Time Flies!
* On the Eastern Front
* The winter of all winters
* Technical Corner
* Kouga-Baviaans Tour (Prologue)
* 2025 Calendar to be released soon
* Featured Pass
Another AI Chat About This Week’s News!
Listen to an AI-generated discussion of this week's newsletter.
On the Eastern Front:
There has been a lot of negative news coming out of the Eastern Cape and the Transkei in particular. One very unfortunate (preventable) kidnapping in Mthatha and a faction fight near Lusikisiki which left 18 dead. The predictable knee jerk reaction and sensationalist journalism on social media has resulted in a spate of holiday cancellations and property sales. Our commiserations to all the folk in the hospitality industry who have to take yet another knock after five tough years, pre-empted by the Covid pandemic.
Many did not survive the financial losses and most have still not recovered fully. But there is always a positive side with the news that the Mazeppa Bay Hotel, which has long been a classic tourism destination, has been sold. The new owners plan on having it up and running by November.
Two years ago there was a similar set of incidents. Taxi violence in Port St Johns left 11 dead and 22 people died near Majola Tea Estates as a result of faction fighting. There was the same knee jerk reaction. We had a Wild Coast Tour starting a month after that first incident happened and decided to amend our routing (which normally traverses Majola) as a safety precaution. Six months later we reverted to our original route on the next tour and all was peaceful and quiet.
The saying goes that 'Man is a seven day wonder' and in a week or two all this bad news will be forgotten as we carry on with our lives. A young white woman alone in a Toyota Fortuner filling up in Mthatha is a singularly bad idea. She was a soft target. Now you all know.
The winter of all winters:
Just when we thought spring had sprung, a particularly nasty weather system moved in over large parts of South Africa. Van Reenen's Pass saw dozens of vehicles stranded in the snow. Rescue and recovery operations went on for days. Many people were forced to spend up to 14 hours in their vehicles before rescue services were able to get to them. One person died.
Lesotho received another huge dollop of snow as did the Drakensberg and most mountain ranges all the way west to the Cederberg received good snowfall. It's been a very cold and wet winter. Long cold winters result in exceptional wildflower displays. Namaqualand delivered the goods and tourisrs from around the world have anjoyed the 'greatest floral show on earth'
Technical Corner:
Driving in soft sand
- A variety of conditions may co-exist - Learn to recognise surface conditions.
- Beware of “wet sand”. These areas can seem bottomless and usually require assistance from other vehicles with a winch to extricate.
- If unsure carry out surveying of the area on foot.
- Engage high ratio 4wd for long beach runs on hard sand. Engage low ratio 4wd for soft sand and dunes to avoid overheating transmission.
- Avoid sharp turns and wheel spin.
- Utilise speed for controlled momentum.
- Keep gear changes to a minimum – Normally choose a gear and stay in it to avoid baulking.
- Low tyre pressures are highly recommended.
- If it becomes necessary to stop on soft sand, try to choose an area that allows a down hill restart.
- To get re-started on flat, soft, dry sand. Reverse 1-2 metres and form hard sand ramps so as to get a good starting speed before hitting soft sand again.
- To ascend a sand hill, utilise controlled momentum. If you fail to ascend, back down the same wheel tracks far enough to allow a faster approach up the same wheel tracks.
To descend, keep vertical to the sand hill/descent and avoid brakes. Accelerate gently if necessary, to aid descent.
Beach sand is totally different to the sand you find in the desert. Much of it tends to be much coarser in grain texture and therefore can at time be more forgiving that the desert sand that runs like water. Of course, being close to the sea it can also be damp, wet, extremely wet or waterlogged. It can also be dry, gravelly and have the odd rock thrown in for good measure.
Away from the water’s edge you will often find dunes, some with vegetation, some without and in certain areas around the world you will find larger dunes, similar to the ones you find in the desert. While those dunes look similar and do have some of the same features, they are very different. We’ll come to that later but only touch on them briefly as “real” desert driving needs lots of space for discussion on techniques.
In South Africa, driving on a beach is a rare event and illegal almost everywhere, but not so in Namibia and Mozambique.
Driving on a beach that is wet will cause corrosion in the years ahead
Keep out of the sea: Salt Water is not good for 4wd vehicle chassis and body components. Driving in the sea (as many will do despite this article), will throw salt water everywhere and it will get into the chassis. It will in time cause rust corrosion and pressure washing after may not get rid of it. Vehicle electrics and water do not go well together at any time. Hot radiator fins are thin, if salt water passes through the fins the heat dries it and the salt deposit remains to eat its way into the core. I’ve seen many a vehicle being taken home on a recovery truck from the beach due to water getting into badly position ECU and ignition units in the engine bay. It may look fantastic, cause lots of spray and a splash – BUT KEEP OUT OF THE SALT WATER!
OK, hopefully you’ve got the message on point one and you’re just going to drive on the beach sand. It looks nice and flat; it may even look fairly dry. However, it’s a beach, normally the tide comes in and out twice a day that means, although it may look dry on the surface because of all that sunshine, it could well be soggy under the surface. You can drive it in either high or low range but KEEP THE SPEED DOWN.
As mentioned, it can be soggy below the surface or it can also be dry with patches of deeper sand. Keep driving in straight lines on it and NEVER turn sharply as if a front wheel happens to dig in the softer areas it will immediately act as a brake, weight will transfer on to it and you’ll become a statistic in the roll-over records.
This video below shows an irresponsible driver of a Toyota FJ Cruiser trying his luck on a beach run and the consequences that follow. It was filmed in Kuwait. (where anything goes)
These beach roll-overs happen every day around the globe. If you are going to turn, firstly slow down and secondly turn in a wide arc. It doesn’t take much for a loaded 4x4, especially if you have equipment high up on a roof rack, for the dynamics to transfer weight. Even experienced and regular beach drivers forget this simple message. I’ve been on beaches around the world and viewed many who thought they were “experts,” being scraped up by the medics or recovery vehicles. Don’t join their gang!
KOUGA-BAVIAANS TOUR (PROLOGUE)
We had a good deal of luck squeezing this tour between two major frontal systems. It rained heavily with large amounts of snow two days before the tour started, then cleared up nicely in the Baviaanskloof with perfect touring weather. It started raining on the final night of the tour as the next weather system oved over South Africa. It seems we have contacts and connections upstairs!
Unusual for this tour, the newbies outnumbered the old hands. We also had a group of five families who were all friends. This meant from the very first night there was a good party vibe going, which quickly engulfed the other members of the group. This 'gees' would remain for the duration of the tour.
After arriving early at Assegaaibosch Country Lodge in near perfect weather, we got the drone airborne to bring you some aerial footage of the lodge and grounds. Best watched in full=screen with sound at best quality for maximum enjoyment.
We went back to our roots for this tour starting in Kareedouw and ending in Willowmore with a new stopover in Cape St Francis. Two weeks before the tour calamity struck, when we always phone the various venues to confirm guest lists, rooming and dietary requirements. There is nowhere in the Baviaanskloof that can accommodate a large group (27 guests), so we normally split our group into two halves, with one half staying at Zandvlakte and the other half at Sederkloof. When we contacted Sederkloof many months ago to secure the 6 chalets they have, we were unable to get hold of them by phone or email and later discovered that the business was no longer operating and the farm was up for sale.
That presented us with a fresh problem, so we contacted Doringkloof farm and reserved five chalets there. Doringkloof and Zandvlakte are neighbouring farms (5 km apart). Those arrangements were done telephonically and both farmers confirmed the bookings in person.
Zandvlakte Guest Farm
We called Zandvlakte (Piet Kruger) to confirm that all the arrangements were in place, only to find out that after his wife passed away last year (she was brilliant with the admin), Piet had decided to accept an offer from his niece in Oudtshoorn who runs a guesthouse there, to take over and automate Zandvlakte's bookings. The first thing she did was to contract out to Booking.com and Lekkaslaap. Some of the accommodation we had booked had been sold on Booking.com. and Piet had forgotten to mention our long standing reservation.
Similarly the two Lampbrecht brothers, who own the Doringkloof farm, had decided to go their separate ways, which meant the verbal arrangement I had made with Chris was now null and void. I called another "agent" to secure the chalets and asked her to hold the booking for me for 24 hours, which she agreed to. The next day when I called to firm up the booking, she told me that two of the chalets had been booked overnight and that she "had no control over it". Disappointing.
A few frantic phone calls and an entire day spent on the phone, we managed to secure sufficient accommodation in Willowmore at The Willow Historical Hotel, Lapidaria Guest House and Keurfontein Country Lodge. All the accommodation was good and the trip worked out well in the end, despite us having to drive the Western Conservancy four times.
In the next episode we will take you along with us day by day. Stay tuned!
2025 CALENDAR
We know you are all eagerly waiting for the release of the 2025 calendar. It should be completed before the next newsletter when all will be revealed. There will be new tours and double offerings of existing popular tours to meet demand. Although the full year's tours will be published bookings will only be released in 3 monthly intervals. In other words tours between April & June, will only have bookings opening from 1st January. Likewise tours in July to September, bookings will open on 1st April (and that's no joke!)
FEATURED PASS
We recenty refilmed the timeless Franschhoek Pass to our latest quality standards (4K plus aerial footage). There are 4 brand new videos to enjoy. In most of them you will get a good idea of the extent of flood damage to the pass, which was closed for several weeks, whilst mud and rocks were cleared away and a system of five self-policed stop-gos were put in place.
* * F R A N S C H H O E K P A S S * *
Trygve Roberts / Editor
"There are so few who can grow old with good grace" ~ Sir Richard Steele
