We've created an easier day where we will explore the Fort Fordyce nature reserve via the beautiful Fullershoek Pass. We drive a big circular loop descending via Browns Vale and the Mpofu nature reserve via the Blinkwater Pass. It was here that Andrew Geddes Bain uncovered a famous fossil in the mid 1800's, locally known as the 'Blinkwater Monster.'
Day 5: The tour ends on a high as we head up the tricky Michells Pass to Hogsback to explore some waterfalls and follow the long and winding Wolf River Pass all the way to the Sandile Dam. We return via Keiskammahoek (our most easterly point on this tour) via Red Hill Pass and Debe's Nek and do some cross country driving through the forests below Hogsback. We ascend the Pefferskop Pass and return to the Katberg Hotel for our famous Chappies Awards.
The group departs for home the next morning after breakfast - refreshed, invigorated and ready to face the rest of the year.
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