Cederberg succulents / Mount Cedar Farm

Latest News! 4th May, 2025

* Too many public holidays?

* Great Karoo Tour (New)

* Swartberg Classic Tour

* Cederberg Tour  (New)

* META Muckup

* Lesotho 2025 Trip (Day 1)

Listen to an AI-generated discusion of this newsletter:


GENERAL

With a barrage of public holidays creating a perfect storm of people taking long leave and many businesses closing for almost three weeks, makes me rethink the state of the economy. Things must be going well for businesses to afford to close down twice a year, in the process losing almost 17% of their annual turnover. Perhaps I'm too old school to understand the rationale.

However, the latest statistics show a remarkable decrease in the road death toll. It is 45.6% lower than in 2024. We heard one theory that the Easter weekend's timing was just before payday, suggesting that many people stayed at home. That's a more likely explanation than SA drivers suddenly deciding to drive more safely. The topic is open for debate. 

The avalanche of public holidays also made us rethink the release of this newsletter as we have found that far less subscribers read the newsletters over long weekends, hence the delay in publishing this one, which will coincide with the first 5 day working week in a while.

Parts of the country (especially up north) have experienced very wet weather, with large scale flooding taking place. The Vaal Dam filled up and overflowed in a short time frame, sending huge volumes of water downstream. With water from the Katse Dam being on hold due to scheduled tunnel maintenance, the extra water comes as a relief.

Meanwhile in the Western Cape idyllic autumn weather is currently being enjoyed, before the winter rains arrive. 

We are preparing for our next tour, which is our 10th Wild Coast Tour - as popular as ever and fully booked. It kicks off in Matatiele on Monday 13th May. If you want to follow the tour in real time, it's best to follow our Facebook page.


TOURS UPDATES

GREAT KAROO TOUR (JULY) (NEW)

This brand new tour is cheduled to take place smack bang in the middle of winter and with good reason too. Clarity of vision makes for much more enjoyable driving, photography and videography. With moderate day time temperatures it's pleasant inside the vehicle and the crisp, cold Karoo nights ensure a convival atmosphere around the fire in the evenings.

nieu bethesda 4849 786x524Karoo magic at Nieu Bethesda / Photo: SAOnline

On this tour you will drive the Bedrogfontein 4x4 Route - an historical route that was once used by Jan Smuts and his men to ambush the English garrison of Sir Harry Smith. We will visit the Darlington Dam, spend a full day in the Addo Elephant National Park, drive the Zuurberg and Swaershoek passes and spend two days at the Mountain Zebra National Park driving some 4x4 routes and enjoying the plentiful game and birdlife.

Our schedule will take us over the Wapadsberg Pass (there is a possibility of snow ) to Nieu Bethesda (the very essence of a remote Karoo village) to enjoy the old church, the Owl House, graceful Karoo cottages with wrap-around stoeps and watch life dawdle by in the timeless Karoo way.

The tour finishes up with a full exploration of the Valley of Desolation and Cambeboo Nature Reserve near Graaff Reinet and a bumper final night at the 4 star Drostdy Hotel.

CLICK  HERE TO BOOK



SWARTBERG CLASSIC TOUR (AUGUST)

Our 2025 Swartberg Classic Tour is open for bookings.

Dates: 17th - 23rd August

4x4 Mandatory

at the top the viewsLooking north from the Teeberg view point.

What you will get.

Accommodation at the best venues - Rooiberg Lodge, Bosch Luys Kloof Lodge, Swartberg Hotel, Swartberg Country Manor.

A visit to Die Hel with lunch included and an address by Rooi-Piet Joubert.

A drive through the Gamkaberg Nature Reserve which will be smothered in wildflowers.

A visit to Boplaas - the home of the best port in SA.

Explore the dam wall at the Gamkapoort with the legendary Fox Lederboer.

Game, birding and nature drives at Bosch Luys Kloof.

Passes include Gysmanshoek, Assegaaibosch, Rooiberg, Bosluiskloof, Seweweekspoort, Kruisrivier Poort, Meiringspoort, Swartberg Pass, Gamkaskloof, Die Hel, Lawson's Pass and many more.

You'll see every aspect of the Swartberg range in its springtime colours. Guided by Trygve Roberts in person.

CLICK  HERE TO BOOK


 
CEDERBERG SPRING TOUR (NEW)

We've spent 4 months doing recce trips and careful planning to make this tour happen. The hugely popular Cederberg area is also a perennial favourite during the flower season, so we took all those factors into consideration, as we will be running the tour midweek (less tourists, more accommodation options) and lower prices as well as in the third week of September, where good flower viewing is almost a certainty.

cederberg 6 Maalgat 1198x799Stunning Cederberg scenery / Cederberg Ridge Wilderness Lodge

What you will get:

4 nights and 5 days of high quality adventure travel including a night at the 4 star Val du Charron wine estate in Wellington; a brace of fantastic passes including Bainskloof, Gydo, Piet Esterhuysen, Blinkberg, Grootrivierhoogte, Kromrivier, Kerskop, Eselbank, Kouberg, Hoek se Berg, Pakhuis, Nieuwoudt's, Uitkyk and Katbakkies.

We will visit Truitjieskraal - a place of magnificent sandsrone formations, the Stadsaal (a series of sandstone caves and shelters), 2 sets of wine tastings - one at Cederberg Wines the other at Kromrivier; Eselbank Waterfall, Wupperthal, Clanwilliam Dam, and a Rooibos Farm tour and the Biedouw Valley for wildflowers.

We will also be visiting one of the most iconic farm stalls in the Tankwa Karoo.

You can choose to stay in a chalet or in a luxury tent.

The first 5 places were sold within 12 hours. Book early for this one.

 CLICK HERE TO BOOK


MIGHTY META MUCKUP

Here’s a story you should read, digest and follow up on. It could affect any one of us at any time and serves also as a warning that Meta (and similar organizations) literally hold the Sword of Damacles over our collective heads. One is bullied, censored, punished and banned without any opportunity to state your case.

On the 9th of April it was brought to our attention that a start up self drive company had used some of our original material, including the name Ben 10 Eco Challenge in advertisements they had placed on Facebook.

We sent them a polite but firm message via Facebook messenger to desist from using the “Ben 10 Eco Challenge” name as it belongs to MPSA. We didn’t mention all the other snippets and sentences that they had copied from our ads and various pages from our website. After all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

They responded that they had been to see their attorney, who had (unsurprisingly) told them, that we might not have rights to the name, but he would none the less stop using the name in future ads. This he has failed to do.

No further correspondence took place. A day later we left for Lesotho. As we have done on all previous Lesotho tours, we post on social media as and when we have good wifi at the various venues we support.

On the third day of the tour, we received an SMS from Facebook stating that our account had been flagged for “security reasons”. When I tried posting that same day, I was unable to do so. I created the posts on Whats App and sent them to my daughter in Cape Town who is also an admin for MPSA, to get the posts done. This worked fine, until we returned from Lesotho and tried to find out what had happened.

In my Inbox was a notice from Meta advising that my account had been deactivated and that I had 180 days to appeal, after which my account would be permanently deleted. Yes, just like that.

The prospect of losing the MPSA page was devastating. There are 13 years of hard graft and 209,000 followers and some 20 million post views to kiss goodbye. That excludes another 30,000 on Instagram.

I immediately clicked on the ‘Appeal’ tab. The first thing Meta required, was for me to do a ‘selfie video’ to prove that I was human. I followed the instructions carefully. Exactly one minute later I received another email, stating that my appeal had been unsuccessful and that my account had been permanently deleted. Boom! Or as the TV show goes "Destroyed in Seconds"

That included our Instagram account as well as Threads. I could no longer view anything on Facebook, but oddly the MPSA page was still showing, but I could not add or moderate posts on the page. My daughter’s access had also been revoked.

This was BIG trouble on the Little Prairie stuff.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out the logic in the timeline. There were several possible triggers, one of which was that my daughter and I had both posted on the page the same day, but from different countries. That turned out to not be the trigger.

The entire Meta moderation algorithm structure is based on AI. One cannot communicate with a human. There are just these layers of algorithms, that make robotic decisions, without being able to apply human logic.

The first thing I checked was the address from FacebookMail.com and as expected, it starts with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

So I compiled a logical and calm appeal case stating all the factors that their algorithm probably missed (13 years/ clean slate / high quality posts) and copied each of those to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (addresses that I figured probably existed) and sat back and waited. I hoped one of them would not bounce. As things turned out, neither did.

Two days later I received a notice of withdrawal of the suspension with a half-hearted apology. What was interesting, yet alarming, was the wording on that notice and I repeat it here verbatim:

“We reviewed your account and found that it does follow our Community Standards on fraud and deception. We’re sorry you couldn’t use Facebook for a while. Sometimes we need to take precautions”

meta facebook rebranding name news dezeen 2364 col hero2
  
From that sentence we could deduce that someone had flagged our page for fraud and deception. That is a really low blow. We applied time-lines, made a few basic detective style deductions and we now have been able to pinpoint the culprit, who runs a start-up self drive tour business, who we had contacted a week earlier and requested them not to use material from our website.

The lesson here for everyone is that if you have structured your business around social media, you need to review your security settings and take steps to create back up admins, who will still be able to run your page, even if yours is maliciously taken down.

We live to fight another day.


LESOTHO 2025

Lesotho flag colours design countries sub Saharan African

The 2025 V4 tour had been slightly modified in that we added in an extra day to include a visit to the stunning Sehlabathebe National Park, which turned out to be a great success. We had one and a half days of light rain, otherwise the weather patterns just seemed to improve daily.

The best place to start is at the beginning.

Our group of 12 guest vehicles and 25 guests all arrived at Resthaven Guest House intact and on time. In the car park and parked side by side was Carol Wilson's diminutive 3 dr Jimny and Robert Mutlow's oversized M/Benz Sprinter 4x4 camper van. The rest of the convoy included Prados, Land Cruisers, Hilux, Land Rover Discovery and a Ford Raptor.

Formalities out of the way, we settled down to some country style lamb shanks - Matat style.

The next day we were up and ready to roll at 07.45 as we had a big day ahead  of us. Our destination was the New Oxbow Lodge up in the northern part of Lesotho. Along the way we would climb and descend thousands of metres and drive some amazing passes, which would include Sani, Black Mountain, Sekokong, Mokhoaneng, Tlaeeng, Pass of Jackals and the Mahlasela Pass.

Our route soon left the tar just a few kilometres east of Matatiele, which was probably a good thing as the road between Matat and Kokstad is under reconstruction and it's a mess of crazy speed bumps, some lunatic courier and taxi drivers and heavy construction vehicles.

There was a price to pay for our "shortcut" via the Swartberg farming area to Underberg in that the first 30 km was very rough, muddy, rutted and slow. The first radio call of "I think I'm stuck" resolved itself in the form of a self recovery. At last we crossed the Mzimvubu and Mzimkulu rivers, whereafter the road conditions improved a bit. The birding in this vast wetland area is excellent and many different birds were identified by various guests.

We didn't stop in Underberg or Himeville, rather opting for our next break to be along one of the beautiful and spacious view sites along the lower reaches of the Sani Pass with the burbling sounds of a swiftly flowing Mkomazama River creating some natural background music.

All went smoothly through customs and soon we were driving up the mighty Sani Pass, savouring the scenery and challenging driving, not to mention hundreds of photos being taken. Sani Pass is not a difficult pass to drive as long as you're in 4 Low and take the corners wide. Near the top we passed some walkers. Everyone was in high spirits and friendly.

We filmed the upper quarter of the pass with the latest cameras and tech. You can view the video via the link below which will give you a fairly good idea of what it's like ascending this trickier part of Sani. The video was filmed in 4K with full telemetry. DJI Osmo Action 5. The video is 20 mins in length. Best enjoyed in widescreen or cinematic mode with sound.

 

The Lesotho border police were on top form and processed our group in double quick time, thanks to our local guide, Philip Rawlins, smoothing the waters for us. We had scheduled lunch at Sani Top Chalets. The food was ordinary (but plentiful) but behind the scenes the arrangements were more complicated. Allow me to explain.

A few years ago the owner of the pub decided that too many tourists were making use of their toilets and facilities but not spending any money, so they came up with a reasonable solution. Anyone entering the premises had to pass through a boom where a guard would collect R50 from each person in exchange for a voucher of the same value. This could then be redeemed in the pub as part of a drinks or meals order.

This went well for about a year, when the voucher fee suddenly doubled to R100. (Inflation?)

They then took things up to another level by insisting that groups of larger than 8 people, had to pay for a full meal voucher (R240 pp). Their explanation is that the pub gets too busy when so many guests arrive at the same time, so they like to prepare ahead of time, serving a buffet style meal. We are working out a feasible way around the problem as lunch is always a very light affair on our tours, but a visit to the highest pub in Africa is also a bucket list item. Attempts at negotiating with the owners have fallen on deaf ears. They have a captive market and are milking it to max.

Passing the Letseng Diamond Mine is quite an experience. After all the natural mountain scenery, the road crests a hill and the view is suddenly dominated by a mountain made from a jumble of loose rock, all uniformly dark grey. Mining, the sale of water to SA and agriculture are the three main pillars of Lesotho's economy.

Mines2Letseng Mine viewed from 10 km up. / Google Earth

The Letseng Diamond mine is the highest diamond mine in the world at 3150m ASL and produces the highest quality diamonds. One of the diamonds weighing in at whopping 128 carats was sold for 10.6 million US $. Labourers working on the mine have built stone huts on a makeshift village called Tokoza, which we passed on the way past the mine. The drive is a real eye opener. Extreme wealth and abject poverty all in the space of 2 km.

After lunch we had a series of big passes to tackle. Kotisephola (Black Mountain) 3246m; Sekokong (2307m), Mapholaneng (3140m), Tlaeeng (3260m), Pass of Guns (3251m) and the impressive Mahlasela Pass (3258m). The size and scope of these passes is difficult to describe with one pass leading into the next one. From Himeville in SA to Oxbow Lodge it felt like one enormous mountain pass. 

Here are the first 2 videos we have produced on the Kotisephola (Black Mountain) Pass, which with a summit height of 3240m makes Sani Pass seem rather small by comparison. The statistics on these passes are next level. For example for this pass:

Max Altitude: 3240m

Altitude gained: 1066m

Length: 32 km

 

 

Those of us driving conventionally aspirated vehicles (the MPSA Land Cruiser and Carol Wilson's Jimny) were desperately searching for oxygen, whilst the diesel engined vehicles coped a lot better.

We rumbled past Afriski and finally reached the New Oxbow Lodge at 17.00. Attentive staff and porters were on hand to help with luggage and by 1800 our group were well entrenched in the pub with a cosy fire in the hearth, keeping the bar-lady very busy.

The "New" part is hard to define as the lodge is very old, but spotlessly clean and fully functional. During our drive we had witnessed countless waterfalls - far too many to count. Lesotho was shedding water at one heck of a rate. Anticipation was mounting that we might just see the Katse Dam overflowing, which is a very rare sight.

The Oxbow Lodge is located on the northern bank of the Malibamatso River, showcased by a cascade of waterfalls from a side tributary and swiftly flowing waters rushing by. The weather was good, so we got the drone up just before sunset. 

 

Next episode: Oxbow Lodge to Leribe including Moteng Pass and the Muela Hydro Power Station


 Trygve

Written by Trygve Roberts

"Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity. When I give, I give myself"