What's inside?
* Training, trips and tours
* Ben 10 in December
* Wild Coast V5 Tour - The final day
* Swartberg Classic Tour - Day 2
* Podcast
* Pass of the week
Tours coming up:
September 10 - 16. Garden Route Tour. We had two cancellations and then resold both those places, but there is still one spot available. Click here for the full itinerary and online bookings.
October 15/16th. Seven Sisters Tour. Fully booked.
October 30th. Grabouw Novice 4x4 Training Day. (5 places available)
November 15th to 19th. Kouga-Baviaans Tour. This popular tour always gets booked out quickly. We will be loading the tour onto the Shop page next week, so please book early to avoid disappointment. We have added some new features into this tour and extended it by a day, so as to allow a fuller exploration of the kloof. We have also included new starting and end venues with a great final night planned at the Karoo Theatrical Hotel in Steytlerville.
December 9th to 14th. Ben 10 Eco Challenge - Our final tour of the year will be held in early December. This tour is suitable for intermediate to more experienced offroad drivers. This tour is not suitable for novices. This will be our 7th running of this ever-popular challenge. If you want to put your name down on a priority list, send us an email to:
Wild Coast Tour V5 - Day 10
The weather had cleared and the mud on the roads dried somewhat, ensuring a much easier day for our final day from Kob Inn to Morgan Bay. This is normally a very easy day from a technical driving perspective, but we had been hearing rumours that the ferry at Kei Mouth might be closed. An early morning call confirmed the rumours. The Kei River had been coming down in heavy flood, causing major silting with strong currents making it too dangerous for the ferries to operate. The crossing of the Kei by ferry is always one of the highlights of the tour and much anticipated by guests.
These things happen and that's why we always have a number of alternative routes in such an event. We left Kob Inn after another hearty breakfast at a more leisurely time of 09.30, heading north west along the eastern flank of the Qora River. The first pass for the day was the oddly named Cats Pass. Despite digging around a lot, we have never been able to find out after who or what this pass was named.
Then there's another oddity about Cats Pass. It is shown in the incorrect place on most maps - including Tracks4Africa. The pass is actually the road that traverses the Qora River Valley. Three rivers form a confluence just below the point where the road crosses the river. The first river is the Ngqageni; the middle one is the Qora and the last one is the Ntyiaba. The two smaller rivers form confluences with the Qora River just a little further downstream. For some unknown reason cattle love to spend time around these three bridges, as can be attested by the large volumes of cow dung on the roadway. There is so much of it, that drivers have no option but to drive through it. Your car will smell like a 'plaas bakkie' when you get home!
(Read more)
The triple bridges of Cats Pass
The final pass was the Kobonqaba Pass. This pass has an interesting feature at its lowest point and that is the narrow bridge which straddles the Kobonqaba River. The bridge is unusually high above the level of the river and with good reason too. This river is particularly nasty when in flood and has washed away several bridges in the past. This flood history prompted the road builders to build the bridge 7m higher than the river surface. Even that proved not be enough for the powerful little river as in 1970 the new De Villiers Bridge withstood an impressive flood level of over 10m, where the safety railings were bent horizontal by the raging floodwaters. It is still like that today, but at least the structure itself held firm.
We reached Kentani (Centane) - once the site of a few skirmishes between the English military and the Xhosa in the late 1800's. Instead of heading directly to Kei Mouth, we had to drive back to the N2 and all the way around to Morgan Bay. The extra distance set our ETA back by two hours, arriving at the Morgan Bay Hotel close to 17h00.
The old hotel sports some unashamedly large suites, so our guests had plenty of space to relax on their final night. Our final night celebrations went down very well with much laughter and new friendships formed. And so ended another successful Wild Coast Tour.
The 2023 version (May) is already fully booked.
Swartberg Classic Tour - Day 1 continued
Our route made use of the smooth tar along the R323 as we drove north towards the R62 via Voetpadkloof (a lovely poort following the course of the Brandrivier). Once on the R62 our route took us to Ladismith via Kruippoort and Naauwkloof. We stopped briefly for a comfort and coffee break before driving the lovely Hoekoe Valley road around the northern side of Ladismith regaling the guests with the story about Oom Stanley se Liggie - where a resident of the town took it upon himself to climb the mountain with some irrigation pipes and bicycle parts. At the source of the mountain spring he created a paddle wheel and connected it to a bicycle dynamo. When the little pinprick of lights shines brightly at night, the townsfolk know the river is flowing strongly.
We drove past the old church at Amalienstein where some of our guests got a little lost, but we soon regrouped, heading due north towards Seweweekspoort. The access road to the Tierkloof Dam was open, so we squeezed the entire convoy in backwards and watched as most of the guests tackled the huge steps up the dam wall.
It was time to complete the last leg of the day, which was Seweweekspoort followed immediately by Bosluiskloof Pass. The history of both these timeless passes runs deep. The Seweweekspoort is probably the most beautiful 18 km stretch of gravel road anywhere in South Africa. With easy gradients, multiple river crossings, mind-boggling geology, camping and self catering accommodation all packed into an almost perfect micro-climate, this road is an absolute joy to drive or ride, as it twists and turns through every angle of the compass, as it follows the contorted bends of the river and falls entirely under the control of Cape Nature Conservation and more specifically the Swartberg and Towerkop Nature Reserves. It is also a certified Unesco World Heritage Site.
The Aristata protea was rediscovered in the poort in the 1950's, after it was believed to have been extinct for quite some time. Other protea species found in the poort are Convexa, Eximia, Nitida and Sulphurea.
The condition of the poort was excellent with hardly any corrugations and the newly built drifts have greatly improved the drive.
Bosluiskloof Pass is closely related to Seweweekspoort, not only in proximity, but both of these passes were constructed under the watchful eye of Adam de Smidt, who just so happened to be Thomas bain's brother in law. Millions of tick fossils were uncovered in the shale when the pass was built, hence the name.
And so on to our overnight venue - Bosch Luys Kloof Lodge situated at the foot of the pass. There is something very special about this lodge, but perhaps it's a mixture of a quiet final destination, the stillness of the Karoo air, the silence, the thorn trees, the thatched chalets, the excellent food, the fires keeping the lodge war, the professional service - but all our guests unanimously voted for an extra day at this wonderful place. We tend to listen to our guests, so the next Swartberg Tour will include two nights at Bosch Luys Kloof. Just like that!
PODCAST: A talk covering most of the second half of the Day 1 of the Swartberg Classic Tour. Click here to listen.
PASS OF THE WEEK
Explore the rich history of Bosluiskloof Pass via the link below
* * B O S L U I S K L O O F P A S S * *
Trygve Roberts
Editor
"An optimist is one who completes his crossword puzzle in ink."
