If you love off-road driving, riding, cycling, whatever, and you’ve never been through Baviaanskloof, do yourself a favour and get out there as soon as possible.
After a good night’s sleep in Grahamstown for Frans and I, and a good morning heritage session for Jan and Faan in Jeffrey’s Bay, we all met up again in Patensie around 11am on Friday morning. It was Frans and I who arrived in the small town first, and when I took Jan’s call, instructing the two of us to stop whatever we were doing and get down to the shops to pick up food for the day, I had the distinct impression that Mr. Braai wasn’t in the best of moods after his surf that morning.
In the end the two cars arrived at the shopping centre in Patensie at about the same time and it didn’t take long to figure out that Jan had had a tough time of it on his new board, and hadn’t exactly impressed the locals with his efforts at SA’s famous point-break. Apparently there was swearing involved. Not all of it from Jan.
His mood was not improved when he saw the ding Frans had put in the side of the bakkie as he pulled into the narrow guest house parking bay the night before. It was a pretty quiet drive out of Patensie that morning.
It did not, however, stay quiet for long.
Jan’s an easy going guy anyway and not one to dwell on little things like falling off surf boards, but even the most hard-core grudge-hugger would have struggled to remain moody on the drive through Baviaanskloof that afternoon. There is nothing like an awesome dirt road through fantastic scenery to make everything right with the world.
Our excellent Mapstudio “˜Book of the Road’ gives the distance from Patensie through to the N9 as 190 kilometres, give or take, but with all the reversing and re-driving (all the better to hit the massive puddles and drifts at maximum, camera-splashing speed) our odometers made it more like 200 when we finally reached tar again the next day. Trust me – if you really want to get the most out of this amazing 4×4 trail, get there after some heavy rain. And make sure you catch the 10th episode of the Braai Tour show on KykNet for some great shots of the drive through the kloof. The camera guys were in driving-shot heaven.
Baviaanskloof is one of eight pristine pockets of botanical beauty that together make up the collective World Heritage Site of the Cape Floral Region. The Cape Peninsular, the site of our first braai of the tour, is another of the eight that has World Heritage Site status within this broad grouping. The other six are: Groot Winterhoek, the Cederberg, Boland Mountains, De Hoop, Boosmansbos and the Swartberg. A R20 per person permit is required to drive the Baviaanskloof road as it passes through the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area between Cambria and Coleskeplaas. These can be picked up at either gate on your way through.
We slept Friday night at Makkedaat Caves, without doubt the most uniquely interesting night of the tour so far. For a start it was the first night in 34 days where it was just the six of us braaing on our own – some really excellent rump steak, a good selection of greens (we’re learning), loads of wood for a roaring fire and plenty of ice for the drinks.
Makkedaat is a really special place. Run by the lovely Tannie Henriette and her equally friendly husband, the rustic, but well thought-out accommodation consists of a converted farm house cottage (the ‘potato room’), a few camping sites and five, furnished, comfortably equipped, converted caves, discreetly spaced out down the narrow gorge that runs back from their farm, just off the Willowmore end of Baviaanskloof road.
It was definitely one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in 34 days. By half ten we were all passed out and after a welcome eight hours sleep (and a less welcome 6am alarm call) it was off to Graaf-Reniet where we arrived just in time to clean up and make our appointment for tea with the major at 11am.
