Christmas Issue
> Greetings from the MPSA Team
> Upcoming Tours
> Ben 10 Eco Challenge V9 Tour
> Wild Coast Tour
> Technical Corner
> Giving
> Kouga Baviaans Tour
Christmas greetings from MPSA
2024 flew by in a blur of adventure and wonderful tours. To all those that toured with us, we hope we impacted your lives in a meaningful way. Every tour generates a new group of guests that become life long friends. To those who have not toured with us, we are waiting with open arms to show you the best of SA's mountain passes.
To those unable to tour with us, we trust that you at least get to enjoy our adventures and research via the website and social media pages - and of course, this newsletter.
We constantly strive to improve the quality of our website and social media pages and it shows in strong, steady growth. Our Facebook follower tally currently stands at 198,600 and Instagram at 29,000.
We are growing our tour offerings in 2025 with some innovative ideas, some which we can't divulge yet. We have a brand new luxury Wild Coast tour taking shape in the projects room. A six day tour focusing on the Northern Wild Coast between Umngazi River Mouth and the Mkambati Nature Reserve in the north is on the cards. We have been in contact with a brand new lodge up north (5 star) which will be included in this new tour. The number of vehicles we will be able to take, will be reduced from our usual 12 to 8, which is due to the number of suites available.
Our new Great Karoo Tour is also coming along nicely and will likely be scheduled for July.
Here's wishing you a blessed Christmas and safe travels. Thank you for your support.
Listen to an AI-generated discusion of this newsletter:
Upcoming Tours
ZEVENFONTEIN NOVICE/INTERMEDIATE TRAINING
9th February, 2025
If you’ve done a novice 4×4 training course, then this course will get you up to the next level of ‘Intermediary’. The course will be run by a fully qualified instructor and involve mad-made obstacles, followed by a drive through natural terrain to test your new found skills.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK.
WILD COAST V10 TOUR - This is the full monty from Matatiele in the north all the way through to Chintsa in the south. This is our longest tour of the year spanning 12 days of glorious Wild Coast scenery. Our formula of offering "bail out" days has worked exceptionally well. May is a great month weather wise, when the least amount of rainfall is expected.
Highlights include :
Mzintlava Pass
Mbotyi
Waterfall Bluff
Cathedral Rock
Msikaba mega bridge
Vulture viewing
Magwa Falls
Ntentule Falls (2nd highest waterfall in SA)
Umngazi River Bungalows
Execution Rock
Majola Tea Estates
Coffee Bay
Hole in the Wall
White Clay
Cwebe Nature Reserve
The Haven
Kob Inn
Collywobbles
Kei Ferry
Crawfords Beach Lodge
We guarantee you will get back home relaxed and rejuvenated (not to mention having made a whole bunch of new friends)
CLICK HERE TO BOOK
We have 8 places available.
KATBERG TOUR in March is fully booked as is the Mountain Kingdom Tour in April.
More tours will be loaded in the next few weeks.
BEN 10 ECO CHALLENGE V9 TOUR
Overview
Another hugely successful tour with possibly the best weather window in a decade. For early December this was most unusual as we we enjoyed 6 glorious days of summer weather. We had some major drama on the third day when one of our guests managed to cut his finger off with a portable angle grinder. That resulted in an emergency medical evacuation, which had a happy consequence in that the finger was saved.
The response from members of the group was excellent as on the spot binding and splint was applied, a shade cloth suspended over the patient, bandages and strapping applied, Coke administered as Robert had passed out from shock and then Kobus van Straaten (my co-driver) was seconded to drive the Consani's to get medical assistance as soon as possible. It meant Kobus missed out on the second half of the tour and we would like to thank him for his compassion, level headedness and sacrifice.
Robert Consani's repaired fingers with steel pin - expertly repaired by an orthopaedic surgeon in Bloemfontein / Photo: Luana Consani
We had one puncture within the first 2 km of the tour on the tarred R58 when one of our guests needed to stop and plug the puncture on a brand new tyre. Not a single sidewall cut or puncture happened for the rest of the tour, which was remarkable.
We had our first VW Synchro bus on this tour, which completed the tour, but it did struggle to keep up with the rest of the group. After the tour, on the way home, the bus broke down near Colesberg, requiring a low bed recovery. The problem turned out to be minor - the timing belt tensioner.
For the first time we added an extra day into the tour, by splitting the first very long day into two. That was a major improvement and resuted in the group getting back to base well before 1700 each day.
Bernard Klodwig's beloved VW Synchro bus pictured here with the breakdown truck driver, gave up the ghost near Colesberg after the tour, but it turned out to be a minor problem - the timing belt tensioner.
This was the last official Ben 10 Eco Challenge. It's time to reinvent the wheel, so the Ben 10 tour will still be taking place but with a new format and a whole bunch of extra passes added in. The new tour will probably be slightly longer and have a new name - either the Alpine Tour or the Sky Tour. The routes will all be above the 2000m level.
WILD COAST TOUR
As always our Wild Coast tours start in Matatiele at Philip and Elrita's lovely guest house - Resthaven. They were also guests on this tour and with Philip being an experienced guide in his own right, his talents would come in handy mid tour, when I tasked him to lead the group from Umngazi to Coffee Bay, as I had a battery charging problem with the Land Cruiser and spent an anxious day in Mthatha getting the problem sorted out.
Everyone was raring to go at 08.00 on the first day as we sorted the group into the correct convoy order, before heading to Cedarville about 20 km away on the R58. That section of roadway was being completely rebuilt with many sharp speed bumps, slowing the average speed right down to about 30 kph.
Ntabankulu scenery on the first day / Photo: MPSA
Before long we sought out the gravel road leading to the Nungi Pass; our first pass of many on this tour. This is quite a tricky pass in the wet and even in dry weather, the steep gradients easily cause loss of traction in non 4WD vehicles.
The Nungi Pass is named after the mountain of the same name which forms the western portal of the Umzimvubu River valley. The pass traverses tribal trust land and connects Cedarville in the north with Mount Frere in the south. It's of above average length at 8,7 km and packs 39 sharp bends, corners and curves into it's length and displays an altitude variance of 335m with a classic high centre point profile.
Next up was the Colonek Pass, after which we dropped down into the Mzimvubu River valley to cross the second biggest river in South Africa via a low level concrete bridge. Water levels were the lowest we have seen them for a long time.
News had come through about protest action on the N2 right at the intersection, where we were supposed to turn south to Ntabankulu. However, when we got there, all was peaceful and quiet. Driving through Ntabankulu is fascinating and one gets a proper glimpse of life in Africa, where the apparent chaos is simply a normal way of life. Dogs, cattle, pigs, goats and chickens are at home in the dusty main street amidst bustling local shoppers, double parked vehicles, taxis and the aroma of 'nyama' sizzling on the roadside braais.
Highlight of the day was the long and fabulously scenic Mzintlava Pass where we took our lunch break inside the welcome shade of the Ngomo indigenous forest, much to the surpise and amusement of local vehicles shuttling nack and forth between Mvenyane and Ntabankulu. If ever you doubted the friendliness of the locals, this stop proves itself every year as the the locals hoot, wave and smile at this big convoy of explorers enjoying their part of the Eastern Cape.
The rich, silt laden waters of the Mzintlava River gouges it's way through the Wild Coast landscape / Photo: MPSA
This major gravel pass will enthrall and enchant even the most jaded pass hunter. It is long, steep, rough and peppered with 301 bends, corners and curves of which 7 are hairpins and another 29 exceed 90 degrees radius. It achieves top 10 status in two categories as the 5th longest pass and the 7th biggest altitude gaining pass in South Africa. It's named after the Mtzintlava River, which is one of the main tributaries of the Umzimvubu River with which it forms a confluence about 15 km to the south west of the pass.
It connects Tabankulu with the R61 (between Flagstaff and Lusikisiki) and provides access to dozens of rural villages along the way and includes a crossing of the powerful Mzintlava River, now famous for its Mamlambo creature (or brain sucker as it became known) when a number of local villagers died under mysterious circumstances. All had their faces gouged out. Police later ascribed the events to normal seasonal drownings and the facial damage done by river crabs. An overseas TV crew (Paranormal) arrived in the area to film the so called Mamlambo, but came up with nothing, despite very well described sightings by the locals.
Our traverse of busy, busy, busy Lusikisiki was uneventful as we descended the steep, concreted Mbotyi Pass to arrive with time to spare at Mbotyi River Lodge, which would be our base for the next three nights. Our host Alex, was on hand to welcome us with snacks and drinks. The weather was perfect - blue skies, no wind, pleasantly warm temperatures and an inky blue ocean waiting to be swum in. What a great start to the tour.
Next Episode: The big walk.
TECHNICAL CORNER
There are two products we think should be in every motorist's tool kit.
Holts Tyreweld Emergency Puncture Repair Extra Large
Firstly Holts Tyre Weld. This is a foam and gas filled container which can help you temporarily out of a fix. The foam expands into the inside of the tyre and will seal most holes (but obviously not a large hole or blow out). It comes in two sizes. Regular (for normal cars with wheel sizes up to 15") and 4x4 for larger wheels.
We recently returned from the Ben 10 tour and discovered a self tapping screw embedded in one of the tyres. How long it had been there was anyone's guess, but the tyre was holding it's normal pressure of 2.0 bar. I removed the screw with some effort and it turned out to be 40mm in length and would almost certainly have penetrated the tread and casing. I checked it with soapy water and took a pressure reading, which remained at 2.0 bar. I was suitably impressed.
However, the next morning, the tyre was completely flat. I had an appointment, so needed to sort the problem out quickly. I have been carrying a can of Tyre Weld around with me for many years, so figured this would be a good time to test its shelf life and ability to reinflate the tyre.
It's important to read the instructions carefully.
1. The puncture should be marked and placed at the bottom of the wheel circumference.
2. The red safety tab must be removed
3. Screw the clear tube device onto the tyre valve
4. Turn the cap 90 degrees to start the product flowing. (This requires some physical effort. I used a pair of pliers)
5. Wait until the can is empty. (You can see when the foam stops flowing through the transparent tube, or simply shake the can)
6. Remove the connection and drive the car at 80 kph for 30 minutes.
So far so good. The canister was only capable of inflating the tyre (265 x 75 x R16) to 0.8 bar from completely flat, so I took the pressure up to 1.5 bar using my compressor. On returning from the 30 minute drive, the pressure was 1.7 bar. I took the pressure back up to 2.0 bar and left the vehicle overnight. The pressure held perfectly. The next day I went to my local tyre shop and they water tested the tyre at 5.0 bar and no leak whatsoever was found. My tyre expert gave me a mini-scolding and said I should have marked the spot of the puncture on the tyre or even better, left the screw in the tyre, as now they cannot see where to fit a mushroom plug. It will be interesting to see how long the Tyre Weld product lasts inside the tyre.
So if you're looking for a nice Christmas gift, a can of Tyre Weld would be a useful one. There are various similar products, but we carry Holts as it is a tried and proven brand.
We have repaired various punctures on our varous tours - even a small sidewall cut was successfully sealed, at least to get the vehicle back to a tyre repair shop.
The other very useful product is a kit to repair sidewall cuts from the outside. I have seen it being used successfully several times and I once repaired a sidewall cut on my own tyre which lasted the 1300 km trip back to Cape Town. It's called Glue Tread and whilst fairly pricey, it's an essential item to carry on board, especially if you only have one spare wheel. The larger pack product sells for around R2600 - a bargain if you're stuck without a spare wheel.
GlueTread sells for around R2600 for the full sized kit.
GIVING
If you've left your Christmas shopping to the last minute, here's another quick fix. Our MPSA Gift Voucher is a great way to gift a friend or family member, who will appreciate your gesture for a whole year (and beyond).
The gift subscription includes 1 year full access to all the content & videos on the Mountain Passes South Africa website.
KOUGA-BAVIAANS TOUR - DAY 4
We regrouped at Keurfontein for breakfast and a punctual departure for St. Francis Bay. The drive east along the northern ridge of the Baviaans mountains included some good gravel road driving, with lovely Karoo vistas and not another vehicle to be seen for most of the morning. A few farm gates encouraged us to slow down and smell the proverbial roses.
Highlight of the day was the Antoniesberg Pass and after the deep water crossing we experienced there a year ago, there was a fair bit of speculation going on over the radio. Our arrival at the Grootrivier revealed a little puddle, perhaps a foot deep and 8 metres wide. Much ado about nothing, but it did make for a nice lunch stop.
Enjoy this video of the first part of the Antoniesberg Pass which we filmed during the tour. You can find Parts 2, 3 and 4 on You Tube.
This is not a lazy Sunday afternoon drive. This rough, steep gravel pass crosses the Grootrivier on the northern side of the Baviaanskloof Mountains via a river crossing just below a weir, without a bridge. Whilst the pass itself is a mere 5 km long, it is the access roads which make the driving of this pass, something of an adventure. First things first - You will not be able to drive this pass without being in a 4x4 vehicle with good ground clearance. 'Soft-roaders' will not have sufficient ground clearance. Adventure bikers will need to be experienced to handle this road, as it is long, rough, steep and dangerous over many sections, including the entire eastern exit section between the pass and Patensie.
Stats:
Length: 5 km
Max Altitude: 511m
Altitude Variance: 278m
Max Gradient: 1:5
Once we connected with the main gravel road between Patensie and Uitenhage, we could enjoy the big descent down the Geelhoutboom Pass.
It boasts an impressive hight gain of 730m, which places it in position 20 in the biggest altitude gaining statistics. The 48 bends, corners and curves will keep you busy as each bend reveals new vistas over the citrus farms of the Gamtoos Valley and the densely wooded mountains to the east.
Once we reached Patensie it was a 40 minute drive on tar to reach our (new) overnight destination St. Francis Bay Resort. The resort was comfortable and well run, but it was full of other tourists, which made the vibe quite busy after the quietness of the Karoo and Baaviaanskloof. Access to the beach was effortless.
Next episode: The final day and a complete traverse of the Baviaanskloof from east to west.
Trygve Roberts / Editor
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts"
~ Excerpt from the poem by William Shakespeare.
