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* A lifetime in 14 days
* Tours availability & information
* Technical - How to winch safely
* New products
* Trip Report - Wild Coast V7 Tour - Day 5
* Pass of the Fortnight
IN A FLASH!
So much has happened on the last two weeks, that it seems like we've been in a whirlwind of non-stop activity. In this newsletter we have a lot to cover, so let's start at the beginning. Thank you for the many compliments received about the new format of the newsletter. There wasn't a single negative comment. You speak, we listen! Ons bouw zo voort!
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KATBERG TOUR V1
Most of the last two weeks went into our recce trip of the new Katberg Tour. Many people ask why we do a recce trip. The answer is simple, there is simply no substitute for hands on real-time experience of a route. There are a host of things that you can never assume from a map or Google Earth. The original version of the proposed tour was simply too long and tedious to cram into that perfect tour time frame of 6 nights/5 days, so we put our heads together and came up with some neat solutions.
We clipped off 3 days of the original design (at the start) and will now start the tour at the Mountain Zebra National Park. We discovered a lovely boutique hotel in Bedford called the Duke of Bedford, which we have woven into the tour and we have extended the stay at the Katberg Hotel by an extra day as the places we want to take our guests are bountiful in that area.
Never before have we created a tour that has garnered so much interest. We opened bookings yesterday and already 11 of the 12 spots have been taken. By the weekend this tour will likely be fully booked and we will most certainly be running it again in 2025. The booking link is supplied lower down. The Katberg Tour will include:
* 2 nights at Mountain Zebra National Park in self catering chalets;
* A guided 4x4 route within the park; game viewing; a visit to Egg Rock near Cradock;
* A drive over the completely unique and isolated Tarka Pass (based on tyre tracks no-one has been over that route in a very long time!);
* A drive through a disused train tunnel (we'll tell you about the resident ghost when we get there);
* Drive the huge descent down the Waainek Pass to Somerset East;
* Spend a night at the Duke of Bedford boutique hotel:
* Drive De Beers Pass, Browns Vale and Post Retief
* Drive De Waalskloof Pass - another remote road less travelled with amazing views
* Visit Devils Bellows
* Descend the 4x4 only Katberg Pass with its big boulders and landslides to add some adenalin
* Katberg Hotel and Golf Estate for 3 nights to replace the adrenaline with red wine
* Hogsback, waterfalls, forests, hobbits and fairies and the Wolf River Pass
* Sindile Dam, Keiskammahoek
* Drive some proper two spoor routes through the Hogsback Forests
* Fort Fordyce Nature Reserve - Fullershoek Pass
* Mpofu Nature Reserve - Blinkwater Pass
* Katberg Forests over private land.(with special permission)
It's an action packed itinerary yet there are 3 days where you can bail out if you dont have enough energy and chill at base.
The lovely Katberg Hotel will be our home for the last 3 days of the tour / Photo: Trygve Roberts
WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
In the process of dissecting the Katberg Tour, we have created another new tour which will include the Bedrogfontein 4x4 Historical Route, Darlington Dam, Paardepoort Pass, Addo National Park, Pearston, Buffelshoek Pass, Swaershoek Pass, Cradock, Wapadsberg Pass, Witnek Pass, Nieu Bethesda, The Owl House, Michielshoogte, Oudeberg Pass, Camdeboo National Park, Valley of Desolation, Graaff Reinet and a final night at The Drostdy Hotel. The tour will be called the Zuurberg-Great Karoo Tour and we are trying to find the right time slot for it. We think spring will work perfectly for this tour. Watch this space.
Camdeboo National Park / Photo: Sanparks
UPCOMING TOURS
APRIL - Both the Mountain Kingdom Tours remain fully booked with no cancellations.
JUNE - Katberg Tour (1 place available)
JULY - Swartberg Tour (1 place available)
AUGUST - Grabouw Training Day (6) This is an excellent opportunity to sharpen up on your 4x4 skills ahead of the year end tours.
OCTOBER - Kouga-Baviaans ( 5) We have located a wonderful new midpoint stop in St Francis Bay right on the beach.
NOVEMBER - Wild Coast Tour V9 (2 places available) We have also negotiated a really nice deal with a brand new 4 star venue in Coffee Bay (Green Fields Hotel) to replace the ageing Ocean View Hotel which has been sold and is closed for renovations. We will be watching those developements keenly.
DECEMBER - Ben 10 Eco Challenge V8 (1 place available)
TECHNICAL: How to winch safely
WINCHING: STEP BY STEP
- CHECK IT
Electronics have a funny way of malfunctioning at exactly the wrong time. So, now is the time to grab the winch controller, turn on the vehicle and give your winch a quick spool-out under power to test that it is working. There’s nothing worse than setting up for a recovery only to find that the winch motor has seized. - ANCHOR POINT
From here, you will need to select a suitable anchor point. Ideally, choose the largest and healthiest tree you can find. Keeping the tree-trunk protector as low as possible will also help minimise the stresses on the tree. Side-loading a winch can lead to a disastrous breakdown of the winch or the rope, so keep your pull as straight as possible.
- ENGAGE FREE-SPOOL
With your anchor-point secure, engage your winch’s free spool and run out your cable or rope. Free-spooling conserves battery power. There are many ways that you can use hooks and soft shackles to attach your rope to the tree-trunk protector, but (as a rule) the fewer metal connectors there are, the safer.
- USE A DAMPER
Before tensioning the rope, attach at least one damper to the line. There are two possible hazards: either the cable snaps and acts like a giant whip, or a hook or bow shackle fails. With that in mind, best practice is to throw a damper over the middle of the line and a second damper as close as possible to any metal components. A damper can be a blanket, heavy jacket or your can buy a proper jacket type with velcro connectors.
- CLEAR THE AREA
Things do go wrong, so ensure that the immediate area is safe. Clear a safe zone at least the length of the rope, and then run through your winching plan. Double-check your connections and straps, and plan out exactly what’s going to happen, what can go wrong, how to deal with it, where you need to steer, and when you’ll reach a safe point to stop. Take your time. Don't make rushed decisions. Double check everything. - DISENGAGE SPOOL
Disengage your winch’s free spool and take up the slack in the line. Put your 4×4 into low range first gear, and begin winching in.
Slowly turning the wheels can help break suction in mud and take some load off the winch. You’ll want to match wheel speed with the winch, to share the load − paying attention not to overrun it and tangle the line. If the driver of the recovered vehicle, drives faster than the winch is pulling, you will almost certainly end up with an overwind. With plasma ropes, this can be bad news. Avoid overheating the winch motor. For extended winching, stop at reasonable intervals to allow the winch motor to cool down.
- RELEASE TENSION
When you’re back on solid ground and your 4×4 is stable, release any tension on the winch line and begin disconnecting your recovery equipment. When running the winch line back onto your winch, keep some tension on it and guide it onto the drum as neatly and tightly as possible. A loose winch line allows outer layers to pull through the lower layers of line, tangling them and complicating your next recovery. - CHECKING GEAR
With the winch line in and secure, pack any controllers up in an easy-to-access location.
We recommend leaving them within reach of the driver to save digging through drawers if you’re stuck in mud. When you pack your straps and soft shackles away, put them in a separate storage bag to isolate them until you can wash them. Mud and dirt are abrasive, and friction can make thousands of microscopic cuts in a strap, so clean gear is vital.
RULES FOR SAFE WINCHING
This series of articles is written by vehicle recovery specialist Jacques Coetzee, co-owner of Wild Dog 4×4, manufacturer of a variety of recovery equipment. Published by SA 4x4.
1. Always use as few connections as possible – avoid steel shackle connectors, and use soft shackles instead.
2. Always winch off a live tree – dead trees can be hollow and have rotten roots.
3. Never wrap winch rope back onto itself. Use a tree-trunk protector on the anchor.
4. Keep the strap low to the ground – the less leverage on the tree, the less likely you’ll be to rip it out.
5. Never use a snatch strap as a winch extension strap – it’s not designed for this application.
6. Winch lines can become tensioned or snap without warning – stay clear.
7. Always agree on clear signals between spotter and driver before you begin.
8. Only the spotter talks directly to the driver – everyone else speaks via the spotter.
9. Keep the area clear – snapped cables can be deadly.
10. Poorly-maintained gear is more dangerous than cheap gear.
11. Switch the controller OFF when not in use - Every time!
12. Wear sturdy gloves throughout.
NEW PRODUCTS
One of the golden rules of towstrap or kinetic recoveries is never to recover off a two-ball. So often it seems like the quickest, most obvious point to attach a tow strap, but beware as a tow ball is designed to bear a predominantly downward force and a smaller evenly exerted pulling component. There are enough stories about tow balls snapping off at the gooseneck and turning into 50mm cannon balls launched by a 3 ton catapult. People have died or been seriously injured in these accidents. So pay careful attention.
The way a differential's gears mesh is designed to be strongest going forward. The corrollary of the theory is obviously that when reversing it is at its weakest. A new differential is VERY expensive!
The photos below were all taken modelling our 105 Land Cruiser. Nothing here is immaculate or new. It's all part of a working vehicle.
Standard towbar with removable towbar removed. This can be used for recoveries too.
The correct place to hook up a towstrap is to use rated recovery points fitted by the manufacturer or a certified after market fitment centre. This is definitely not an area you want to be compromising on quality. Don't waste you money on "no name" brands that you buy online. They will more than likely fail in the field.
For the vehicle doing the recovery, you need to be pulling from a very secure point. Removable tow hitches are a good starting point. Remove the tow hitch and feed the loop end of the recovery strap into the square hole (as shown above) where the towbar came out and secure it with a ltransverse pin and locking device. We have done in excess of 100 recoveries with this system without any issues.
Apologies, some of our photos got distorted and are taller than they should be, so don't say anything about the egg shaped towball below! That's what publishing deadlines do!
Push the open loop of the strap into the hollow tube, then insert the side securing pin.
Try to avoid recovering another vehicle when you are reversing. It can seriously damage your drive train and specifically your differential.
Another option is to use a V drop pin type tow hitch which is a far better option than a normal tow ball. Lift the ball and pin - insert the towstrap loop - drop the pin back down and lock it in place.
V type removable towball with drop pin. This can break as it is a casting, but it's a much better option than a standard towball
Best practice: Tow strap attached to dedicated recovery device using a soft shackle. Note the position of the 'fist'
We came across a really neat product made by Ironman 4x4 Products, which is a dedicated recovery bar, See photo. It simply slides into the recess and is locked. It is specifically designed to do recoveries. It retails around R 1800.
The best option is a dedicated towing insert. This one by Iron Man 4x4 retails at around R1200
WILD COAST TOUR V7 2023 (DAY 5)
This was one of five opt out days we offered our guests who might be struggling with some driving fatigue. Four vehicles took the opt out option for a spa treatment or a long walk on the beach at Umngazi River Bungalows. This venue is a real treat where guests want for nothing. Food and service levels are excellent and we partcularly enjoyed the outside showers. The views over the lagoon and ocean are restful. Many of our guests asked why we don't spend more time there, but the show must go on and Kei Mouth was still some way to go.
For the other 16 guests we had a great route planned for the day to Execution Rock and Majola Tea Estates as well as some fun drag racing at the old WW2 airstrip on top of Mount Thesiger at Port St. Johns. We left at 0900 headed towards Mthatha on the R61, which up till early 2023 had been in an excellent condition. Floods had caused major damage in two specific areas north of PSJ, causing half the road width to have slipped own the mountain. Roadworks were well underway as we passed with a couple of stop-go's in place.
We left the traffic behind near Libode as we took the bumpy gravel road to the start and summit of the Mlengana Pass, which was also in the process of being resurfaced, although the only evidence of such was mounds of gravel dumped on the side of the road, narrowing the already narrow road to half its width. It was just as well that there was no traffic coming up the pass.
Mist shrouding Mlengana Rock added to it's mystique / Photo: MPSA
Mlengana Rock is a large chunk of rock about 150m high and rougly rectangular in shape with vertical sides. It would have made an excellent military stronghold, except climbing it would be impossible without proper climbing gear. The local legend relates to 'King Faku having thrown traitors and enemies from the top in such numbers that their blood flowed into the Umngazi River turning its waters red'
Physically being close to the rock will quickly make you realize that there is something seriously wrong with that story in that (a) the rock is virtually impossible to climb (let alone with reluctant prisoners in tow) and (b) it is some distance (almost 1 kilometre) from the river. At the time when the first cartographers drew maps of this area, this story was well known, and the first cartographer assumed that Mlengana Rock was the so called Execution Rock and promptly named it as such. The name has stuck for centuries.
Lower down in the villages of Mphutsane, Qhunqwana and Ndumi there are several smaller cliffs close to the river, which is a much more likely location to match the legend, but we have yet been able to verify that. The legend lives on and in a way it's good for tourism, so we'll just let sleeping dogs lie. As they say: "Why spoil a good story with facts?"
Dreamy scenery in the hills near the Majola Tea Estates not far from PSJ / Photo: Trygve Roberts
During the V6 tour in May 2023 we decided not to do the return leg to Umngazi via the Majola Tea Estates as there had been some tribal fighting, but for this tour all was peaceful as we drove the beautiful route high up through the mountains. It must rank as one of the best secret routes to explore. By lunchtime we were back at the hotel for a delicious lunch and during the afternoon we took about half the vehicles up to Mount Thesiger for the fun drag racing event.
Shrieks of laughter and howls of delight were the soundtrack accompanying the thunder of labouring engines as the 4x4's (hardly known for their speed and eccelleration), came thundering down the airstrip to prove their mettle. Everyone is a winner during this event. Later we took the Airport Road (which had been closed after the May floods) down to Port St John's to refuel.
That night before dinner one of our guests, Jo Schutten, presented all the guests with a Jaegermeister to celebrate her trusty Toyota Land Cruiser having clicked through the 400,000 km mark. What a milestone!. That's one phrase one cannot convert to metric.
If this tour is what you're looking for, we still have 2 spots open for our November, 2024 tour. Go on spoil yourself! Click here to book: WILD COAST NOV 2024 TOUR
Next Episode: Day 6 - Umngazi - Luzube, Mnenu River Pass, broken bridges, detours, Coffee Bay.
PASS OF THE FORTNIGHT
This week we take you to the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho to drive one of the lesser known passes. It's part of a string of impressive passes along the A3 route between Thaba Tseka and Maseru. The Marakabei Pass takes its name from the village at the middle point of the pass. Whilst it's not the longest or steepest pass in Lesotho, it offers enjoyable rural scenery on a good quality road. The pass is 8.4 km long and climbs a very respectable 657m producing an average gradient of 1:13. The steepest parts are at 1:9. The gradients are well engineered and the pass is suitable for all vehicles, except when its snowing, when a 4x4 will be required and sometimes even a 4x4 will not cope if the snow levels are deep.
* * M A R A K A B E I P A S S * *
Trygve Roberts / Author
"Be as smart as you can be, but remember it's always better to be wise than to be smart" ~ Alan Alda
