In this issue
* Tours updates
* The Dusty Dashboard
* Ben 10 Day of Drama
* Wild Coast Shenanigans
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TOURS UPDATES
9th February: Zevenwacht 4x4 Training. Bookings have closed
10th to 15th March: Katberg Tour (Fully Booked)
5th to 13th April: Mountain Kingdom Tour (Fully Booked)
13th to 24th May: Wild Coast Tour (Fully booked)
Over the next two weeks we will be releasing tours from June through to September. More details will appear in the next newsletter in two weeks time.
The Dusty Dashboard
From our archives | July, 2015
There was enough dust on the dashboard to keep a 5 year old busy for hours drawing stick figures, but after 3000 fairly boring kilometres from Cape Town via, Calvinia, Kenhardt, Keimoes, Upington, Kathu (where a passing bakkie hurled a fair sized stone up which smashed our windscreen), Tshabong, Khakea, Kang, and Ghanzi we finally reached Maun at midday on the third day of travelling through the most featurelessly boring and flat terrained country known to man. There is good reason for this – it’s to prepare you for some wildly exciting, adrenaline charged camping once you reach northern Botswana.
We were first time visitors to Botswana and despite some serious internet research; we were woefully over catered in some departments and as conversely unprepared in others. We had checked the weather histology for Botswana as 24C/2C max/min for July, so we packed loads of warm clothes, of which about 90% went unused. What we were short of was shorts and T-Shirts!
The grandeur and splendour of the African bush has been adequately described by hundreds of erudite travellers before me, so in this little story I will relate the funnier side of life in the Botswana bush and how inadequate a city slicker is in that environment, regardless of the frequency of visits to Outdoor Warehouse and Cape Union Mart.
By a miracle of modern technology and an ageing Garmin 276C, we arrived at the Kaziikini camp site on time and spot on target. The ablutions there are euphemistically rustic (open air) and not in good shape with broken toilets, no hot water and plumbing problems being prevalent. We set up camp near a small waterhole and set up our camping kitchen – a sturdy structure of steel and canvas, wherein we stowed all our snack style food and cans of beer. Bad mistake! In Botswana you lock (not close) all your food inside your vehicle. The birdlife at the Buffalo campsite at Kaziikini was amazing and we never quite had a repeat of that anywhere else.
Camp setup at Bufallo several hours ahead of the ratel incident
Johan Viljoen of First Alignment Centre had graciously loaned us his RTT (roof top tent) as well as a brand new Inmarsat satellite phone. Jos Hartog of Hazard Boneko set us up with a solar controller and wiring, so we were assured of a safe place to sleep and ice in our fridge. With our camp neatly set-up, a good braai under the belt with some vintage Cape vino to keep the goggas at bay, we tucked in for a well-deserved sleep after three days of gruelling travelling.
At about midnight, there were scratching sounds outside amongst our ammo boxes. My wife, who suffers from the “Ek is glad nie bang nie” syndrome, charged down the ladder and claimed she had seen a honey badger (ratel) scurrying off into the night. She tidied some broken packets of biscuits and popcorn up, and returned to the RTT. At that stage I suggested that we swap sides, so that in the event of any further trouble, I could be closest to the ladder.
At 0400 there was a serious commotion outside. The badger had overturned all our ammo boxes and was now inside the canvas part of our kitchen cupboard. I grabbed the stun-gun out of the Cruiser and headed towards the now bulging canvas cupboard, which contained 3 packets of popcorn, 3 packets of Pretzels, 4 packets of potato chips and 2 packets of macaroni as well as two cases of beer plus one large ratel, who appeared to having a problem with either the diet on offer or the constraints of the canvas bag.
Knowing full well the capabilities of the ratel and its reputation for dispatching adversaries in short order, I gingerly approached the cabinet, which was at that stage a serious hive of nocturnal activity. The zip was still closed, which meant it had entered through the tiniest of gaps via the back. I gave a few blasts of the stun gun close to the cabinet, to scare the ratel off (what was I thinking?) then quickly pulled the zip down to allow it a path of escape.
'Ratel taai' sounds much better in Afrikaans.
It sauntered nonchalantly off and made a 180 degree half circle of the camp and approached from the right. My headlamp held its yellow eyes in a steady pool of light until stationary. Then I saw the eyes crouching down and back up again twice in rapid succession. I interpreted this to be the warning of a probable charge. There’s a time in a man’s life, when the decision between heroism and survival takes over in what is commonly known as the ‘fight or flee’ syndrome. I’d read stories about ratels attacking farmers after having being blasted with a shotgun. Standing in the sand outside in the bush in the pitch dark, in just my jocks, I suddenly felt very vulnerable. The ladder beckoned….
In the morning I collected a vast mound of Botswana sand, interspersed with sour cream and cheese popcorn, pretzels, Simba chips, uncooked macaroni, some biscuit crumbs and a few broken Pro-Vitas. It filled two large shopping bags which were securely tied up and placed into the litter bin, which I then tied down with wire. Ratel se moer! Moral of the story – Store ALL your food inside your vehicle. And don’t just close the doors – Lock them.
Next issue: Recovering a 10 ton Botswana Parks Board truck stuck in the sand
BEN 10 ECO CHALLENGE - DAY 2
We had two challenge passes lines up for the day (and a few others as well). The first pass was the the Heuningneskloof Pass, which we had not been able to complete the previous day, due to time constraints (fallen trees and a puncture)
This was the day the tour would take quite a turn and resulted in an eventuality which we have been planning and preparing for, for many years.
At 08.30 the convoy rolled out of the Mountain Shadows Hotel heading west towards Barkly East along that delightfully meandering road between all the gorgeous sandstone outcrops, with vast fields of purple flowers lending a contrast to the rich colours of the landscape.
After Barkly East we took the gravel R396 southwards in the direction of Clifford, destination Heuningneskloof. This was the first group that we took down this pass. The approach roads were in fairly good condition, allowing us to make good time. The pass itself was not that difficult and soon we found ourselves at the turnaround point. From that point there are two choices. The easiest is to do a U-turn and retrace the route back to the R396, or proceed down the narrow valley and ascend up a very tricky climb to the R396. The second option is certainly longer time wise, but much more scenic and infinitely more adventurous.
From the bottom of the pass the road heads south following the river valley, then ascends up a very stiff and rough climb of large rock steps (which has been the undoing of several drivers attempting this route) which not only offers another challenging aspect to the day, but takes the tedium out of having to drive all the way back up the pass, then double back to Clifford.
The screenshot above shows the green route as the main access road to the pass off the R396. The orange line shows the Heuningneskloof Pass and the magenta line shows the southern route to rejoin the R396 west of Clifford.
It was that magenta route that provided all the drama for the day. We were going along nicely, traversing a few farms and following the course of the little stream, when we suddenly found ourselves hemmed into a very narrow section, where storm water had eroded the right hand side of the track to a depth of almost a metre.
Heuningneskloof - the start of the drama / Photo: MPSA Guest photo
That meant we had to drive far left almost into the bushes and adjacent fence so as not to tip over into the dongha. The first four vehicles made it, but with a fair deal of angst amongst the drivers. At that stage we had some very real concerns for Bernhard and Udo in the VW Synchro bus. If it tipped over, which seemed likely, we would have a real problem on our hands. At that stage we had already driven about two thirds of the distance along the magenta route.
We got all the drivers to bring what tools they had (spades, saws, cutters and chain-saws) to clear some of the thick bush on the left so the rest of the convoy could pass that section in safety. It was at that time, that Robert Consani pitched up with his DeWalt portable angle grinder, to cut out some sharp roots (guaranteed puncture culprits) from the proposed new track we were creating. All was going well, until Robert suddenly jerked back, looked at his fingers and calmly said: "I think I might need a plaster"
That was the understatement of the tour. The angle grinder had sliced his index finger badly. It was hanging by a thread. All the medical people in the group got him to lie down and applied pressure and dressings to the wound. Others created a shade net of sorts to keep the patient cool. It was a very concerned group. We had an emergency on our hand and needed to get Robert to a doctor as quickly as possible or the finger would be lost.
I tasked my co-driver Kobus van Straaten to take Robert (82) and his wife Luana (80) in their Land Rover, back to Barkly East as quickly as possible, whilst the rest of us mopped up and got the convoy reorganised. The spot where we were was closer to the R396 than having to double back up the pass.
I remained in contact with Kobus via the VHF and went on on my own to see if the route back south was doable or not. I hadn't driven very far (maybe 1.5 km) when I came across a massive oak tree that had fallen across the road near the actual Heuningnesloof farm (you can ID the spot in the image by the dark green clump of trees straddling the road.) A quick visual assessment indicated it would have been a long process trying to clear a way around that tree, so I radio'd Kobus and advised it was a no go and that he should proceed post-haste to Barkly East with the casualty.
A large tree had fallen across the track. Time to do a U turn (Plan B) / Photo: MPSA
Turning a big convoy around in those narrow confines was a major task, but eventually we were all on the road we had just come in on - somewhat subdued and saddened by the recent events. It seemed almost certain Robert would lose at least one finger.
The doctor was duly located in Barkly East, who stitched up the adjacent finger and made arrangements for Robert to be seen by an orthopaedic surgeon in Bloemfontein.
The rest of the convoy carried on to drive the Otto du Plessis Pass, followed by the Tsomo River Valley (with it's two damaged bridges) and finally back up the Barkly Pass to return to the Mountain Shadows Hotel. Later we had a call from Kobus advising that Robert had been admitted to the hospital and surgery to his finger had been scheduled for the next morning.
Otto du Plessis Pass - a small section of the huge summit views / Photo: MPSA
Post Script: The operation was a success. The blade of the angle grinder had shattered the bone into 5 pieces. These were expertly located, repositioned and held in place by a stainless steel pin. The latest news from a very chirpy Robert, is that the pin has been removed and he once again has the use of the finger, albeit with restricted movement. Happy days!
Our thanks to eveyone in the group who rallied so selflessly and a special thanks to Kobus for giving up the rest of the tour to help the Consanis in their time of need.
WILD COAST TOUR V9 - DAY 3
Some of our guests chose to make use of this day as an "opt out day" and occupy their time fishing, bird watching and one even had to do office work on his laptop! The rest of us got going back up the Mbotyi River Pass via Angel Falls in the Magwa Tea plantation and arrived on time at the Msikaba Bridge construction site, where we were met by the resident engineer, Hans Glietenberg and a few of his colleagues.
Hans spoke about some of the difficulties they had to overcome during the construction of this mega project and explained how each setback had increased the completion date substantially. The curing and inspection process of each level of new concrete added to the huge towers is fraught with engineering complexities. The talk was both enlightening and fascinating.
Msikaba N2 Mega bridge south tower. It has reached a height of 100m but it will still rise to 127m. Progress is by necessity quite slow. Photo: MPSA
After guests had completed the onsite tour, we headed back towards Lupathana, but decided to try and find an access road to be able to reach the upper point of the impressive Ntentule Waterfall. This hidden gem had gone by largely unnoticed until about a decade ago, when engineers at the Msikaba Bridge site noticed it and decided to measure it at 174m. That makes it the second highest waterfall in South Africa (after Tugela Falls).
Ntentule Falls from the top dropping 174m down into the chasm/ Photo: MPSA
We did manage to find the road and spent our lunch break near the head of the falls, but getting a good clear visual of the waterfall from top to bottom proved to be almost impossible. It was too windy to launch the drone, but we will most certainly try again on the next Wild Coast Tour. A brand new bridge was in the process of being constructed near the head of the falls as the old one has been damaged.
The afternoon was dedicated to the Msikaba vultures. The drive getting there is dodgy at best with soft mud waiting to trap the unwary, but we were lucky and got the whole convoy through unscathed. The weather was perfect as we spent almost an hour watching the vultures soaring up and down the deep gorge.
The beers were well deserved that evening back at Mbotyi River Lodge.
Next Episode: Mbotyi to Umngazi via Mount Thesiger
Trygve Roberts / Editor
"If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work" ~ King Henry IV
