Just like that!
* Newsletter Advisory
* Wild Coast getting wilder
* A bridge too far
* Website Improvements
* Lesotho
* Technical Corner
* Trip Report (Wild Coast - Day 6)
* Featured Pass
Newsletter Advisory
We will be out of office until 22nd April, whilst on tour in Lesotho. This means the next scheduled newsletter will only be issued on the 25th April.
Wild Coast News
In the last year the Wild Coast has taken a hammering on social media. It started with the floods which damaged the major roads and decimated some of the smaller roads. Bridges were washed away (one of them on our route, at the Mthakatye River) and some of them have yet to be repaired by a recalcitrant Eastern Cape Government, who seem to be oblivious to the value of tourism to an impoverished area. People have taken to social media complaining about bad roads. Another bit of bad news was the closure of the Mazeppa Bay Hotel, where the owners cited a litany of reasons (bad roads, Covid, lack of government support) for their failure.
That led to an out-bursting of social media negativity. Strangely there are neighbouring hotels (Kob Inn, Trenneries, Seagulls, The Haven) that have rallied and are doing very well with the same bad roads and Covid issues, so perhaps there were some management issues in the Mazeppa Hotel case?
Now here's an odd thing. Our November Wild Coast Tour is fully booked, yet the May tour was poorly supported. We have run the two tours in the same months for the past 5 years, so what is going on? We did a bit of head scratching and the only conclusion we could come to is that the May tour falls just ahead of the 2024 general election. We took the bold step of cancelling the tour and slotted the new Katberg Tour in it's place, one month later. That tour is almost fully booked (1 place left).
We are planning another two Willd Coast Tours in 2025 which will fit into our best practice box of 6 nights/5 days. Those tours will be more affordable as well.
A Bridge Too Far
Speaking of bridges, the one in Baltimore this week has made headline news and it's inconceivable to think that a bump from a ship could bring that giant Meccano set down in a few seconds. The captain is being hailed as a hero for timeously calling a May Day, which allowed authorities to close the bridge, resulting in a low death toll. Imagine the amount of organisation cleaning all that up and rebuilding?!
On the local front, SANRAL has reported that the Msikaba N2 Bridge will be completed in 2024. I'm not an engineer, but based on progress over the last two years, I don't see that as a realistic time frame. Maybe the end of 2025 is a more likely ETC.
Construction on the Mtentu Bridge further north of Msikaba has begun by a Chinese consortium. Once that is completed, it will be the highest bridge in South Africa, surpassing the Bloukrans Bridge's impressive 216m by another 7 metres. It will be Africa's tallest bridge at a staggering 223 m high. With a length of 1.13 km, including a 260 m long main span, the bridge will also rank among the world's longest main-span balanced cantilever bridges.
Artist's impression of the Mtentu Bridge / Photo: SMEC
The construction started on August 5, 2023, and has an expected conclusion date of the end of 2027. The project was originally awarded to a German company, but they threw down tools and went back to Europe after being threatened by violent local protest action. That set the project back almost two years as new tenders had to be put out, negotiated and signed off. The German contract was worth R1.6 billion compared to the new contract set at R4.3 billion. There's some serious inflation there! (I know what you're thinking!)
The contract has a local labour contract participation goal of 4%, which should see around R141 million (excluding VAT) being paid to local labour in wages and salaries, creating approximately 1,080 full-time employment jobs for local skilled and unskilled persons during the contract period.
There's another new 'bridge' in the planning. The proposed Skytram in Franschhoek is a grand concept involving a cable car ride over the beautiful valley from Haute Cabriere wine farm to the top of the Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve. Locals are calling foul and don't want their town invaded by tourists, yet the opportunities for business, tourism and employment are obvious benefits.
As is typical of any new ideas, most people are resistant to change. At MPSA we say "Bring it on!"
Artist's impression of the proposed SkyTram / Image: Doug Jeffrey Environmental Consultants
MPSA WEBSITE IMPROVEMENTS
You might have noticed some subtle improvements to the layout and presentation of our newsletter and website displays. Over the last two months our IT boffins have been hard at work migrating the website onto the new platform, which is much more user friendly. These changes follow in the wake of our stated policy of constant evolution and modernisation. We hope you like it as much as we do.
On the social media front, our Facebook page has just surpassed the 170,000 followers threshold and continues as our main platform for connecting with our viewers and maintaining a daily social media presence. The algorithms change continuously on Zuck's platforms, making it something of a science staying ahead of the pack.
The most frustrating thing about Instagram (where we have grown the page to 24,500 followers) is that one cannot put links into the text. Let's just leave that one there. Instagram is better suited for short videos and photos with as little writing as possible. We are story tellers, so Instagram is a strange creature to tame.
LESOTHO HERE WE COME
Our Lesotho V2 Tour starts on Wednesday 3rd April - carefully planned to avoid all the Easter congestion. In conjunction with local expert Philip Rawlins, we have worked hard on improving the original tour, with less long distance driving and more time for photography and visiting points of interest. We have also extended the tour by a day to make things more comfortable for our guests.
One of our overnight venues is at Thaba Bosiu / Photo: Trygve Roberts
The first day no longer goes all the way to Butha-Buthe from Matatiele, thanks to the Oxbow Lodge reopening for business. The highlight of the first day is the ascent of the Sani Pass. It is nothing short of phenomenal how the Sani Pass continues to attract visitors from far and wide, year after year, since 1955. The first day also includes driving the Black Mountain Pass which is the second highest in Lesotho at 3242m. Compare that to Sani Pass at 2876m and you can only imagine the lack of oxygen up there!
Besides the "must see" sights of Lesotho, like Katse Dam, Mohale Dam, Maletsunyane Falls, Thaba Bosiu, and Kome Caves our routes cover some incredible secret places. There are staggeringly steep passes, old suspension bridges, canyons and jaw dropping scenery that will stay with you for a lifetime. We will deploy the drone wherever we can to bring you the best videos on our return.
We are no sooner back in Matatiele when we meet the V3 tour group and do it all over again. Lucky we!
Technical Corner
HiLift Jack
The vast majority of off-road vehicles carry a HiLift Jack. In this article we are going to explore why the HLJ is such a useful piece of gear to have onboard and when not to use it. Before we start, there are some basic safety rules to bank.
(a) Always wear sturdy gloves (preferably leather)
(b) Wear closed shoes
(c) Respect the forces that are being applied and be safety conscious
(d) Keep an eye on the foot for lateral or fore and aft movement during the jacking process
How the webbing attachment hooks into a rim / Photo: Motortrend
1, Do not use a HLJ to change a wheel or work under the vehicle. It has a narrow foot and when put under load, the foot tends to want to slide out or dig itself into the surface (sand, mud, gravel). It is much better to use a bottle or scissors jack for this purpose.
2. When you need to lift a wheel out of an obstruction or lift the vehicle off a rock, the HLJ is the right tool for the job. Buy the webbing/hook attachment that attaches to the jacking point to achieve this.
Essential accesories for the HiLift Jack / Photo: Motortrend
3. Drive off recovery. If your vehicle is stuck over a rock or obstacle, you can use the HLJ to lift it off the obstacle, then drive carefully off allowing the HLJ to fall over. Care and good planning needs to be taken into consideration when using this technique. This works well for vehicles fitted with a diff-lock.
4. Push Off Recovery. If one wheel is in a hole, the HLF can be used to lift that wheel out of the hole. The vehicle can then be pushed sideways to get the wheel onto firmer ground, by allowing the jack to fall sideways.
Sideways push recovery / Photo: Motortrend
5. Use it as a winch on a vehicle that doesn't have a winch fitted. The HLJ can be turned horisontal and used as a winch. Whilst its pulling capacity is limited to the length of the bar, it can often get you out of trouble.
Using the jack as a winch / Photo: Motortrend
6. A firm grip needs to be applied to the handle during lifting and lowering.
7. The HLF can lift 3000 kg / 3 tons.
8. Buy the steel base extender which triples the foot area.
9. Make sure your HLJ has a dust proof cover when not in use.
10. Service the mechanical parts and springs at least one a year (even if you haven't used it) and lubricate the moving parts with machine oil (3 in 1)
11. Never mount your HLJ on the outside of your vehicle without a decent dust cover.
Using the jack to lift a wheel out of the sand to allow the Maxtrax to be inserted / Photo: Motortrend
Trip Report - Wild Coast V7 Tour (Day 6)
Umngazi to Coffee Bay
It was time to get down to the business end of the tour as we bade farewell to the comforts and decadent food at Umngazi River Bungalows. Our route took us up the R61 to Tombo, where we took the tar road towards the Isilimela Hospital. It was to be the last good tar road we would see for several days.
All along the route the severity of the recent floods was evident, with most of the bridges having been several metres underwater. Usually when the flotsam and jetsom clogs up underneath the bridge pilings like a beaver dam, the flood waters take the easiest route and cause damage to the bridge approaches. Some of the flood levels we saw were actually hard to comprehend. When it floods in this part of the world it does so in spectacular fashion.
After the hospital, the tar gave way to gravel as we turned left off the main road to drive the Luzube Pass - a winding drive through a dense indigenous forest topped off with a very steep climb to the top of the first coastal ridge. That last climb must be a nightmare for normal cars when it's raining!
The views from the summit are achingly beautiful a perfect panorma of what the Wild Coast should look like in a perfect world. The road loops around a steep mountain with amazing sea views and a little private beach begging to be visited. After descending for a while we crossed the Gologodwini River, where the original bridge was washed away many years ago and never repaired. This was the spot where a VW Touareg gave up the ghost during our unaugural Wild Coast Tour. We had been hyping our guests up with that story which ended in a proper anti climax as the crossing was nothing more than a tyre wetter!
Gorgeous views from the Luzube Pass / Photo: MPSA
The scenery on this leg is outstanding as the road winds through deeply wooded valleys and through neat villages as we headed up the coastal hills towards Pahlakazi. This is where the turn-off is located to the Mnenu River Pass. This pass has deteriorated significantly over the last four years resulting in it becoming borderline doable. The pass creates a significant short cut, saving about 1.5 hours driving by dropping directly down into the valley and up the far side. The route has become infested with invasive lantana, which has encroached over the road and stands up to 4m high. Vehicles are prone to getting scratched and there are times when the undergrowth is so dense that one has to drive 'blind' for short periods. Unfortunately, the lantana also blocks the expansive views on offer.
It's all part of the adventure with the last section that paralells the river being quite muddy. The whole convoy made it to the river, where the crossing is adjacent to the old damaged bridge which didn't present any problems, as each vehicle was carefully guided around the more serious rocks. The ascent was also not too bad with enough ruts and washaways to add some adrenaline to the day.
Carol Wilson clearing through the Mnenu River crossing / Photo: MPSA Group
Optimistically we took our normal route to Coffee Bay via the Mthakatye River Pass only to find the bridge exactly as it was on our previous trip, with the eastern approaches completely washed away. That involved a long detour all the way back to Libode and then back to the coast following the northern flank of the Umtata River valley.
The last pass of the day was the Umtata River Pass, where we arrived at Coffee Bay, still using the temporary detour due to the bridge on the main road having been washed away. The new bridge appeared to be well advanced and will likely be open by the time our next tour takes place in November.
Ocean View Hotel commands what must rank as one of the best beach properties on the Wild Coast, but promises made by the owner were not withcoming. The old hotel is in dire need of painting and maintenance. The latest intel is that the hotel has been sold and the new (lady) owner has sufficient capital to get it back up to scratch. That led me to search for an alternative venue in the area to accommodate our group size. There are many choices, but very few of them offer sufficient space for 28 guests.
We found a new developement just above White Clay called Green Fields, which we were most impressed with and have already booked the venue for our November Tour.
Green Fields, Coffee Bay - a new luxurious venue booked for our November tour
Next Episode: Mapuzi and Hole in the Wall
FEATURED PASS
This week we introduce you to a lesser known, but none the less impressive pass in Lesotho.- the Likalaneng Pass. This long tarred pass is located along the A3 route and forms part of a string of impressive passes, virtually running back to back from Thaba Tseka to Maseru. It starts at its eastern end where the Marakabei Pass ends and climbs steeply to its 2625m high summit within the first 4 kilometres. It then swings 90 degrees in direction into the north and follows the valley formed by one of the rivers that flow into the Mohale Dam. The pass provides access to the Mohale Dam and local lodges.
* * L I K A L A N E N G P A S S * *
Trygve Roberts / Editor
"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change." — Albert Einstein
