What's inside?

* GPS vs Common Sense

* Garden Route Tour - Day 5 Final

Kouga Baviaans (Day 1 - Part 2)

* Ben 10 V6 Tour - Update

* Podcast

* Pass of the Week


GPS vs. common sense

There's an adage that states "Common sense is not so common at all"

With the demise of our national rail network, more and more reliance has been placed on road transport - and there's lots of money to be made out of it too. These days there are thousands of trucking companies plying our roads. The older experienced drivers are being replaced with younger ones, eager to take home the pay checks. Almost all of them are reliant on GPS and modern navigation systems to find their destinations efficiently.

One of the most common mistakes (and I've made this same error myself) is to ask your GPS to navigate the shortest route, rather than the fastest time. In the case of the Bain's Kloof Pass near Wellington, the pass is in fact the shortest distance between Worcester and Cape Town, but it is most definitely not the fastest. 

Just this weekend past, a luxury passenger bus managed to get itself stuck under the overhanging rock known as Dacres Pulpit, with a very costly recovery and inconvenience and aggravation to other road users. This is the fourth large vehicle to fall victim to the rock since the refurbished pass was reopened to traffic in September, 2022. There are more than enough signs warning of the 3.8m height restriction, yet drivers ignore the measurement chains suspended from the gantries at either end of the pass and proceed. Once they are committed, there is no easy way to extract themselves, other than reversing back 10 km, which is an extremely difficult task for a truck with a trailer.

Similarly a large truck & trailer overturned and caught fire on the Swartberg Pass, resulting in the pass being closed for three days as the authorities worked to get the wreck out of the way. The driver's story: "I followed my GPS"

I recall about five years ago when driving from Cape Town to Matatiele via the N2, I punched in 'Matatiele' into my Garmin whilst keeping a low profile in Mthatha. The Garmin took a few seconds and then guided me through the maze of broken traffic lights, congested intersections and on to the road to Port St.Johns. It had been a long time since I had been in Mthatha and nothing looked familiar from my childhood memories. So I followed the GPS and was duly pleased when the lady announced that I was 40 minutes from my destination.  The joy of being early overshadowed any doubts about the numbers. The routing took me off the main road (R61) after about 15 km and down a dodgy looking track. At that point I decided to stop and carefully check the information. It turned out that there was a tiny village near Libode also called Matatiele and that was where the Garmin was directing me. I ended up 3 hours late at my destination at the real Matatiele. A tough lesson, well learned.

A GPS is not the be all and end all of accurate navigation. At all times, we should apply common sense and double check on the unit. Read the road signs. Think!


Garden Route Tour

Our penultimate stop on this inaugural tour was a visit to the Storms River Bridge. The large, modern service station and surrounding eateries and shops is a popular spot with most travellers. From the safety of the parking area, a well laid out path takes visitors under the roadway via a small pedestrian clover leaf, which allows access to the walkway on the southern side of the bridge, which provides unobstructed views of the gorge, some 120m below. When heavy vehicles thunder over the bridge, one can feel the movement in the bridge. It's quite an uncomfortable sensation. The same setup exists at the eastern end of the walkway where a cloverleaf arrangement takes visitors back under the bridge and onto the northern side for the walk back over the bridge facing west and on to the car park.

The Paul Sauer Bridge, also known as the Storms River Bridge, is a deck arch bridge over the Storms River in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The bridge is located on the Garden Route section of National Route 2, between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. At a maximum height of 120 metres above the Storms River, it was the highest concrete arch in Africa until the Bloukrans Bridge, 216 metres, opened on the same road in 1984.

Storms River Bridge, N2. / Photo: Knysna-Plett Herald

It is named after Paul Sauer, a popular politician at the time. The bridge was designed by Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi, and constructed by Concor between 1953 and 1956. It spans 100 metres and sits 120 metres above the river. The main span of the bridge consists of a reinforced concrete arch structure spanning between two concrete abutments located on the western and eastern sides of the river. The deck of the bridge consists of three main spans, the centre span between the two abutments and the two approach spans up to the joint above the abutments. The reinforced concrete deck is supported by the arch by means of 12 sets three reinforced concrete columns or struts.

The main arch structure was constructed in a unique fashion: The complete arch was divided into four semi-arches which were built with climbing formwork in an essentially vertical position on opposite sides of the gorge. These were then rotated and lowered into position in pairs to meet at the centre, thus forming the completed arch structure. The bridge was renovated in 1986.

A short drive back into the west along the N2, got us to the turn-off to the Tsitsikamma National Park. Things did not go well at check-in, where the front desk only had one staff member to check our group in. Add to that - load shedding, computers that weren't co-operating, chalet keys that were missing and an "on duty" ranger who was not in the park to assist.

Storms River Mouth - a place of rugged beauty / Photo: MPSA Tour Group

It took a while, but eventually all the gremlins were resolved. This check in procedure has far too much red tape and duplication of information. Like most national parks, one has to sign a batch of documents at the entrance control point and then do it all over again at reception. It reminded me of my "diensplig" year. We had done this booking many months before and confirmed our ETA, yet it was somewhat botched. By that stage of the tour, the mountains and fresh air had worked their magic on our guests, and I was the only one running around in a flap!

Our legendary Chappies Final Night did not quite go according to plan. I had contacted the restaurant (Cattle Baron) via Sanparks reception and booked a table for 26 guests. I confirmed this several times in the weeks leading up to the tour and was able to speak directly to the owner/manager on each occasion, who was very accommodating in terms of menu choices. I had visited the lovely timber building some years before and in my mind's eye, saw a perfect setting for a sit down dinner, speeches and fun.

Pedestrian suspension bridge at Storms River Mouth / Photo: MPSA Tour Group

What the manager (nor Sanparks) didn't tell me was that the original building had burnt down in a fire a year before and that they were now operating out of a marquee. That was quite a shock arriving to find the restaurant gone and a construction site in its place.. The acoustics were terrible which made trying to make speeches almost impossible. It was also cold inside and to add the final straw, load shedding started as we arrived. This meant our food was not heated properly and items like potato chips could not be made as their fryers run on electricity. The back up generator was only capable of running a few lights.

Our guests, in the finest spirit, dismissed all these things with a wave of the hand and settled down to enjoy themselves and simply made the most of things. At least the setting, right on the rocks, was magnificent.

As a result of this, future Garden Route Tours will be re-routed on the final day until such time as the restaurant has been rebuilt. We have also written to senior management at Sanparks making some suggestions to improve their check-in and out systems more streamlined.

sanparksrestaurant_76577.jpgWhat we got.... This photo is very kind as all the construction debris is not visible.

Inaugural tours are always an experiment of sorts and it's how we improve and make each tour better. There are a number of changes that will be effected to the version 2 which will take place in 2023.


Kouga-Baviaans Tour - Day 1 (Part 2)

The visit to Moordenaarskloof had been fascinating. Our convoy wormed its way back up the pass with its many turns until we arrived back on the main gravel road, where we turned west, heading for Baviaans Lodge.

It was dusty. Add an absence of wind and the clouds of dust produced by 13 vehicles, just hung in the air like a large personal brown cloud. Of course, this mean following distances increased and with that radio comms decreased. This required regular stops to regroup and start again.

Two year old Evelyn welcomed our group to the Baviaans Lodge / Photo: MPSA

We drove over the oddly named Meidenek and soon arrived at the very steep descent, which leads down to Baviaans Lodge. We had arranged with the owner, Rob le Roux, that we would be stopping by for some refreshments. As always Rob was on hand making guests feel welcome and telling us stories about his little patch of paradise. This must rank as one the most remote lodges in South Africa. Rob is building additional chalets to supplement the four currently available. This is a perfect spot to take a weekend break. Ask Rob to show you the kloofs, rockpools, waterfalls and San rock art. You will be mesmerised.

It was time to start the Rus en Vrede 4x4 trail - the highlight of the first day. First we had to negotiate the very steep climb out of the valley and an extremely sharp left hand bend between an old gate and a large rock, which in most cases resulted in multi-point turns (except for the Jimny of course!)

After completing the long climb to the top of the mountain, we retold the story of Katot Meyer and his beloved Series 1 Land Rover Defender, which decoded to take a drive down the mountain by itself, after Katot forgot to engage the handbrake when he got out to take photos of the amazing scenery. The vehicle remained on its wheels as it went careering down the mountainside, then flipped over and rolled after hitting a large rock. Katot walked back to Baviaans Lodge and engaged the services of Rob's tractor and a labourer. They went up the mountain the next day and with the help of a winch they dragged the Land Rover back up to the track and put it on a trailer. That was a three day operation.

Katot later took the vehicle back to his farm near De Vlugt and lovingly restored the Land Rover, which he swears he will never sell. He made up two small metal signboards, explaining the path of the vehicle and about 500m further another sign, showing where the recovery took place. The signs are still there but almost illegible after years of sun fade.

All the vehicles were asked to gear down to low range as we began the long climb up to the first summit. The two spoor track is slow and stony, but not difficult at all in dry weather. We were treated to endless vistas of changing mountain scenery, driving along ridge after ridge looking down into deeply wooded valleys, dotted about with the occasional cow or donkey. 

Miles of mountains and solitude - Soul food / Photo: MPSA Tour Group

This protected area is the catchment area for the Kouga Dam. The citrus industry relies on high quality water, so it's vital that these mountains remain unsullied and uninhabited. The Kouga Dam (previously the Paul Sauer Dam - there's that man again) is fed by the Kouga River, which sources near the intersection of the N9 and R62 and provides a lifeline of perennial water to the Langkloof, an important farming region. The other, much smaller non-perennial river, is the Baviaanskloof River, which forms a confluence with the Kouga River near Doodsklip. On the eastern side of the Kouga Dam wall, the river has a name change and becomes the Gamtoos River at the point where the Grootrivier forms a confluence near the Komdomo campsites.

The 4x4 route was a delight with just enough excitement to keep the tongues wagging, but with no damage to the vehicles and mercifully, no punctures. The route took approximately 3.5 hours to complete, arriving in the Baviaanskloof proper after some very tight hairpin bends at the Doringkloof farmstead where we met owner Chris Lamprecht and got the payment for the permits sorted out.

A short drive later we arrived at our overnight stop, Zandvlakte. Whilst half our guests settled in there, I escorted the rest of the group (10 guests) 21 km further west to the Sederkloof Lodge. These 5 star glass and stone chalets are all perched discreetly on the edge of a ravine. Whilst they are certainly on the upper end of the pricing scale, they are really worthwhile. The reception, breakfasts and general standards, were of the highest order.

Next week: We explore the Western Baviaanskloof.


BEN 10 V6 TOUR UPDATE

Next Friday (9th December), we depart for Elliot (Mountain Shadows Hotel) with an overnight stop in Graaff Reinet for our 6th Ben 10 Eco Challenge Official Tour. The tour is fully booked with guests ranging from 11 years old to 81. The region has had lots of rain, so this year's tour is likely to be an exciting one smack back in the middle of the rainy season. Mud, mud, glorious mud!

Views from Dawid se Kop

We will be posting regular updates, photos and videos on our social media pages, if you want to keep track of the event.

There will be no tours during January and February as we reboot body and soul in preparation for the new year. During this time we will be spending time working on the 2023 tours calendar, where we will offer our standard tours, plus a few new ones.

To receive up to date information on tours, please use the subscribe box top/right on our home page.

 

PODCAST:

We chat about the spate of GPS errors in the news recently and discuss Day 2 of the Baviaans-Kouga Tour.

CLICK TO LISTEN


PASS OF THE WEEK

Blending in perfectly with our story on the Kouga-Baviaans Tour, this page on our website covers the first day of the tour and provides viewers with a much better insight as to what to expect.

 

KOUGA-BAVIAANS 4X4 ROUTE

 


Trygve Roberts
Editor

 "Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning" ~ Albert Einstein.