* State of Disaster
* Tours updates
* Ben 10 Eco Challenge (Day 2 & 3)
* Dawid se Kop
* The Castle Vulture Colony
* Jouberts Pass
* Railway History
* Pass of the week
* New videos and passes added
There are some odd things going on in government circles where the decision is all but fait accompli to end the State of Disaster (an appropriate play on words) on April 15th, but they are also tampering with the National Health Act to change it so that the government will still retain the ability and powers of controlling the population with the same powers as per the state of disaster. So the change is merely smoke and mirrors. More importantly is that discrimination of unvaccinated people should also come to an end and for the economy to return to normality as soon as possible. Covid-19 has dealt a heavy blow to thousands of businesses and seriously affected the economy.
Tourism and hospitality were first in line victims of Covid and now that the pandemic is virtually over, the sector can now finally get back into gear and start rebuilding.
Tickets are still available for upcoming tours. Details available here:
We had a heavy rain forecast for the day, so we moved the rest day into place and allowed our guests to sleep in a little later. At breakfast time I noticed that the cloud cover was higher than the Sentech towers on Dawid se Kop (2500m) and thought it was worth the risk of driving up there, before the rain settled in for the day. Despite it being the rest day we had an almost full turnout for the excursion, with the notable absentee being Marco who had the very legitimate excuse of having a new set of tyres fitted at Supa Quick in Elliot. It's worth mentioning the owner of Supa Quick was ready, willing and able to open his shop for Marco on a Sunday. Give that man a Bells and please support his business.
We left Mountain Shadows Hotel at 09.30 and drove the little known Fetcani Pass on the R396 towards Mosheshes Ford. After about 8 km we arrived at the turn-off to Sarel Vorster's lovely farm. We signed the register at the farm (we had made prior arrangements for the visit) and soon got into the swing of opening and closing farm gates, making sure no livestock escaped into the adjacent fields.
Soon we arrived at the foot of one of the steepest roads in the area. It doesn't have a name other than the service road to the Sentech Towers at Dawid se Kop. The steepest parts are concreted or strip concreted where the gradients get extremely steep, to the point that 2nd gear low range is required to make it up the last bits where it gets as steep as 1:3. The traction is however very good, but even so, drivers have to keep their wits about them as the road is narrow.
(Read more...)
* Out & About
* Trips & Tours
* Ben 10 V5 Tour - Day 1
* Pass of the week
Covid is on its way out. Travel restrictions have been lifted and this will create a surge in bookings - especially by international travellers. The travel and tourism sector of the economy is amongst those the most badly affected by the pandemic. For many the easing of restrictions has come too late and for those remaining, we hope there is now finally some light at the end of the tunnel. It has without doubt changed the way South Africans are thinking about travel as can be attested by the high levels of bookings on MPSA tours, which precluded PCR tests and other similar off-putting requirements. We are just waiting for Lesotho to come to the party to drop those requirements as well, when a new tour to Lesotho by MPSA will be on the cards.
Beautiful Western Cape autumn weather coupled with a long weekend presented a few opportunities to get out and explore. We decided to upgrade our video footage on the Du Toitskloof Pass (N1), so set aside Saturday 19th March for the task. Most people have no idea how tricky it is filming a major mountain pass. Du Toitskloof Pass is specifically difficult due to the fact that it runs along the east-west axis. Then there is the big lighting adaptation as the tunnel is entered and exited, coupled with heavy traffic. We have filmed this pass no less than six times, seldom achieving a stellar result. The current version is quite good, other than the remnants of a bug on the camera lens, which created a soft orange blur on the video. There is only a small time frame where the lighting is OK for the whole pass and that is from 11h45 to 12h15. Any time out of that slot, creates heavy shadows or over exposure.
There is a road leading away up the mountainside near the summit of the old Du Toitskloof Pass, barred by a sturdy locked gate. I have always wondered about that road. Since I was going to film the Du Toitskloof Pass, I decided to follow up on a long standing offer of a friend, Kuba Miszewski (yes he is Polish), to organise access for the day. I picked Kuba up mid morning from his cottage in the mountains on the slopes of the Hawequa Mountains in Wellington. Kuba does voluntary work for Mountain Rescue and is intimately familiar with the terrain. He took me up a dodgy jeep track through pine plantations, to join the R101 at the old pass' summit point. Various snippets of valuable information was pointed out by Kuba - like the old manganese mine and some of the original pylon bases for the aerial cableway - as we headed east to Rawsonville to our turnaround point to film the N1 Du Toitskloof Pass from east to west. We started filming exactly at 11h45.
After filming the pass (which went very well), we returned to the summit point via the R101 filming panoramics of the Hugospoort Viaduct as well as the tunnel entrance point. We turned off the R101 and accessed the narrow tarred road via the locked gates. Looking at the tamper-proof system on those gates, I reckon it will take a Houdini of sorts to work their way opening all those catches and locks, coupled with electronic access codes via Cape Nature.
[Read more...]
* Condolences
* Trips & Tours
* Ben 10 Eco Challenge report back
* Pass of the week
It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of one of our guests, who had a vehicle accident on the N1 on his way home after the Ben 10 V5 Tour. Peter Pienaar was a passenger with his friend, Bob Selman. For both of them the tour was an off-road adventure of note. They were both funny and full of beans throughout the tour and enjoyed themselves immensely. After the tour, their plan was to drive from Rhodes to Beaufort West for a sleepover, then arrive home in Cape Town the following day. On arrival in Beaufort West they were unable to find accommodation, so they decided to push straight through to Cape Town. Peter sent his wife an SMS to that effect.
They took turns driving and at 01.30 near Touws River, Peter fell asleep behind the wheel. The vehicle left the road and crashed into a donga. Bob (85) was badly injured with broken ribs, sternum and collar bone, internal injuries and injuries to his hands. Peter was shaken but OK. In the pitch darkness he scrambled up the embankment to wave down a passing truck for help. The driver didn't see him and Peter was killed instantly. We extend our condolences to Peter's wife, Joan, and his extended family and friends. May he rest in peace.
Bob was taken to the Medi Clinic in Worcester where he remains at the time of writing. We wish him a speedy recovery.
I invited Peter to drive up front with me in the Land Cruiser during the TTT as there were many gates to open. He gladly took up the offer and I spent a wonderful two and a half hours getting to know Peter. He knew his wife, Joan, for 54 years. Peter shared some funny and personal moments of his life with me. The hurt still lies deep to think that was the last I would ever see of him.
We've had two cancellations for each of the Wild Coast Tours. Bring a friend and come and enjoy a fabulous Wild Coast adventure.
Next Tour is in May (4th to 15th) - Wild Coast Pondoland Tour (2 places available)
16th to 24th May - Wild Coast Mbashe Tour (2 places available)
10th to 15th July - Swartberg Classic Tour (1 place available)
Our 5th Ben 10 Challenge was simply epic. If you wanted adventure, stunning scenery, technical driving and no dust, then this was the tour to be on. We had rain on every day of the tour, which kept the mud factor high and everyone on their toes. It also completely eliminated the dust factor. Six punctures, multiple recoveries, deep water crossings and lots of road building kept everyone busy in a good sort of way.
(Read more...)
* Ben 10 V5 Eco Challenge
* Trips & Tours
* Focus on the Du Toitskloof Pass
* Pass of the week
* Humour
The Ben 10 V5 Eco Challenge was completed yesterday. By next week we will start producing the stories and action of how things went. As you read this newsletter we will be on the road travelling back from Rhodes for our overnight stop in Wilderness and then back to our HQ in Cape Town tomorrow.
If you fancy joining us for a tour, you can review what's available with full itineraries and pricing on our Shop & Tours page here:
Du Toitskloof Pass is located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, on the regional route R101 between Paarl and Worcester. It was initially an animal track where a road was built around the time of World War II, including a 200m tunnel still in use today. Since the opening of the 3,9 km Huguenot Tunnel in 1988, the pass no longer forms part of the N1 national road and was renumbered as R101.
Originally 48 km long, the pass climbed to 820 metres. The Huguenot Tunnel, opened in 1988, is the largest curved structure in South Africa and shortens the road by 11 kilometres and is operated as a toll road. There is an impressive viaduct on the Paarl approach side, known as the Hugospoort Viaduct. It has gained some notoriety for being highly dangerous during periods of strong to gale force south easterly winds, which have the capacity to turn large trucks over. Similarly any high sided unladen delivery trucks as well as caravans have suffered this fate many times since it opened to traffic.
The surrounding peaks often sport a covering of snow and the Mountain Club of South Africa has huts in the area. Du Toits Peak is the highest mountain at 1,995 metres.
Prior to 1825, farmers used the pass to get to the interior beyond. Another pass became the better route and in 1845, the route over the Bainskloof Pass was constructed, named after engineer Andrew Geddes Bain.
(Read more...)
* Goodbye Covid, hello Ukraine
* Trips & Tours
* The Ben 10 Story
* Pass of the week.
* Paraprosdokians
It's something of a relief that Covid-19, which has completely dominated and saturated most media platforms for the last two years, (to the point of irritating absurdity) is finally on the wane - and fast too. In many (civilized) countries around the world, Covid has been officially declared pandemic non-grata - no more masks; no more PCR tests, no more proof of vaccinations. Poof! Just like that. It makes one wonder?
However, the Russian story now dominating the world press is quite scary and suddenly South Africa seems to be one of the safest places in the world. The irony!
We are leaving this morning on our 5th Ben 10 Eco Challenge official tour. Looking at the weather forecast for the area, we are going to be doing some slipping & sliding. The Ben 10 never fails to attract adventurers and this year is no exception with the tour being fully booked. We have amended the routes and have taken advantage of the reopening of the Rhodes Hotel which allows us to spend two nights there, thereby shortening the distances considerably. We will provide a blow by blow account of all the action in the weeks to follow.
We still have two places available on the Wild Coast Tours in May as well as two places on the Swartberg Tour in July. Use the links below to review the itineraries and pricing:
WILD COAST TOUR V4 PONDOLAND (6th - 15th May)
WILD COAST TOUR V5 MBASHE (16th - 24th May)
SWARTBERG CLASSIC 2022 (10th - 15th July)
2016 - Whilst planning the filming of the big high altitude passes in the Eastern Cape Highlands in 2015, we were approached by one of the partners of Tiffindell, Lew Campbell. He wanted to attract more visitors to the ski resort and invited us to film the rugged two spoor track up to the summit. At that stage it had no name, but the summit peak bore the name of Ben MacDhui - originally named after a peak in the Scottish Highlands. The obvious choice of name had to be the Ben MacDhui Pass.
We formulated an agreement that if the pass was to be indexed into the MPSA database, that the public would be allowed free access to the pass, subject to each guest signing an indemnity form, but no access would be allowed during the prime snow season (June to August) as the track ran across the ski slope. Later Tiffindell bulldozed a separate track that allowed access to the pass without having to cross the ski slope.
* Trips & Tours
* Wild Coast Tour V3 - Final
* Pass of the week
* Humour
We launched the Swartberg Classic Tour 2022 last Thursday and bookings were brisk over the first three days, proving how popular this timeless tour has become.
March 5th to 9th - Ben 10 Eco Challenge Official Tour (Fully booked/No cancellations)
May 6th to 15th - Wild Coast Tour V4 Pondoland (1 ticket available)
May 16th to 24th - Wild Coast Tour V5 Mbashe (1 ticket available)
July 10th to 15th - Swartberg Classic 2022 (2 tickets available)
Wavecrest to Chintsa
We had an easy drive out on the final day via the Kobonqaba Pass. At the bottom of the pass is a single lane concrete bridge that stands about 7m above the Kobonqaba River. In 1975 a savage flood ravaged the area, bringing the river down in a massive torrent of water that overtopped the bridge, bending the metal safety railings from vertical to horizontal. The railings have never been repaired.
Once up the western side of the pass our route took us to the village of Kentani (as shown on most maps). The correct spelling in Xhosa is Centane. The bustling little village has some battlefields history.
Centane was the site of the battle of Centane on 7 February 1878 during the ninth Frontier War, when more than 300 Xhosa were killed for the loss of two British soldiers. The grave of the Xhosa king, Khawuta kaGcaleka (the father of Bhurhu kaKhawuta and Hintsa kaKhawuta) is in this town in the village of Njingini.
(Read more...)
* Trips & Tours
* Wild Coast V3 Day 9
* Pass of the week
* New videos added
* Paraprosdokians
With Covid appearing to be on its way out of our collective lives, it seems the very real possibility of the end of the National State of Disaster is on the horizon - as is getting rid of the masks and the sanitiser. We have noticed a real upswing in inquiries for tour bookings, so our office is abuzz with activity.
6th to 9th March - the 5th (improved) version of the official Ben 10 Eco Challenge starts in two weeks' time. This tour has been fully booked for some time and remains one of our most popular offerings. This is the first time we are going to running this tour in March.
6th to 15th May - Wild Coast Tour V4 Pondoland - We have had a cancellation, so there is one ticket available.
16th to 24th May - Wild Coast V5 Mbashe Tour - This tour has one ticket available.
11th to 15th July - Swartberg Classic Tour - Bookings open today. We have scheduled this tour for mid-winter in the hopes of catching some snow. So if you fancy cold nights and crisp, clear sunny days, sign up for this popular tour.
CORRECTION on PLATTELAND TOURS LINK:
The link in last week’s e-Newsletter of Platteland Tours’ Road Trip to Namibia did not function correctly.
Here is the correct link to the Info Doc of the tour
This is always the longest day of the Wild Coast Tour and no easy way to shorten it. With this in mind, our routing took the most direct way to Willowvale, where our entire convoy refuelled causing something of a traffic jam. Vehicle's bellies full we drove directly to Idutywa and a short stint on the N2 before turning off onto gravel at a tourism sign "Collywobbles"
This was arguably the worst road we had driven on the tour. It was a case of shake, rattle and roll regardless of how fancy your suspension was. WE soon noted that the taxis and most locals were driving on a track well off to one side of the "road" which resembled the bottom of a stone quarry. It was 15 kilometres of bone jarring driving, but like all things, it eventually came to an end as we took our group down a very steep pass (unnamed) to the banks of the Mbashe River for a lunch break and some group photos.
[Read more...]
* Social media statistics
* Trips n Tours
* Platteland Tour Offering to Namibia
* Wild Coast V3 Tour - Day 8
* Pass of the Week
Our Facebook page continues forging ahead with the latest number of followers being just over 96,000. We are hoping to reach the magical 100,000 figure by the end of June. Instagram is also growing fast with 14,300 followers. Our international followers have shown the largest growth in the past 6 months. SA expats (Saffers) stay glued to the page as it feeds their homesick blues.
Moderating this page is a never ending task. Of interest is that a local clothing brand "Stellies" posted a photo on their Facebook page showing a young lady putting their sticker on a road sign. Our inbox was flooded with our followers sending us the link. The result was a huge public backlash to a company that had openly encouraged their clients to put the Stellies stickers where they like. We have removed many of them from MPSA signs over the years. Within 2 hours they removed their post but have not posted any public apology. They have tarnished their brand in the process. It's a warning to other brands not to go for cheap advertising on road signs. Of interest is that Instagram removed our post on Stellies as it "violated community guidelines"
It would seem that our anti-sticker campaign started two years ago has now spread far and wide and that we have achieved our goal of making the public aware that it is vandalism. The toughest nut to crack was the biker community, but we have broken through most of the barriers now.
The Ben 10 Eco Challenge V5 Tour (4th to 8th March) remains fully booked with no cancellations.
Wild Coast Tour V4 Pondoland (6th to 15th May) if also fully booked.
Wild Coast Tour V5 Mbashe (16th to 24th May) One place available.
July 2022 - Swartberg Tour (Bookings to be opened next week)
September - Bedrogfontein Tour. (Bookings to be opened next week)
November - Garden Route Tour (5 days) Open to 4x2 vehicles
Platteland Tours Offering (Advertisement)
One of our joint-venture partners, Platteland Tours (based in Gauteng) is putting on two Self-Drive Guided tours to Namibia during May & June 2022 to cater for the demand to visit our beautiful neighbouring country.
Have you ever dreamed of visiting Namibia? Traveling in your own vehicle (no 4x4 is needed) but not knowing where to go; where to find the best tourist spots; where to sleep; what else to do and what to experience en route? The trip will take you on good gravel back-roads, to places where tour groups normally do not go, as well as to popular destinations like the Fish River Canyon, Kolmanskop ghost town, Luderitz, the wild horses of Aus, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Dune 7, the Namib Desert, Goanikontes, Hentie’s Bay, the Petrified Forest, Etosha Pans and much more.
(Read more...)
* Trips & Tours
* Wild Coast - the movie
* Wild Coast Day 7 - In the jungle
* Pass of the week
First things first. Let's get the bills paid! We still have a few spots open on both our Wild Coast Tours. If you have not visited the Wild Coast before, Here is the opportunity to experience it in the safety of a group, where you will visit all the best points of interest. The links below will provide access to the full itinerary, pricing and general information.
WILD COAST V4 TOUR (PONDOLAND)
We will soon be releasing a 35 minute video (produced and filmed by Derick van Eeden during our last Wild Coast Tour). Besides the full video, we will release it via social media and on our MEDIA page on the MPSA website in 11 separate clips of roughly 3 minutes each. It's a monumental amount of work editing a video of this nature; sifting through hours of footage and selecting the scenes that will capture the public's imagination. We have been privy to previewing some of the chapters and I can assure you, they are really worth waiting for. Our thanks to Derick for doing the hard yards.
We will be heading off to the Eastern Cape Highlands early in March to take our guests on 5th official Ben 10 Tour. This tour is fully booked. If you want to add your name to the waiting list in case of a cancellation, please email us at
The Haven bowled us over with their delicious food. The wild oysters served up were of the finest quality I have tasted - and plentiful too. After breakfast it was time to saddle up our (proverbial) steeds and get ready for a day of fun and exploration. The idea was to do a west-east traverse of the Cwebe Nature Reserve. It looked so easy on the map, but we were in for a few big surprises.
(Read more...)
* Weather watch
* Trips & Tours
* Tiffindell is for sale
* Wild Coast V3 Tour (Day 6)
* Revisiting the Oceanos
* Pass of the week
Whilst Gautengers are complaining they've been robbbed of their summer with cool temperatures and a vast amount of rain, those in the Western Cape are experiencing a heatwave of note. I guess it's nothing more than life in Africa. On January 22nd temperatures soared along the West Coast where Hopefield and Vredenburg recorded new record highs. It was slightly cooler in Cape Town at around 40C.
We still have some tickets open for May Wild Coast Tours. Check the itineraries and prices on the link below:
https://shop.mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/product-category/tours/
Tired of life in the city? Why not buy yourself some high altitude real estate in the Cape Highlands and become the owner of a ski resort. Isn't that a cool idea?!
Day 6 - Coffee Bay to The Haven
It was time to say farewell to the charms of Coffee Bay and go in search of new adventures. Convoy ready to rumble with radio checks done and heading back towards Hole in the Wall, where we took a right hand fork and then very carefully negotiated our way into a very dense local forest with an unpronounceable name - Mgxotyeni. The forest is a mix of indigenous trees as well as gum plantations. The very rough track we followed is used as a service road for a water pipeline; and then mainly by trucks.
The track is basic at best and consists of rocks (some of them quite sharp as we found out), mud, leaves, branches, lots of shade and many spiders (drive with your window open at your peril!). Derek van Eeden had the misfortune of being the first vehicle to pick up a puncture on Day 2 of the tour and in a cruel twist of fate the dreaded sidewall snake bit his Discovery a second time on this tour. He handled his misfortune with aplomb.
[Read more...]
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