What's Inside?
* Season's Greetings
* 2024 Tours
* Ben 10 Eco Challenge (Overview)
* Kouga-Baviaans Tour (Day 3)
* Wild Coast Tour (Day 1 cont.)
* Pass of the Week
SEASON'S GREETINGS
By the time you read this Christmas will be history, but we do wish every one of you the very best for the Festive Season and a New Year filled with lots of gravel travel - with us, of course!
It's been a very busy year at MPSA having completed no less than 10 tours. We will be slowing the pace down a little in 2024 and changing a number of tours for the better and some tours we will only run in alternate years. We also need to create at least one new tour for 2024, which requires a considerable amount of time and effort. We have mentioned it before - the Winterberg Tour, which will be focused on the mountainous area between Addo and Cathcart and will include Hogsback and the Katberg. We plan on doing a recce trip there during January/February.
MPSA TOURS 2024
This weekend we will be posting our tour schedule for 2024. As most of you know, the tours get booked out quickly, so please make your bookings promptly if you want to join a tour: This is the provisional programme, subject to amendments.
- March: Training day - sand (Atlantis, Western Cape)
- April: Lesotho Tours x 2 (Both are fully booked already)
- June: Katberg/Winterberg Tour (New) or Wild Coast.
- July: Swartberg Tour
- September: Training - rock, mud (Grabouw, Western Cape)
- October: Kouga Baviaans Tour
- November: Wild Coast V8
- December: Ben 10 Eco Challenge
BEN 10 ECO CHALLENGE (OVERVIEW)
Our final tour of 2023 was the Ben 10 and as always this tour never disappoints. Initial weather forecasts indicated five clear days for the challenge but a week ahead of the tour that changed to the exact opposite of five rainy days. We had an interesting collection of vehicles from the diminutive, but capable Suzuki Jimny all the way through to a Lexus LC600 - one of only 3 in the country, but perhaps the most interesting entry was Johann Moller's Mercedes Benz GLE 400d, which is a more of a car than a SUV. Our biggest concern was the low profile standard road tyres. Would they manage the rigours of Bastervoetpad?
We had a really nice group of people from all over South Africa including 3 Belgians. About half the group were existing clients so the team spirit gelled really quickly. The tour wasn't as wet as the 2022 version, but it was wet enough to provide lots of slipping and sliding. We'll show you some of those video clips in the coming weeks.
In the drama department we did only one recovery - The Jimny bottomed out on Bastervoetpad requiring a reverse extraction; one sidewall puncture on the Lexus and a cooked battery on one of the Ford Rangers. For the rest all went swimmingly well - or shall we say slidingly well. We were impressed with the maintenance of most of the roads, but there were a few glaring exceptions, which we will get to in later episodes.
Ben 10 Eco Challenge V7 2023 graduates.One of our guests suddenly developed health problems two days ahead of the tour and had to sit the tour out on doctor's orders. We had two guests celebrating birthdays during the tour: Belinda Davies and Peter Emmanuel. That added a lot of grunt to the evening dinners and to the bar profits!
Everyone completed the challenge passes (which were a little different to the old version) and deserved their badges. We will report fully in the week's ahead.
KOUGA-BAVIAANS TOUR - DAY 2 - CONTINUED
Our numerically reduced convoy (sans the Heathcotes), turned onto the R332 towards the Grootrivierpoort. As you drive through the poort with the Grootrivier flowing sluggishly on the left, one immediately gets the feeling that you're in the Baviaanskloof. At the eastern end of the poort the Grootrivier and Kouga rivers form a confluence and take on a new name - the Gamtoos River.
The Gamtoos River provides a lifeline of good quality water to the citrus farmers of the Gamtoos Valley, which happens to be one of the major citrus producing areas of South Africa.
The Grootrivier Poort was one of the last passes to be built by South Africa's most famous road engineer, Thomas Bain. This masterpiece opened up the seemingly impassable 200 km mountain wilderness of the Baviaanskloof between Willowmore and Patensie.
An example of Aenon Conglomerate next to the road on the R332 near Patensie showing the profile of Queen Victoria / Photo: Wikipedia
The topography is magnificent as the river and the road follow each other faithfully through the towering cliffs of the poort amongst dense riverine vegetation. The road is generally quite good through this section and most people drive too fast, which means you see less. Expect to see a range of animals, like kudu, reedbuck, baboons and monkeys - and more so if you drive through early in the morning. As the road was carved out of the mountain sides, it left an open display of the various rock formations, which range from solid Table Mountain sandstone to the unusual pebble conglomerate.
Next up was the Cambria Valley, which is apparently similar in look to the Cambria Valley in Wales - hence the name. Citrus orchards grace the slopes on either side of the river, which was to be the last sign of civilization till the end of the day. We stopped the group at the control boom of the reserve to get our permits, but whilst this was happening, Alan Butler's new level Land Rover Defender, started sending him dirty messages on the dashboard. " I'm going into limp mode and cannot remain in low range" or words to that effect.
The Butler's Defender on its way to PE. / Photo: Alan Butler
After a few phone calls to Land Rover SA, we deemed it not worth the risk of the Butlers continuing with their vehicle in that state. They too would head back to Patensie to seek assistance. It was the end of their tour as well, but a plan was busy being hatched for them to not miss the final night of the tour. A low bed recovery truck took their Land Rover to Port Elizabeth, whilst the agents supplied the Butlers with a Toyota Hilux 4x4 as a loan vehicle, but they were concerned about doing the Baviaanskloof on their own in a vehicle not fitted with off-road tyres.
And so we were two vehicles down.
The Baviaanskloof was wetter than what I've ever seen it. All the rivers and streams were flowing strongly, as we had already experienced on the first two days, so we knew what to expect. It was as well that we had already dealt with several deep water crossings on the first day, so everyone knew what their vehicles were capable of.
Poortjies is one of my personal favourites in the Baviaanskloof. It consists of a series of small streams smothered in a forest canopy of riverine bush and ferns, with dappled sunlight adding perfectly soft light as the road winds back and forth through an idyllic landscape. The rainy weather came through in cycles, but not hard enough to spoil the day.
The first pass we had to ascend was Combrink's Pass.
Combrink's Pass and the Holgat Pass are the descent and ascent respectively of the high plateau where the Bergplaas camping sites are found. Regardless of which direction you drive the pass, it is a visual feast. It is also the biggest of the five Baviaanskloof passes (Nuwekloof, Grasnek, Langkop, Holgat and Combrinks) in terms of altitude gain/loss. This is the first pass you will encounter when driving the Baviaanskloof from east to west, bearing in mind that the Grootrivierpoort is not a pass, but a poort.
Looking down Combrinks Pass towards the east. / Photo: MPSA Archives
Compressed within its 5,5 km length the road ascends 333m via 73 bends, corners and curves, resulting in an average gradient of 1:16, but there are some sections as steep as 1:8. The road is single width for most of its length making overtaking impossible and passing difficult, where one of the vehicles will need to reverse back to a wider point.
Soon we passed the turnoff to Bergplaas and stopped at the toilet facilities at the summit. Here we took a short walk down to the old cableway (still in intermittent drizzle) to marvel at the sheet ingenuity of the farmers of the 60's. The farmer was Winston le Roux of the farm Enkeldoorn, who was a strapping 19 year old at the time. Winston, who is now in his late 80's, contacted us when we first started the MPSA project and supplied us with high quality information about the cableway. The cableway became a relic of the past when the farm was sold to Cape Nature.
The disused Le Roux cableway over the Waterkloof
The next pass was the descent of the tricky Holgat Pass. The views descending the pass are magnificent with the deep valley around the conical peak, Langkop, providing an ocean of trees, hillocks, mountains and hidden streams. The tricky description comes from the concreted two spoor tracks which have broken up in places and been rudimentally repaired. It makes for a bumpy ride and caution needs to be taken not to place tyres on the sharp edges of the concrete - or face the challenge of a tyre change on the steep slopes.
Thomas Bain supervised the construction of the Grootrivierpoort, but was consulted regarding the lines for the other passes. These passes were constructed by the farmers themselves with some compensation from the government at the time.
The route follows the southern banks of a small river and passes a lovely campsite known as Doodsklip. The spooky name relates to a number of bodies that were found on a large rock in the river, where the cause of death was never established. It remains a mystery to this day.
Doodsklip campsite is located at the headwaters of the Kouga Dam / Photo: Archives
Next up was the Langkop Pass with grand scenery and its own set of technical issues. This is a very steep pass that used to get damaged in heavy rain. So the local government decided to brick pave all the steepest sections. The paving was placed on top of the existing road and not embedded into the road. That meant deep concrete half-drains had to be constructed on either side as well as at the top and bottom of each section. These drains run at an angle across the road which creates a perfect axle twister and they have to be negotiated at dead slow speeds.
After another 8 km we arrived at what promised to be the most exciting part of the day. Smitskraal is the name of the lovely campsite on the western side of the stream. This is where the Baviaansrivier forms a confluence with the Kouga River and visitors are faced with a daunting water crossing. In normal conditions the crossing is about 80m, but on this day it was around 300m long. The water was also quite deep at around 650 to 750mm. To add another ingredient into an already exciting mix, we had to drive it against the current.
Guidance was dispensed before the crossing was started and then MPSA 1 set off as the guinea pig. The crossing is not straight but has two gentle curves in it. This means that vehicles disappear from view with the only means of communication being via the two way radios. We were also driving the crossing upstream, with a swift current running it was imperative not to drive too fast, but to try and prevent the bow wave from breaking. If another vehicle were to approach, we would have been in trouble.The first vehicle carries that risk.
One of the Ford Wildtraks in action at Smitskraal / Photo: Trygve Roberts
We all made it through, much to the delight of the guests. After a brief moment for a leg stretch and get the adrenaline levels lowered, we set off for the next pass, the Grasnek Pass. It's probably the best of the Baviaanskloof passes in terms of scenic beauty. It’s fairly long at 8,3 km and includes in that length an astonishing 83 bends, corners and curves which equates to one bend every 100 metres. The pass is well designed (especially considering its age) and offers a fairly reasonable average gradient of 1:11 both ascending and descending. It rises from 247m to 447m ASL on its western ascent of 3,7 km giving rise to some stiff gradients as steep as 1:6. Views from the ridge and summit zone are beyond description.
Watch the video in widescreen and sound on for maximum effect.
https://youtu.be/Avpe-YMuYp0?si=Xc7ZduA5ghp0-1rG
We signed out at the western control point and checked in a short while later at Piet and Magriet Kruger's farm, Zandvlakte, which was to be our base for the next two nights. Their accommodation is limited to 7 rooms, so we placed the rest of the group at Sederkloof, about 10 km further west. It's not ideal splitting the group up, but sometimes we have no choice.
The group enjoyed a proper farm dinner that Magriet conjured up and there was no shortage of wine to lubricate the adventurous stories of the day being retold with much gusto.
Next Episode: Exploring the Western Baviaanskloof
WILD COAST V7 TOUR (DAY 1 CONTINUED)
The unquestionable highlight of the first day is driving the magnificent Mzintlava Pass. This is my personal favourite Wild Coast pass for a number of reasons. It's remote, offer lots of variety, jaw-dropping scenery, its gravel, its technical, but not so much that drivers can't enjoy the views; indigenous forests, colourful villages, interactions with locals, fabulous geology, and waterfalls.
Once through Tabankulu the road rambles towards the lip of the mountain and there we got the first of the grand views unfolding before our eyes. Deeply incised valleys with the odd rondavel adding a splash of colour. The valley covers a huge area of some 20 km to the far side of the valley. Villages can be seen on the far rim of the escarpment with million dollar views.
The spindly waterfall near the final descent to the river crossing / Photo: MPSA
Guests were stopping at every opportunity to take photos and then a lone vulture soared overhead as if in silent welcome. Shortly after the contour drive, the road enters an indigenous forest (the Gomo Forest), where we always stop for our lunch break. Besides the enchanting atmosphere of the overhead forest and all the birdsong, the real fun is the parade of local vehicles that pass us. There are bakkies, taxis, trucks and private cars. They all hoot, wave, smile and call out "Molo" which is inevitably followed by "Where are you going?" Many stop on the spot and engage us in conversation. On every Wild Coast trip it's the same. The friendliness of the locals is something to experience.
Once through the Gomo forest the road descends to a wide plateau with many small villages for about 12 km, before reaching the northern bank of the Mzintlava River with its fabulous views. To the left a small waterfall wisps its way down to a rocky pool and as the view opens up to the right, the broad, brown, serpentine like Mzintlava flows swiftly towards the coast. The rapids are even visible from this height. The locals usually walk over and chat to us and often ask for photos to be taken with us. They all have mobile phones these days.
One of the views of the Mzintlava River along the pass / Photo: Trygve Roberts
The last part of the pass is the best as the road follows a long ridge into the south, dropping steadily. The river sweeps away in a 180 degree bend to the left and disappears, only to return into view a view kilometres later. The road conditons up till this point had actually been quite good and certainly much better than during our V6 tour in May.
The gravel came to an abrupt end when we intersected with the tarred R61. The time had come to run the gauntlet into Lusikisiki. This is where the radios come into their own as each driver is able to warn his fellow travellers about animals, other dangers and especially speed bumps, which are mostly invisible.
We got into Lusikisiki without mishap, but we had several "interlopers" in our convoy, which spread us out a bit longer than normal. I always breathe a sigh of relief when the whole convoy has made the right hand turn to Mbotyi. In the past we have had guests getting lost there.
The run through the Magwa tea plantation provided a few glimpses of the ocean and a good indication that our next overnight stop (Mbotyi) was close. On arrival at Mbotyi River Lodge we were met by Alex and his management staff with some welcoming snacks and drinks on the lawns overlooking the lagoon. All due credit to Alex, who previously was the manager at the Ocean View Hotel, has worked wonders at Mbotyi with many improvements over the last six months. They were clearly very happy to host our group.
We managed to get the drone up in hazy conditions. The video gives a sound concept of what the layout of the lodge looks like. Best watched in widescreen with sound.
Chappie Hour on the decks was followed by dinner. This would be our base for the next three nights.
Next episode: Waterfalls and mega bridges
PASS OF THE WEEK
We have featured this pass before, but for those of you that haven't driven it, the 8 videos (which can never replace the real thing) will give you a reasonable idea of what it's all about. Click the link, engage 4WD and away you go!
* * M Z I N T L A V A P A S S * *
Trygve Roberts / Editor
"Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive" - See you in 2024!!!
