Social Media on the boil
Our posts during our Wild Coast tours obviously caught the imagination of the public. When we left on May 4th we had 96,000 Facebook followers. When we got back three weeks later we had just over 100,000. One specific post of a Toyota Fortuner bouncing and swinging its way up a muddy hill enjoyed an astonishing reach of 1,161,590 in 10 days. It is by far the largest number of views of a single post on our page in our 11 year FB history. (Our previous record was 371,000). It goes to show that the public are tired of reading the same old regurgated memes and copy/paste items. They want authentic, original material with a well told story. All that resulted in a whopping 263% increase in our reach. MPSA moves up to the next level.
Wild Coast V4 Tour
A spate of cancellations just two weeks prior to the V4 & V5 tours meant some hasty communications with all the venues trying to get last minute changes sorted and fresh invoices generated. The reasons behind the cancellations ranged from medical to personal reasons. We gave each client 100% credit to book on a new tour.
Mountain Lake is located 2020m ASL on the southern slopes of the mountain behind Matatiele
That left us with 9 vehicles for our V4 tour which started in Matatiele where Resthaven Guest House owners, Philip and Elrita Rawlins welcomed our group with their customary warmth and friendliness. Elrita's cooking is always a hit with everyone and Resthaven invariably scores top points in the cooking department. Amongst the fare is usually lamb shanks and other deliciously prepared comfort food. The fact that most of us returned home a few kilos heavier bears testimony to this!
The plus side of a smaller convoy is that everything happens faster and is more manageable. The following day Philip hopped into the Cruiser (MPSA 1 - Thirsty Kirsty) with me as we took the group up to Mountain Lake. The recent heavy rains over Easter caused plenty of damage to the road, but detours have been created around the worst parts, so it wasn't too bad.
We had two interesting vehicles that I was keeping an eye on. One was a Subaru Forester and the other was a VW T6 Transporter/Camper. Both of those are AWD vehicles. The Subaru has low range and the VW has two extra low gears. Both cruised up the mountain on Day 1 without any issues.
Later we headed over to Ongeluksnek for our visit to the Mariazell Mission in very good weather and even on those well used roads, there some bad sections that had not yet been repaired after the KZN floods. The mission lies in the foothills of the Drakensberg and receives plenty of rain. Even though the roads had dried out significantly there was still water and mud lying hidden in the reeds alongside the road.
First recovery of the tour: Subaru Forester towed out by a Toyota Prado.
Michael Salzwedel is a genuine Subaru fan. He owns two of them and as an ex editor of SA4x4 magazine knows his stuff when it comes to driving these vehicles properly. A momentary lapse of concentration on the Mariazell roads, saw the Subie coming to a halt with no traction in the cloying black mud. An obviously embarrassed Michael broadcast his predicament over the radio and the Prado ahead of him soon towed him out of trouble. So the first recovery had taken place. Michael made absolutely sure it never happened again on the tour and took his "Vassit Chappies" award in good humour that evening.
Rain, rain and more rain.
That night in Matatiele it started raining hard. It went on all night and was still raining the next morning, so we knew we were going to be in for a muddy day on our journey down to Mbotyi. At Cedarville we left the (potholed) tarred R56 and took to the gravel which distinctly resembled a river. At some points there was more water than gravel and the rest was mud. We had barely travelled 5 km, when the next radio call came through from Frik van der Merwe (a retired roads engineer). There was a peculiar loud mechanical sound coming from under his Prado. He tried changing from low range to high range and engaging and disengaging difflocks, but the noise remained.
Another guest in a 200VX Land Cruiser (Andries Brink) offered to drive with Frik to nearby Kokstad to visit the Toyota agent. So the two of them left the group and our convoy tally dropped to 8. Our 2 way radios have excellent range so we could still talk to the two Kokstad vehicles despite being many kilometres away. Then came the good news. The noise had stopped as suddenly as it had started. Between the two of them they declared the Prado fit for duty and agreed to meet us on the N2 turnoff to Tabankulu. Their decision proved to be sound as the Prado never gave another moment's trouble for the duration of the tour. We suspect a stone had somehow lodged into the drive train along a very wet and muddy section.
Summit view from Nungi Pass / Photo: MPSA
The rest of us drove the steep Nungi Pass, pausing at the summit for photos in very cold conditions, then moved further south via Colonanek to cross the Mzimvubu River via a low level single lane bridge. The river was flowing strongly - still moving water down to the coast in great volumes since Easter. It's interesting to note that the Umzimvubu (correctly spelled as Mzimvubu) is the only major river in South Africa without a dam.
We met up with our Kokstad group on schedule (they only waited 10 minutes) and proceeded along the tar road to Tabankulu with due warnings about the numerous deep potholes. One quickly becomes accustomed to seeing traffic weaving all over the road avoiding potholes and it's not really dangerous as everyone is driving fairly slowly.
Tabankulu is a frenetically busy town, serving a large rural community. There are the usual chain stores, as well as several large building supply hardware stores that are doing a roaring trade as many people are busy building new homes, improving old ones or extending them as finance permits. To us city slickers everything appears to be chaotic with hordes of pedestrians, roadside stalls, braais, dogs, pigs, goats, cattle, taxis, mud and noise. I've learned to sit back relax and enjoy the show. Roll down your window, blow your hooter, wave and shout "Molweni!" and marvel at the response you get. These are the experiences that we want to share with our guests. Getting to the heart and soul of the matter.
Next week: Mzintlava Pass, Lusikisiki and Mbotyi
Podcast
We visit two interesting towns – Darling and Greyton then head north to Mpumalanga to unpack the history of Casper’s Nek Pass.
PASS OF THE WEEK
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.
* * N U N G I P A S S * *
NEW PASSES ADDED
Ghanja Pass - This short mixed surface pass connects the village of Lambasi / Lupathana with the coast where the popular walk commences to Waterfall Bluff and Cathedral Rock on the Wild Coast. It is a dead-end road. Strictly 4x4 with low range only.
Trygve Roberts
Editor
Thought for the day: "Be kind and don't sweat the small stuff"
