Take a gander...
* Tours & Trips
* Cederberg (Rooibos & Buchu)
* Latest additions
* Gamkaskloof
* Social Media
* Featured Pass
Listen to an AI-generated discusion of this week's newsletter:
TRIPS & TOURS
November 2025 ~ Ben 10 Official.
This tour has been fully booked for some time. We depart for the Eastern Cape Highlands this Sunday for our eleventh Ben 10 tour. Including the original recce and filming trips we have done it at least 13 times. It's been raining a lot up in the mountains recently, with a report coming in from Valetta farm at the foot of Bastervoetpad that they had 40mm in a single day. The mountains are lush with fresh grass, the rivers and waterfalls are pumping and needless to say, there will be plenty of mud. There will be some slippin' & slidin'!
February 2026 ~ Amathole/Katberg Tour.
We have 6 places left on this tour. Think forest trails, hidden mountain passes, wildlife sightings, and charming small towns, all in the comfort of your own 4×4 — with expert guidance every step of the way. Whether you’re new to off-roading or already hooked on the adventure lifestyle, this tour has something for everyone. Expect a blend of:
- Game viewing in two pristine nature reserves (Fort Fordyce & Mpofu)
- Technical and scenic gravel passes, including the legendary Old Katberg Pass
- Enchanting forest drives through areas few have even heard of
- 2 nights in magical Hogsback
- 3 nights at the stunning Katberg Resort & Golf Estate
March 2026 ~ Kouga-Baviaans Tour. Fully booked.
April 2026 ~ Mountain Kingdom Tour. Fully booked.
May 2026 ~ Wild Coast Tour. Fully booked.
June 2026 ~ Great Karoo Tour.
We have 7 places left on this repeat of our first hugely successful Karoo tour. A relaxed, mid-winter self-drive 4×4 adventure through the wide-open spaces of the Great Karoo. We have extended the tour by one day to be able to enjoy the Karoo as it should be. Expect game viewing, big-sky nights, easy and technical gravel, and classic passes, all with expert guidance and a small, friendly convoy.
- 7 touring days and 8 nights
- Excellent wildlife sightings
- Crystal clear night skies and cool, blue-sky days
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ROUTE
- National parks: Addo Elephant, Mountain Zebra, Camdeboo, Karoo
- Overnight stops: Addo, Zuurberg Mountain Inn, Cradock, Nieu Bethesda, Aberdeen, Karoo National Park
- Anchor attraction: Bedrogfontein Pass, National Parks, Pienaars Pass.
- Additional gravel passes: Paardepoort, Doringnek Pass, Zuurberg Pass, Bruintjieshoogte, Buffelshoek Pass, Swaershoek Pass, Wapadsberg Pass, Witnek Pass, Kompasberg circumnavigation, Michielshoogte, Oudeberg Pass, Camdeboo Pass, Klipspringer Pass, Pienaars Pass
Tours for the second half of 2026 will be released early in the new year.
CEDERBERG (ROOIBOS & BUCHU)
The penultimate day of this wonderful tour dawned beautifully as only the Cederberg can deliver, with achingly blue skies, pleasant mid-range temperatures and no wind at all. We had an easy day on our schedule with a visit to the Skimmelberg farm which lies to the west of the N7 in a pristine valley, where they specialize in Rooibos and Buchu production as well as other crops. The farm is well worth a visit. The reception and guides are excellent, earthy - offering a real experience of local culture.
But first we had to get there. Our route took us back up the Kromrivier Pass, past Cederberg Wines and north up the southern plateau to descend the Uitkyk Pass, the latter which has recently had a full revamp of fresh tar after flood damage a year earlier. The pass is looking magnificent and it's now a much easier drive in terms of concentration levels, where the scope of the scenery is first class. As one descends, the entire Algeria Valley lies stretched out ahead, flanked by the two massive ridges of Cederberg mountains.
Uitkyk Pass looking ship-shape with its new topcoat / Photo: Trygve Roberts MPSA
Once past Algeria, we kept left and traversed the Nieuwoudts Pass, which delivered us safe & sound to the low level bridge over the Olifants River, which surprisingly was not flooded. This bridge is fairly long and is frequently underwater during the winter months, making for an exciting crossing.
From there we joined the traffic on the N7 for a short leg, before turning off at Marcuskraal to take us westwards to Skimmelberg via two lovely passes Haarwegskloof and Witelskloof. The scenery is mountainous and well watered with farms appearing to be prosperous. Soon we arrived at Skimmelberg, where we parked the convoy and headed to reception to meet our guide, Maria Strauss.
She stands about 1.4m tall, has a huge smile and an infectious personality. After a short introduction, we were all back in our vehicles, headed along a few farm roads to the Buchu fields, where Maria had us walking amongst the Buchu. Our Buchu education was punctuated with regular snippets of humour as we sniffed, tasted and learned about this amazing plant and its medicinal properties. It's almost an insignificant little shrub, looking very much like it's part of the fynbos. If you don't know what to look for, you'll never find it.
Back in our vehicles and a short drive got us to the Rooibos plant and drying area. If you ever wonder why Rooibos is expensive, do this tour and you will soon appreciate the various complex processes involved in the production of the final product that ends in your tea cup. Even the Rooibos plant looks insignicant and bland in its natural state.
Our guide at Skimmelberg, Maria Strauss, with a punchy sense of humour / Photo: Trygve Roberts MPSA
With thirsts mounting, it was back to the farm and the shade of the tasting room, where a wide range of Rooibos and Buchu infusions could be sampled. We used the tasting room as a suitable place to enjoy our lunch.
It was time to head back to base. We had made good time, arriving back at the Kromrivier turn-off just before 15.00, so we decided to go to the Stadsaal Caves, which we had missed out on on the first stormy day. That turned out to be great idea as guests explored the mesmerising array of weathered rocks and caves as well as a visit to the San rock art.
Our final night in the Cederberg was a jolly affair, with good food, wine and a big fire setting the scene for the Chappies Awards.
We left the following morning (a Friday) after breakfast, headed past Truitjieskraal, Matjiesrivier, Grootrivierhoogte and Blinkberg passes, before turning east towards the Tankwa Karoo via the Katbakkies and Peerboomskloof (Skittery) passes to arrive at the Tankwa Farm Stall at 11.00 for a quick brunch, radio collections and fond farewells.
This was a really great tour offering an interesting blend of easy and technical driving, cultural experiences, wine tasting and a visit to the Eselbank waterfall. It will defintely be repeated in September 2026. If you want to pre-book a spot, pop us an email at:
LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE MPSA DATABASE
Our workstation has been humming with lots of fresh material recently added. here's a short list if you want to explore:
Laitsoka Pass, Lesotho. A big production using the latest tech with telemetry overlays. (14 mins)
Klein Visrivier Pass. A new addition to our database. Located on the R335 between Somerset East and Addo (6 mins)
Langkop Pass, Baviaanskloof. A new video with telemetry which includes the Smitskraal water crossing. (14 mins)
Robertson Falls, Hogsback. New drone video shot in 4K (1 min)
Karatara Pass (7 Passes Road, Garden Route). A new video in 4K (4 mins)
Sandile Dam, from the air (Hogsback) - A short drone video in 4K ( 1 min)
Esiphola Pass, Lesotho - A new pass on a brand new road between Ramatselitso's gate and the Sehlabathebe National Park (6 mins)
Doringkraal Pass, Overberg. A new video in 4K with telemetry. (4 mins)
Wild Coast from the air - A collection of 4K drone footage which includes Ntabankulu, Mzintlava, Cutweni Mouth (a secret coastal location), Msikaba Bridge, Ntentule Falls. (4 mins)
Gamkaskloof - the road to Die Hel
Our footage on that epic 37 km gravel road to Die Hel has become a little dated. With new cameras, drones and telemetry, we decided to make a two day trip to Die Hel to refilm the entire route. That involved a fair bit of planning and a very early start to ensure we arrived at the start of the road at 10.00 in between a system of fronts to get the lighting just right. We needed to be at Die Hel by no later than 12.30 to avoid sharp shadows.
We are now filming with a DJI Osmo 5 Pro and the video quality is really excellent. Compared to our GoPro 12 (its predecessor), the Osmo is far ahead in every respect, but especially in the battery life department. One of the problems with the GoPro was short battery life (12 to 15 mins) coupled with overheating and auto switch-off, which is a pain in the butt when trying to film a long mountain pass.
Gamkaskloof Road never disappoints. You have roughly 2.5 hours to absorb the natural beauty / Photo: MPSA Archives
Enter the arena with the Osmo 5 and we filmed continuously for an hour and 15 mins, before changing batteries. The first battery was only 65% used, when we switched, so it could probably have run for another 20 to 30 minutes. All of the footage is excellent and we can't wait to get stuck into the video production on this one.
Of interest, is that the sign board which states it will take 2.5 hours to drive the 37 km, turned out to be wrong in our case. Because we weren't stopping, our average speed was very good (25 kph). It doesn't sound fast, but not stopping at all (other than the battery swop), translated into shaving an hour off the time and it goes to show what a steady average speed can do for your ETA.
The weather was perfection (actually very warm) with clear visibility. Once we reached the bottom of Elands Pass, we drove back up to the summit to capture the pass from an aerial perspective. That turned out to be a very tricky operation, having to stop several times to reposition the drone.
We booked in for the night at a small stone cottage at Fonteinplaas, appropriately named Kliphuis, where a small plunge pool helped to cool us down. The cottage is discreetly tucked away amongst the trees, just west of the camping sites. It can sleep 7 (at a push) in 2 double rooms (en suite) with a double and single bed in each room, plus there's another single bed in the living room.
The cottage has an indoor fireplace (traditional) as well as an outdoor stoep and braai. The main room doubles as a kitchen and dining room with a table and 6 chairs, gas stove, washup, gas fridge and is fully kitted for a self catering stay. Power comes from a solar system so no heavy consumption appliances can be used (like hair driers). As an added bonus there is zero cell signal until you're almost back at the Swartberg Pass. We opted for a delivery meal from the farm kitchen which was hearty boerekos with enough starch to build big men.
There was no moon that night which made the stars look quite spectacular. We slept in complete silence (other than my snoring, which probably kept anything natural at bay).
The birdlife in the kloof is amazing. We sat on the stoep and watched and listened to many new bird calls I have not heard before (notwithstanding my knowledge handicap in birding parlance). The kudu herd has returned to the valley, which was devastated by the 2019 fire, but there were other antelope as well, like grysbok and of course, no trip to Die Hel is complete without coming across the klipspringers, who seem to tease one as they stand (or lie) motionless on the road, only moving at the last moment.
We enjoyed a good breakfast at the restaurant and headed back up the Elands Pass for the 4th time. Little did we know, that number would rise to 6, as at the summit, my wife decided to check for signal, only to find her phone had gone AWOL. After a thorough search of the Cruiser, still no phone, so back down the pass we went, collected the phone and back up again. One hour gone from our schedule - just like that, but what an enjoyable dilemma to have to endure!
We plan on starting production of the new video series before Christmas.
Social Media
Our social media efforts are paying handsome rewards in terms of our national and international footprint. Latest standings are as follows:
Facebook: 229,000 followers. Weekly growth is about 1000 new followers. This is our flagship social media page, which suits our style of short story telling with visuals. 3.4 million post views in the last 28 days. Thats just over 40 million in a year. Powerful stuff. We've been able to run a successful anti-spam campaign recently which has resulted in an 80% reduction in spam.
Instagram: 33,000 followers. Despite this platform being mainly for photos and short videos (not much text), we get a lot of tour bookings from this source. All our Instagram posts get reposted automatically by Meta (they own both platforms)
TikTok: 3000 followers. We are new to this platform and don't fully understand the algorithms yet. Some posts do very well and others flop completely. We will master it in time. It's difficult to gauge the commercial value at this stage. We've only been on the platform for 6 weeks, so quite impressed that we've gained 3000+ followers in such a short time. As they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Featured Pass
As we close the Cederberg chapter in this newsletter, our featured pass is the Grootrivierhoogte - one of the nicest gravel passes you can travel in the Western Cape. You might not even know that you've driven it or what the name is, but the video will set the record straight. Filmed recently in 4K with full telemetry, you can now watch the numbers change as the drive progresses. We have helped a number of front wheel drive vehicles on this pass over the years. It is very steep and when it's wet, traction goes out the back door.
One of the overlays is a graphic called a HUD display (Heads Up Display). It's used mainly in aviation and provides an instant reference to the horizon, pitch and roll. It is also quite a sensitive gauge which gives a good indication as to how bumpy the road is. We have switched from separate roll and pitch overlays to this format which is more user friendly.
Trygve Roberts | Founder MPSA
"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin." ~ Tony Robbins
