What's Inside?
* Tours Updates
* Lesotho Double Tours
* Technical Corner
* History Hoekie
* Wild Coast Tour (Day 8)
* Pass of the Fortnight
TRIPS & TOURS UPDATE
There are only a few places left for the rest of 2024. All tours are fully booked, other than the following:
August 11th: Grabouw Training Day. An ideal opportunity to learn the basics of off-road driving and recoveries and discover what your vehicle is capable of. There are 4 places open.
September 23rd - 28th: Kouga Baviaans Tour. We have had a cancellation, so there is one place open.
December 1st to 7th - Ben 10 Eco Challenge. We have two spots available on this epic adventure tour. Earn the badge!
We are going to be introducing some innovative concepts into our 2025 tours calendar. One of those will be a double tour of Lesotho (in autumn and spring) and a brand new Great Karoo Tour, which we are busy conceptualising at the moment. We will also be offering personalised bespoke tours tailored for your special group of friends and family.
LESOTHO V2 & V3 TOURS
Sixty one guests, thirty vehicles, seventeen days, rain, mud, sunny skies, but no Chevrolets.
For our Lesotho tours, we run a joint venture with Lesotho expert, Philip Rawlins. It is no easy feat, combining two leaders to reach the synergy levels where things work well for all the guests, but both of these tours were very successful, with the second tour enjoying considerably better weather than the first.
Instead of doing our usual detailed day by day report, I'm going to focus on some of the highlights of both tours in a combined story.
What seems like a lifetime ago (now that the proverbial dust has settled), takes us back to April 3rd, when the V2 group assembled at Philip and Elrita's spotless guest house, Resthaven, in Matatiele.
On this tour we only had one "new" couple in the form of Ras and Elizabeth Myburgh. Both of them slotted right in with ease and were soon an integral part of the extended MPSA family. Everyone else had toured with us before, which makes my life much easier. Initial forecasts indicated a fair weather tour, but two days before the start, things changed with a fair amount of rain in the forecast. This did not in any way diminish the enthusiasm of the group, but to put things in perspective, the temperature at Maletsunyane Falls was 4C for the V2 group and a week later it was a balmy 24C for the V3 group.
Lesotho's weather is at best unpredictable and even our carefully selected fair weather window of early April, was not perfect. Good weather certainly adds to guests' enjoyment levels, whereas bad weather adds to the element of drama which has its own allure. It is quite remarkable, considering we had a total of 30 vehicles, travelling a combined 15,000 km that there wasn't a single puncture or mechanical breakdown.
Elrita Rawlins & Charon Roberts - the hardworking women behind the scenes ensuring their men stayed on track / Photo: MPSA Guest Pic
We had planned on filming as many of the Lesotho passes as possible during the two tours, but besides the rainy weather experienced during the V2 tour, we also had problems with bluetooth connectivity between the App and the GoPro, which basically meant the footage was a write-off. The biggest disappointment was filming the whole of the Moteng Pass during a traffic snarl up involving more than 300 trucks. When we got to base that night and downloaded the footage, the files were all blank. I was crestfallen! We will unlikely ever experience that again. We did manage to film the pass a week later with the second group, but it was plain sailing and devoid of traffic.
Sani Pass was in a fairly good condition making for a fairly easy saunter up to the summit, but those last 11 switchbacks always raise the bar a bit as altitude is gained rapidly when the switchbacks come up in rapid sucession.
Lesotho have raised their tourism taxes to M100 per person and it is clear that the government is on a mission to elevate tourism awareness. About 10 years ago we were approached by Lesotho government officials, who wanted us to fast track the filming of the local passes. We went to a lot of trouble drafting a proposal, which was submitted timeously. Then the usual official dragging of feet began. The deadline date for payment passed, with promises and apologies attached, but in the end, they never came up with the money. At the time we were going to charge R115,000 to film all the passes, produce and publish them over a one month period - ironically also in April.
So here we are a decade later, doing it all for free!
The first pass on our route was the Kotisephola Pass. After summiting Sani at 2876m, this pass comes with an embarrasing surprise of having to climb another 300m higher to summit at 3240m. The first set of switchbacks had Thirsty Kirsty (our beloved 4500 EFi Land Cruiser), gasping for air and having to gear down to 1st to get up some of those gradients. All the turbo-charged vehicles coped much better with available power. It was just the MPSA Cruiser and Charles Hopkins 76 series Land Cruiser that struggled with the lack of oxygen. All the other vehicles were turbo-charged.
An excellent Chinese constructed road - lower northern side of the pass / MPSA
Kotisephola, better known as the Black Mountain Pass has some impressive statistics and it gives first time visitors to the Mountain Kingdown a bit of a culture shock when it comes to rating mountain passes. This one is a monster.
Distance: 32 km
Maximum Altitude: 3240m
Height Gain/Loss: 1066m
Maximum Gradient: 1:5
We have just completed a 5 part video series of this amazing pass. It takes about 24 minutes to watch the series. This is our featured pass this week. You will find the link at the end of this newsletter.
A sign board at the summit states that it is the highest motorable pass in Southern Africa. A spacious parking area has one of those yellow frames where visitors can take a photo of themselves and their vehicle to attain bragging rights. So why spoil a good story with facts? A bit further on, the same road offers a number of high altitude passes, one of which is the Tlaeeng Pass, which just so happens to be 3262m and that is definitely the highest in Southern Africa. Those of you who took frame photos can fix them wth Photoshop!
Map of Lesotho showing the major dams. Note how small Katse Dam is compared to the others.
Big things are happening at the Senqu River, where large scale construction is taking place to accommodate the rising waters of the newest dam - the Polihali. A new bridge with 80m high pylons is under construction, reaching over the valley from one tall headland to the other. The current road and existing bridge will all be a long way underwater when the dam fills up. The bridge deck is being launched from both sides of the valley using the incremental method. It's really impressive engineering.
The pass itself is unmarked on Lesotho maps, so we will have to find a suitable name for it. This will be done in conjunction with Philip Rawlins and his contacts in government.
The Letseng Diamond Mine is still producing some of the largest and best quality diamonds in the world. Just a few weeks ago a 169.5 carat type ll white diamond was unearthed. This was the 4th diamond discovered over 100 carats in 2024. Diamong mining and the sale of high quality water to South Africa, are two of Lesotho's major exports.
Next episode: Tlaeeng, Pass of Jackals, Mahlesela, Afriski and Moteng Pass.
HISTORY HOEKIE
Cry the beloved railway line.
CROSSING THE KARRINGMELKSPRUIT
Between Aliwal North and Barkly East the most severe obstacle is presented by the Karringmelkspruit, east of Lady Grey. Tributary to the Kraai River, Karringmelkspruit cuts a deep gorge with steep, boulder-strewn slopes – designing and constructing a railway bridge here would be challenging.
Upriver the gorge is less daunting, but the rugged Little Berg of the Drakensberg limits viable crossings to one short reach, a spot used in the 19th century for the old wagon trail, and today by the R58 main road between Lady Grey and Barkly East. Rail alignment incurs severe geo-metrical constraints, forcing engineers to consider all possible options.
Following a “flying survey” in 1899, probably performed on horseback with primitive surveying instruments (if any), George Schele, reporting his findings to none other than John Brown (soon thereafter the first president of SAICE in 1903), first suggested a route. His proposal was based on a rail gauge of 2 feet (mensuration at the time, 610 mm today) and would have crossed the Karringmelkspruit on a low bridge at exactly the same point where the rail crosses today.
His proposal did not include any reverses, but he admitted that the route “could hardly be selected if the gauge was of standard width” (the standard Cape gauge of 3 feet 6 inches, or 1 067 mm). Soon thereafter, following a more detailed survey in 1903, resident engineer Allan McDonald Campbell boldly proposed a route that would cross the Karringmelkspruit about 1,000 m further downriver in the gorge, requiring a high bridge 93 m above the river bed.
Moreover, at the eastern end of the bridge, the line would immediately enter a tunnel only 70 m long, exiting on a small plateau and continuing in regular fashion. When crews moved onto site in 1910, this proposal, which accommodated the wider gauge, was approved and tunnel construction started forthwith, in parallel with the bridge design.
Understandably, the bridge design team (who had to be paid for many hours of overtime) finally came up with a cost estimate significantly higher than that budgeted for. Stringent budget controls imposed by parliament could not be exceeded, so Campbell’s grand design was scrapped and an alternative system of six reverses was hastily constructed. Three reverses allow the line to descend steeply to cross the Karringmelkspruit at the same low level that Schele had suggested, and via three more reverses to rise again to the plateau immediately east of the tunnel.
Compiled by Johannes Haarhoff, Francis legge, Mike Johns, Bill James & Johan de Koker. First published in Engineering News in 2013 magazine.
Part 3 will be published in the next newsletter.
TECHNICAL CORNER
Introuction to 4x4 driving (Part 2)
1. DIFFERENT SURFACES
a) Dirt/ Gravel Roads
Dirt road driving can be very unpredictable and can become extremely dangerous. Therefore, as a result, you need to adapt your speed to circumstances.
Tyre pressure for dirt roads should be between 60% and 80% to be let off (“deflate”).
NB:
- Stopping distances are much longer than on tar;
- Dirt roads are more winding with many blind heights, drifts, sweeping gates and “off camber” bends, hairpin corners and narrow bridges; and
- Free-range animals.
It’s wise to switch to 4x4 high range once you get onto the dirt road. This gives better traction and improves road-holding capacity. The combination of the two elements ensures that you will be able to manage with better control.
b) Sand
The art of successful sand driving is tyre pressure and momentum.
General guideline is 50% lower tyre pressure than usual.
By letting the tyre pressure down, it does not broaden the tire’s “footprint,” as is commonly thought. In fact, it lengthens the track, which means that the part of the tyre on the sand lengthens.
In extremes, tyre pressure can be reduced to as low as 0.8 bar, provided you are careful not to break the “bead” (edge of the tyre that sits on the rim). To prevent this, you need to perform slow and even movement(s) on the steering wheel.
Sand driving is all about momentum / Photo: MPSA Training Module
Sand Tips
- Always choose the right gear before entering the thick sand (3rd Low / 1st High). Stay in it until you’re completely though the thick sand;
- Do not change gears while driving in the sand;
- Do not stop in the thick sand;
- Don't use your brakes to stop;
- If you've stopped (or if you’re stuck) push back a metre or two and go forward again from where a pull-away is assured;
- Know which direction your front wheels are pointing and keep them in the direction of your movement;
- Be careful not to cause too much wheel spin as it will dig in deeper and make recovery more difficult. Instead, use sand ladders, branches, or foot mats for better traction.
c) Mud
Thinner or narrower tyres with large aggressive patterns are best for these conditions. Standard “all terrain” tyres are sufficient.
Tyre pressure of 70% - 80% of normal pressure will be sufficient.
Gear selection: 2nd or 3rd Low / 1st High plus differential lock (“diff-lock”) - if you have one, is recommended.
Once again, the secret is momentum and avoiding excessive wheel spin. Enough wheel spin to “clear” the tyre surface, but not too much because it’s counter-productive.
If there is too much wheel spin, the accelerator should be released delicately so that traction and momentum can meet each other.
It also usually helps to swing the steering wheel slightly back and forth along with your thrust. Do not turn because then you can get out of the "track" and maybe collide with something.
Next Episode: Part 3 - Driving through deep water.
WILD COAST V7 TOUR - DAY 8
Coffee Bay to The Haven
This was a relatively easy day (assuming no mechanical issues and punctures) and one of the shortest legs of this tour. Our route followed the lovely new gravel road south-west out of Hole in the Wall, wherafter we did a dog leg to connect with the main road at the Zithulele Mission Hospital.
One of the highlights of the day was driving the lovely Xhora River Pass, followed by the big climb up the southern side of the valley to the Emadwaleni Hospital. The remainder of the route consisted of the drive back to the coast along a typically bumpy Transkei road, arriving at The Haven at lunchtime, where we were welcomed by Sue and Glyn and a delicious lunch.
The afternoon was free time, but we did offer a guided walk to the Banyane Falls deep in the indigenous forests of the Cwebe Nature Reserve. The rest of the guests went beach walking to Mbashe Lighthouse or took the ferry over the Mbashe River for a longer walk to the south. Some opted for an afternoon zizz.
A very fine Chappies Hour ensued that evening at the pool deck and no doubt the extra leisure time ensured plenty of the good stuff was imbibed.
Next episode: The Haven to Kob Inn
PASS OF THE WEEK
This is a mega pass by any standards. It's very long at 32 km and displays an altitude variance of 1066m. With a summit height of 3240m ASL, headaches and nose bleeds might be experienced by travelers from the coast who have not had time to acclimatise. It is the second highest pass in Lesotho and is also commonly referred to as the Black Mountain Pass. (30 min read/watch)
* * K O T I S E P H O L A P A S S * *
"Don't raise your voice. Rather improve your argument"
