WHAT'S INSIDE?
* Tours & Trips - New!
* The Dusty Dashboard (Part 3)
* Ben 10 Eco Challenge (Day 5 / Bastervoetpad)
* Wild Coast Tour (Day 5 / Thirsty Kirsty goes into limp mode)
Listen to an AI-generated discusion of this newsletter:
We promised the brand new inaugural Great Karoo Tour would open for bookings before this newsletter was published. We kept our promise.
Just so you know what the rest of the year will have on offer:
- July ~ Great Karoo Tour (New - Booking open)
- August ~ Swartberg Tour
- September ~ Cederberg Tour (New)
- November ~ Kouga Baviaans Tour
- December ~ Sky Tour (New)
GREAT KAROO TOUR - 7th to 13th July, 2025
Our 2025 Inaugural Great Karoo V1 4×4 Tour has been planned to offer a complete experience of nature, relaxation, easy and technical driving and some of the best sights you will see in the Great Karoo.
You can expect excellent game viewing, with overnight stops in Addo, Mountain Zebra National Park, Nieu Bethesda and Graaff-Reinet. We’ll be driving several big gravel passes including the anchor attraction, the Bedrogfontein Pass. The tour includes visits to the Addo Elephant National Park, Mountain Zebra National Park and Camdeboo National Park. Being a mid-winter tour, you can expect crystal clear night skies and moderate blue-sky days, which allows a perfect touring experience without having to endure the heat of the summer.
Here's a preview of what's on offer:
Day Zero – Monday 7th July, 2025
Meet and greet at the Kronenhoff Guest Lodge in Kirkwood (Nqweba) any time after 14.00.
Day 1: - We start the tour off with some proper adventure as we head to the starting point of the Bedrogfontein 4×4 route just a few km north of Kirkwood, where we check in and get our permits paid. Pack sufficient food and drinks for the day.
The route is mainly Grade 1 for the first 10 km, until we reach the Mvubu turn off. Thereafter things become a little slower as we start the Grade 2 section, passing various historical points of interest and ultimately the Grade 3 section which climbs very steeply to the summit.
The Bedrogfontein 4×4 trail between the Kabouga and Darlington areas of the Addo Elephant National Park provides breathtaking views and is rich in history. Overnight back at Kronenhoff.
Day 2 - This day is reserved for a full exploration of the Addo Elephant National Park. You will drive through the reserve at your own pace, but everyone will be connected via the two way radios, so you can share the good sightings with your fellow guests. Overnight at Kronenhoff.
Day 3 - Our route takes us over the first big mountain range into the Karoo proper. We say farewell to Kirkwood as we head up the gravel Doringnek Pass and stop in at the delightful Zuurberg Mountain Inn for a comfort break.
Next up is the highlight of the day – a south/north traverse of the old Zuurberg Pass, which was constructed in 1855.
Enjoying the sunshine along the Zuurberg Pass / Photo: MPSA
This long and sometimes extreme gravel pass is located on a secondary road (the R335) in the Eastern Cape approximately 35 km north of Addo and 75 km south of Somerset East. At 27,5 km it is one of the longer passes in South Africa and traverses all four tiers of the dominant Zuurberg Mountain range.
Our route heads resolutely north over the wide plains of the first Karoo plateau, headed for the frontier town of Somerset East (Now named Kwa Nojoli), where we connect with the R63 towards Pearston. Two majestic gravel passes await to take us over the next set of mountains - the Buffelshoek and Swaershoek passes.
Check in at the Mountain Zebra National Park's self catering chalets.
Mountain Zebras enjoying life / Photo: John Vosloo
Day 4 - An easy day as you get to explore the magnificent MZNP at your own pace in your own vehicle. We will kick start the day by guiding you over one of the three 4×4 routes in the park, where we always enjoy good game viewing. Overnight back at the chalets
Day 5 - An easy day, as we delve ever deeper into the Karoo heartland as we traverse the big Wapadsberg Pass. Being midwinter, there is a chance we might experience snow on the pass.
We head west to locate the high altitude, gravel surfaced Witnek Pass, which provides a good view of the well-known Karoo landmark – Kompasberg, which has a distinct profile and can be seen from a great distance away.
Nieu Bethesda with the Kompasberg in the background / Photo: Graham Hobbs
You will have the afternoon free to explore the village of Nieu Bethesda. Amongst some of the points of interest are the Owl House Museum, dedicated to the artist Helen Martins (a subject all of its own), the impressive Dutch Reformed Church, the home of playwright Athol Fugard, cosy little coffee shops or just walk and breathe in the clean Karoo air. A real treat is to take a donkey cart ride with a local guide who is full of knowledge and a delightful way to spend an hour experiencing the Karoo in the best possible way. Local is lekker!
Overnight accommodation is in three beautiful and gracious Karoo guest houses.
Die Oude Pastorie - One of the guest houses we have booked for this tour.
Day 6 - We say goodbye to sleepy Nieu Bethesda and head towards Graaff Reinet, but we will be going along a back road, Michielshoogte, where the kudu jump high (easily clearing a 2m fence from a standing start). Soon we intersect with the R63 and descend the Oudeberg Pass, which was built, amongst others, by Thomas Bain’s father, Andrew Geddes Bain. This is where Andrew Bain first settled as a saddler (from Thurso in Scotland), before trying his hand at roads construction.
Our main attraction for the day is the Camdeboo National Park. We will drive to the very highest point on the steep and winding (tarred) pass, to enjoy the jaw dropping views of the Valley of Desolation. You’ll have a good chance of seeing eagles flying around the vertical cliffs.
Our tour ends at the 5 star Drostdy Hotel in Graaf-Reinet, where we will let our hair down and enjoy wonderful food and fine wine as we recount the memorable parts of the tour and enjoy the camaraderie of old and new friends.
Drostdy Hotel, Graaff-Reinet.
Use the link to review the full itinerary and pricing. Five tickets were sold in the first 24 hours. Book early to avoid disappointment,
THE DUSTY DASHBOARD
Part 3 takes us to the bridge over the River Khwai.
With reference to the previous episode and the truck recovery, I managed to find a photo in the archives and here it is:
Our trusty Land Cruiser recovering a truck from the sandy tracks in Botswana.
We moved on to Khwai River camp and ended up with a not so good site, lacking shade. The temperature at 2 pm each day was around 28 degrees and even in mid-winter, shade is a priority.
Wherever we camped, we were always told the camp was full, yet there were seldom more than two sites occupied at any one time. When we queried this, admin staff told us that South Africans book most of the camp-sites a year in advance, and then don’t pitch. There’s nothing park officials can do about it. I have my own ideas on that – perhaps two weeks ahead of the booking, the client should be contacted and obtain confirmation that they will still be arriving. If not, then those camp sites can be let out to others that need them.
At some of the camps, we were told they had no records of our bookings. When we produced the official receipts, there was much shuffling and one employee even told us that "means nothing". It seems all is not well at Botswana Parks. (I hope it has improved a lot since our last experience). Many of the facilities were dysfunctional or totally closed. Water was not always available and ablution facilities were in a poor state. It was definitely not in keeping with the tariffs we were paying.
Morning game drive with our friends at Moremi / Photo: Trygve Roberts
In general we found the staff behind the counters disinterested, surly and unwelcoming, which was obsviously a disappointment considering the expense and effort we had gone through to do this trip. It left a bad taste and probably signals my personal feeling for not ever wanting to return.
Baboons are a problem at Khwai River. Someone should remain at camp in the afternoon period from 4pm to 6 pm armed with a good catapult and lots of ammo, to discourage baboons and monkeys from settling in the trees around your camp. One afternoon I glanced up from my Bryson book to see a large male baboon inside the Cruiser. As I jumped up for the “kettie” he fled out the tailgate with a shopping bag full of oranges and apples, which he was stuffing into his mouth one after the other. I managed to salvage about half the fruit. He enjoyed the treat, as he was soon back with reinforcements, hoping for some more of the good life, but armed with a cold Whisky, a pile of ammo and the kettie, they kept me busy for over an hour, whilst the rest of our group were out on a sunset game drive.
We pitched a 5 man dome tent as a storage zone for clothing and non-food items – also a place to change clothes etc. We took other’s advice and cable tied the zips. On our return from a game drive one afternoon, baboons were unimpressed with our security and promptly ripped a hole through the flysheet, then realised there was another layer and moved to the front of the tent, where they casually ripped the tent open and made a baboon sized hole. They then started sifting through our items and started with my toiletry bag. My toothbrush and toothpaste were lying to one side and one of the baboons had eaten a Disprin and not liked the taste of it, as the half eaten Disprin was lying in one corner. They must have been disturbed, as nothing further was ransacked, but instead of leaving the way they entered, they simply ripped another gaping hole through the mosquito mesh at the rear of the tent and made off.
Baboon bravado / Photo: Trygve Roberts
Happy hour was spent with needle, thread and duct tape. Lesson learned: Dome tents should be cable-tied and collapsed when not in camp.
The next evening, we decided to sit in a full circle around the camp fire, so that every segment behind us was covered by a pair of eyes. Despite these precautions, a large hyena sneaked in and since we use the tailgate of the Cruiser as a prep area, it is mostly open when we’re in camp. It climbed quietly into the Cruiser, grabbed a full cooler box of food and retreated. My wife spotted it first – maybe 2 metres behind where I was sitting. All of us charged at the animal, shouting loudly, but it scuttled off into the bush, where the lid of the cooler box flipped open and half the contents fell out. We chased him deeper into the bush until he eventually abandoned the cooler box, being happy with the 500 grams of butter he wolfed down. Our cooler box has three perfect hyena teeth marks as a solemn reminder not to leave food in the open.
Hyena toothmarks in our Coleman / Photo: Trygve Roberts
Lesson learned: Keep your vehicle’s doors closed, no matter how inconvenient it is.
Next epsisode - A rickety African bridge.
BEN 10 ECO CHALLENGE - DAY 5
Our target for the day was to complete the Bastervoetpad Pass. We always allow a full day, just in case of mechanical breakdown or other problem.
We were on the road by 0800, heading for the delightful Bottelnek Valley. This is a really nice warm up for Bastervoetpad. There's time to enjoy the intensely beautiful scenery and get mentally ready for what is lying in wait.
Scenery along the Bottelnek Valley road. / Photo: Trygve Roberts
The weather was looking marvellous as we approached the starting point of Bastervoetpad. We had a quick radio chat about lines, correct gears, low range and diff-locks and soon the convoy began the slow journey towards the ascent. Normally we can see the clouds near the summit from the start, which invariably means the summit will be right in the cloud base with no views to enjoy, but this day it looked clear.
Within 40 minutes we had the whole convoy up at the summit in glorious, blue sky summer weather. There was no wind either, so we were able to get the drone up for some aerial footage.
The descent beckoned. Eighteen kilometres of solid downhill at an average speed of 10 kph. The pass is always wet in summer, but this year it was the driest we've seen it in a long time. The down-side of that was that the waterfalls weren't flowing, but the positive was that it's a lot safer when there is less mud and less chance of rockfalls.
We passed the Valetta farmstead of our friends Bennie and Marjorie Venter all in one piece with no punctures or problems. The farmstead marks (more or less) the end of the pass. The rest of the drive was fabulous through the PG Bison plantations and a faster gravel road which offered a good view of Gatberg.
Most guests refuelled in Elliot (Khowa). We regrouped back at Mountain Shadows Hotel for our last night there, before heading north to Rhodes the next day. There's always a wonderful "gees" in the pub on the day of completing Bastervoetpad. The bar sales did extremely well!
Next Episode: Lundean's Nek, Dangershoek, Volunteershoek and Carlisleshoekspruit - all in one day.
WILD COAST TOUR - DAY 5
We give our guests an opt out day several times during the Wild Coast Tours. Some chose to stay at Umngazi and laze the day away with a spa treatment; others went fishing; some relaxed on the beach. The weather was a bit iffy with the aroma of imminent rain in the air.
The rest of the group (about 8 vehicles) chose to drive the big loop via Execution Rock and Majola Tea estates. We did experience some drizzle and low cloud, allowing tantalising glimpses over the mist shrouded hillsides in the valley below.
Execution Rock (or more correctly Mlengana Rock) shrouded in low cloud / Photo: MPSA
We were about halfway, when Thirsty Kirsty decided to go into limp mode. It was the first time ever that it had ever happened in 280,000 km..
As always we have knowledgable people on our tours. After a few minutes of drizzly pondering over the big 6 cylinder engine, the glitterati concluded that the problem must be the battery. The reality was a much deeper problem, but we'll get to that shortly. Ken Goodenough offered to fit his spare battery (the same size) from his Prado, as my second battery is too big. As soon as the transfer was done, the Land Cruiser started and ran normally, but I did notice that the voltmeter was only charging at 11 amps instead of the usual 14. I soon became fixated on that gauge.
We made it back to Umngazi without any further issues and enjoyed another wonderful spread at dinner time. We were definitely all going to return home a bit heavier!
The next morning I was up early and noted that the Cruiser only just managed to start, so I decided to drive through to Port St Johns to find an auto electrician. The only sparky in town was closed with a hand painted, dilapidated sign hanging from a very tired looking wendy house. It was not a confidence building moment!
Would you dare? / Photo: Andrew Ackerman
I immediately decided not to wait till opening time and headed back to Umngazi, where I tasked Philip Rawlins (our guest and experienced tour guide in his own right), to lead the group through to Coffee Bay. I handed over my Garmin Overlander with the day's route and waypoints in place, for him to run the two Garmins (he has the same model) side by side. Ken offered to accompany me to Mthatha as a back up.
We barely made it 2 km from Mngazi, when the vehicle went into limp mode again. We now had two flat batteries! I have a dual battery system in the Cruiser and the spare battery was still OK but too big to fit into the space, so we used a set of jumper cables and coupled up the batteries and proceeded with the bonnet slightly open on the first safety catch. Ken, being an engineer, calculated the rate of electrical consumption and the distance to Mthatha and confidently declared that we would make it. He was right!
Meanwhile Philip encountered a few curved balls with the rest of the group in the form of flooded rivers. At the first one, the Subaru got stuck and had to be recovered. All of that took place in pouring rain. There were to be more problems in the form of a bridge washed away with no way around, but to divert up to Libode and backtrack along the eastern side of the Umtata River.
Philip recovering the Subaru in the rain / Photo: Andrew Ackerman
I really threw Philip in at the deep end, but despite a few mistakes, he got the group safety to Coffee Bay.
Meanwhile, Ken and I had located a 'recommended by Google' auto electrical workshop in Mthatha and after just the right amount of gracious grovelling, a sparky from Zimbabwe was assigned to resolve our problem. That was at about 10 am. Various things were checked with the eventual diagnosis being that the alternator was not delivering the correct charge. The alternator has never been removed since new. Its been working down there for just over 21 years. Needless to say the bolts were very tight. WD40 was applied in copious amounts. More anxious waiting and finally it was removed after two and a half hours.
A bench test showed it to working normally. Just to be safe, we requested new brushes to be fitted, since the alternator was already removed. It took another hour to refit it, but still the charge coming through to the battery was well below normal. Somehow the alternator's electrical outout was not reaching the battery. Time was running out fast and I was getting worried - more so when the proprietor suggested we take a taxi to Coffee Bay and return the following day.
Our Zimbabwean auto electrician looking very perplexed and puzzled / Photo: MPSA
It was close to 4.30 pm when the sparky located a 'bad wire'. This was isolated, taped up, and a new wire taken directly from the ignition to the battery. That was a temporary fix as there were some new electrical problems that developed after that "fix" that I had to deal with - like some lights not working and instruments on the blink, but it was good enough to get us back to Cape Town to a decent electrical shop, who found and fixed the problem in one and a half hours. It was a short between the ignition and the alternator and a few incorrect fuses.
Our venue in Coffee Bay was the Green Fields Hotel. A newish venue perched on a small hill overlooking White Clay Resort and the ocean. They had just been severly walloped by a mini tornado a week before, leaving some of the rooms unrepaired. Roof panels and windows were blown out, but that didn't in any way affect service levels or our level of enjoyment. It was really good and we will be returning there for the 2025 tour.
That night the hotel had arranged for a group of school girls to perform some traditional dancing for us, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, including my brother from Melbourne, who joined in with the dancing. It would seem a dead certainty that of all the talents bestowed on the Roberts brothers, dancing was not one of them!
Next Episode: Hole in the Wall, Whale Hill, Baby Hole in the Wall and Mapuzi lookout.
Trygve Roberts / Editor
"Don't use a big word, when a singularly unloquacious and diminutive linguistic expression will satisfactorily accomplish the contemporary necessity" ~ Unknown.
