Mother duck and her ducklings

In this edition:

* The first 2025 tours bookings are published

* Technical Tips

Wild Coast Wanderings

* Kouga Baviaans Tour - Day 2

* Improvements in videography

* Featured Pass


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2025 Tours

4x4 Training for Intermediates at Zevenwacht Wine Estate. 9TH FEBRUARY, 2025

Our usual venue at Grabouw suffered an enormous amount of water damage. In the process only about 30% of the tracks are usable for training. We will have to wait until the route management get things sorted out. In the meantime, we have found a new venue at the Zevenwacht 4x4 Training Centre, which has a mix of man made obstacles that will test your comfort zones and three natural routes through the fynbos to test your new found skills. 

This course is better suited to those who have already mastered the basics of 4x4 driving. We have engaged the services of a full time, professional trainer, who will be with us to talk every driver through the obstacle course. 

The grounds at the wine estate are easy on the eye with sparkling blue dams under tall trees, lending ambience to the stately Cape Dutch buildings and serried ranks of vineyards. 

Book here: ZEVENWACHT TRAINING DAY.

 

KATBERG TOUR. 10-15 March, 2025

We have done some major amendments to this tour, containing the routes within the east-west zone of Bedford and Keiskammahoek. We have also booked two night's accommodation at Arminel in Hogsback and an entire day dedicated to gardens, waterfalls and labyrinths. This tour is all about forests, gnomes, rich scenery and mountain pass tracks. Lord of the Rings stuff!

Book here: KATBERG TOUR

 

ULTIMATE LESOTHO TOUR. 

For this 4th Lesotho Tour, we have refined the old route, changed a few venues and added in 2 extra days in order to have shorter days behind the wheel and more time for sightseeing and relaxation. We've given the tour a name change too, as we firmly believe this is the ultimate tour of Lesotho offering the very best the Mountain Kingdom has to offer. Lesotho's number one gem, the Sethlabatebe National Park is also an integral part of the tour now.

Book here: ULTIMATE LESOTHO TOUR. 5-13 April, 2025.

More tours will be loaded mid November.


TECHNICAL TIPS

The first step in preparing your 4×4 to handle a long off-road trip is to make sure it’s in good working condition. This includes a thorough inspection of the vehicle’s fluids, brakes, suspension, tires, and battery. Make sure to check the owner’s manual for the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule and adhere to it.

Here’s a general 4WD maintenance checklist for an off-road trip:

  • Check that all screws, bolts, and nuts are secure
  • Consider having a professional mechanical inspection
  • Consider getting an electrical check 
  • Check fan-belt tightness, the roof rack, radiator levels, battery levels, power steering fluid, brake fluid levels, coolant levels, engine fluid levels, and door seals
  • Make sure all gauges are operational
  • Clean all lights, windscreen, reflectors, and external mirrors

 

900Changing a tyre on a steep slope can be extremely difficult / Photo: Land Rover SA

A flat tire can quickly ruin an off-road trip through the bundu. One of the most important things to check before going off-road is your car’s tyre pressures. Make sure to adjust the tyre pressure according to the type of terrain you will be driving your 4×4 on.
Along with reducing fuel consumption, proper tyre pressure reduces the risk of punctures, creates a smoother ride, and limits wear and tear on the tires. A lower tire pressure provides better traction, but make sure not to go too low as it can cause the tyres or vehicle to get damaged.

To prep your tyres for an off-road trip:

  • Check all four tyres before leaving
  • Make sure all the tires have enough tread
  • If a tyre is low on pressure, inflate it properly or use a spare to replace it
  • Always bring extra tyres on off-road trips and moreso if you have a tyre size that is not readily available at local shops
  • Opt for tyres specifically fitted for a 4×4 to ensure it corners as it should and has increased grip for the rough, unpredictable terrain 

When off-roading in the bush, basic recovery gear is essential. If you end up stuck in rough terrain and need to perform a winch recovery, the right recovery gear can keep you safe and comfortable until you resolve the issue or help arrives.

If you plan an off-road trip in the bush, be sure to carry recovery gear such as:

  • A shovel
  • A tow strap
  • A winch
  • Extension cords
  • Recovery hooks
  • A tyre iron
  • A flashlight
  • A lug wrench
  • A screwdriver
  • An emergency kit (flares, jumper cables, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, and bottled water)
  • Buy and register a PLB (Personal Locating Beacon)

WILD COAST WANDERINGS

wild coast hiking pondoland south africa 26

On Monday 4th November, 2024, we head to Matatiele via Cradock for the start of our 9th Wild Coast Tour. This will be the last time we will be running the full 12 day north-south tour of the Wild Coast. In future we will offer twoWild Coast Tours a year, with each tour being 7 to 8 days and splitting the tour area to north and south. ie. Msikaba to Coffee Bay and Kei Mouth to Coffee Bay. 

We have visitors from Australia on this tour - a first time for MPSA. We've had guests from Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, USA, Germany, but never from Australia. We hope they will return to Oz having the time of their lives. 

We will post daily as the tour unfolds and on our return, we will give you a proper show and tell in the newsletter.


KOUGA-BAVIAANS TOUR / DAY 2

We had very good weather on this tour, notwithstanding that a major storm system had swept right across South Africa, leaving damaged roads and flooded rivers in its wake. This happened just three days before the tour and another system swept over large parts of the country the day after we finished the tour. Having good weather, really enhances the enjoyment of the tours, yet we have to adapt to bad weather if and when we do encounter it.

The second day of the tour was a big one. We had a number of gravel passes to do, plus visit Moordenaarskloof and Baviaans Lodge, before trekking across the Kouga Wilderness to Doringkloof in the Baviaanskloof and then on to Willowmore. That's quite a lot to handle in one day, so we got the guests ready to go straight after breakfast as we headed away from the spoils of the Assegaaibosch Lodge, crossed the R62 and the Krommerivier past the defunct Assegaaibosch railway station and started ascending the Suuranyberg Pass.

This pass is fairly easy and the road surface was in reasonable nick too, allowing time to enjoy the ever expanding views of the Langkloof on our left. Once we crested the summit, we were away from all signs of humanity, other than a few scattered farm houses.

KougaBavAntoniesbergSteep, unguarded drop offs are commonplace on this tour

The drop down into the Kouga River loomed. We took time for a quick leg stretch and some photos. At the bottom of the Kouga River Pass, the water level was low enough to leave the causeway high and dry. Once up the northern side of the valley, we drove the fascinating Moordenaarskloof - an impressibe gravel pass packed with bends. It's the highest ratio of bends in SA with one every 60m! There's not much time for drivers to look around, and mores the pity as the scenery is magnificent.

We relayed the horror story over the radios of Jan Prinsloo's grisly muder in the early 1800's and the ghosts that haunted the kloof for many years after the incident. We have published that story in full in earlier newsletters, so I'll spare you the repeat. We met the friendly farmer at Ragelsrivier, which was our turnaround point and retraced our route back to the main road, where we turned west for meidenek and the Baviaans Lodge.

We always stop at the lodge for a comfort break and some light refreshment. The owner Rob le Roux passed away last year. All attempts to contact the lodge failed to advise them of our ETA. When we got there, the lodge was locked up and we presumed it's being run by his son, who had probably gone through to Kareedouw for provisions.

Next up was the stunning drive over the Kouga Mountains. Words cannot describe how beautiful the route is. There are amazing wildflowers and millions of proteas of which most were flowering. We also had our first puncture report up there in the mountains. One of the new series Land Rover defenders shredded a tyre at a very awkward spot. It took much longer than normal changing the wheel, but we were ready to proceed after about 40 minutes. The Land Rover only had one spare, so it was a bit nerve wracking for the owner for the rest of the day. The good news was that there was another new series Defender with the same tyre size in our group if we happened to have another flat in the first one. Asthings turned out, that was the one and only puncture for the whole tour.

In our previous newsletter, we relayed the problems we had experienced trying to secure accommodation at both Zandvlakte and Doringkloof, having had to make a hasty plan B ro accommodate the group in Willowmore. That in turn added another 50 minutes driving time to our ETA. Fortunately we had a group of competent drivers and were able to maintain a better average speed on the R332, arriving at Willowmore at about 17.30.

The bulk of the guests were booked in at The Willow Historical Guest House, whilst all the single people were housed at Lapidaria Guest House, about a kilometre down the road. Both venues were excellent and the whole group met for dinner at The Willow, where all the rescue dogs soon found their way onto laps and into hearts.

A cosy fire kept us warm, aided substantially by good red wine and fine food served up by El Anne, who runs the estblishment with vigour and efficiency. 

Next Episode: Into the Western Conservancy


VIDEOGRAPHY

Progressive management of the website is an ongoing challenge. We have recently acquired the latest model GoPro 12 Black, which delivers silky smooth footage. We have jumped uP another whole level after filming in 1080HD quality for several years (10 years ago our videos were 360p, then 480p, followed by a big jump to 720 HD. When we upgraded to 1080 HD, we though we had reached the pinnacle of quality, but now we are filming at 4K. The video clarity is a joy to wtach and well worth the extra bandwidth it takes to produce and watch them.

2024 also saw us acquiring and mastering the drone. Many of our newer videos contain drone footage, which adds a new dimension.

We have very recently added optional subtitles to our videos on both Vimeo (ad free) and You Tube. That in itself is a good chunk of extra work as the AI interpretation of the narration is mostly incorrect and it really struggles with African and Afrikaans names. So the entire text has to be proof read and edited to make it accurate.

We ran a poll last week asking followers if they preferred subtitles or no subtitles. The results were interesting with almost 70% voting for subtitles, but the few who voted against had some valid points. As a result we don't add subtitles to the original video, but we do it after uploading to the two platforms that we use.

You can try it out by clicking on the CC icon in the bottom menu bar of the player.

 https://vimeo.com/1025827994?share=copy#t=0


FEATURED PASS

This week we we thought we would give you an exmaple of one of the new videos, which is filmed in 4K, has the subtitles option as well as drone footage.

We refilmed the Grasnek Pass during our recent Baviaanskloof tour and share the result with you. For best results use the settings icon to select 4K quality with sound on. For mobile phone viewers, turn your phone sideways for maximum effect.

 

* *   G R A S N E K   P A S S   * *

 

TSRBeardsmall

Trygve Roberts / Scribe

 "When house and land are gone and spent
Then learning is most excellent"