The week that was...
* Trips & Tours
* Wild Coast V4 Tour Day 6 & 7
* Cartography & myths
* Hole in Wall
* Pass of the week
Trips & Tours
July: The Swartberg Classic Tour (fully booked) starts this Sunday. The weather is looking great!
September: Garden Route Classic (5 days) - 2 tickets still available
October: Seven Sisters Tour (2 days) - Fully booked.
October: 4x4 Novice training day (1 day) - Details to be announced soon. (Western Cape)
November: Kouga Baviaans (4 days) - Details to be announced soon.
May 2023: Wild Coast V6 Tour (11 days) - Fully booked.
Wild Coast V4 Tour - Day 6
Another perfect weather day saw the group departing Cremorne Estates at Port St Johns, heading up the R61 towards Libode over a series of tarred passes, which included Isinuka Poort, Butyabuse Pass, Mngazi River Pass and impressive Tutor Ndamase Pass. Our goal was to drive the Mlengana Pass which allows a close up view of Execution Rock.
Our cartographers in the early 1900's had mistakenly noted the Mlengana Mountain as Execution Rock. This stems from Xhosa legend when King Faku is said to have thrown his enemies off the rock to certain death and their blood flowed red down the Mngazi River. Once you see this little piece of real estate for yourself, you'll quickly realise that scaling the vertical cliffs of the mountain with or without prisoners would have been close to impossible. Also it is a fair distance away from the river. The real execution rock is a much smaller cliff further down the valley, much closer to the river. Moral of the story is: Don't believe everything you see on the maps. Still, it's a nice myth that seems set to remain forever. Why spoil a good story with facts?
Our photos and videos done, we continued down the lovely old pass and through the village of Masameni. Instead of returning to Port St Johns via the R61, we went exploring and took this group on a proper recce trip into the mountains. The drive was brilliant, through lofty hills, with attractive villages as well as the Majola Tea Estates, which is not quite as big as Magwa, but a major tea grower in the area.
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The drive takes well over an hour to get back to the R61 at the Mngazi crossing and we were all so impressed with the new route that we've decided to make it a permanent part of our all future Wild Coast Tours. At one point we came across a SAPS helicopter on a soccer field of a local school and several Land Cruiser SAPS bakkies - a real show of force - no doubt to do with locating and destroying dagga plantations. We returned to Cremorne in time for hot showers, a very happy hour and a delicious meal.
Day 7
Mzimvubu River, Port St Johns / Photo: MPSA
It was time to bid farewell to the mighty Mzimvubu and head south to Coffee Bay. The weather remained fine but there was a rain forecast looming in the next few days. We routed via Thombo and on towards Mpande and Sharks Point via the Luzube Pass and later the Mthonga Pass, where we uncovered another cartographical error. It was at this river, which Google Maps call the Gologodwini River but all other resources list it as the Mthonga River, where we managed to drown a VW Touareg on our first Wild Coast Tour. That spooked a lot of people, but ever since then the crossing has been nothing more than a puddle jump.
Next up was the Mnenu River Pass. This difficult to locate pass requires very accurate GPS navigation. The positives of the pass are that is something of an adventure committing a 13 strong convoy to, with scant opportunity to turn around. It is also a great shortcut, slicing an hour off the longer route around the top of the valley. It's also a lot more scenic than the top route. On the negative side the road is very neglected and probably hasn't seen a road grader or maintenance crew in two decades. Vast stands of invasive lantana smother the sides of the valley up to 4m high and have encroached across the road in places, reducing it to a cattle path. This translates into scratches in your paintwork. The jury is out on whether this pass will be included in future tours. Both the Luzube and Mnenu passes have already been indexed on our website.
We reached the Mthakatye River Pass by lunchtime and had made good time compared to previous tours - probably due to the fact that we had no punctures. We know a great little lunch time spot right next to the river, where we stop and enjoy ourselves for an hour. One of the noticeable things on this tour was the number of large delivery trucks from hardware suppliers plying these back roads with building materials - a clear indicator that there's a lot of building going on - a sign of a healthy economy on the rise.
The final pass of the day was the Umtata River Pass and soon we reached our destination - the Ocean View Hotel at Coffee Bay where we settled in and enjoyed another wonderful Wild Coast on the deck overlooking the beach - waving palms included.
Day 8
Baby Hole in the Wall / Photo: MPSA
We took our guests to Sugarloaf Hill near Coffee Bay on another perfect Wild Coast day. The local ladies rush up the steep hill to sell tourists their beadwork. This often leads to fierce competition between them which can be unpleasant. Working through a local guide, Mzo, I set things up with some rules. The first lady to reach us got the prime selling location. As the rest arrived we placed them about 20m apart with instructions to stay put and not rush the tourists. That worked out much better than before and the net result was that they all made some sales. A happy ending for all.
The good news was that Baby Hole in the Wall is once again open to visitors. There had been a land dispute where a landowner objected to vehicles driving over his property. The problem has been solved by re-routing the track around a shebeen. Baby Hole in the Wall never disappoints. The ocean was the deepest blue set against the lush green backdrop of the grassy slopes. We spent some time there enjoying the spectacle. A warning to be very careful not to slip if the grass is wet. It's a long way down! Wear appropriate shoes.
Highlight of the day was of course Hole in the Wall proper. Mzo regaled the guests on the Xhosa stories about how Hole in the Wall got its name and after an hour and a half it was time to head off to the White Clay Restaurant for a "long lunch" with time to chill back at the hotel before happy hour.
And so ended another fine Wild Coast trip with happy guests. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly guests start relaxing on this tour. It must be a mixture of gorgeous scenery, a gentle climate, laid back locals, good wine and lots to see and do.
PODCAST:
PASS OF THE WEEK
Our pass of the week is the Luzube Pass, which is the first of 10 new passes that we filmed during our last Wild Coast Tour. This enjoyable pass is fairly short but packs a number of interesting features including some indigenous forests, a colourful village, a seriously steep climb and fantastic summit views.
* * L U Z U B E P A S S * *
Trygve Roberts
Editor
Two words this week: "Be Kind"
