Best of the Eastern Cape 2024

Every year, Noelene and I organise a trip through the Eastern Cape, with the highlight being traversing Baviaanskloof. Each trip has been slightly different to the previous one, with this trip, in my opinion, being the best one!

The idea was to meet up at the village at the mouth of the Bushman’s River, Boesmansriviermond, near Kenton-on-Sea. Mike and Clara arrived a few days early and we enjoyed a ride up the Bushman’s River in our little boat and walks on the beach.

The rest of the group—Roy and Naome, Doug and Santie, and Dave and Valery—arrived on the Friday, the day before the official departure. Doug and Dave booked a campsite at Cannon Rocks, 20 or so kilometres from Bushman’s.

We arranged a braai for that evening, and I admit that I was shocked to my little toes when I saw that Doug and Dave had brought a caravan and camping trailer along. This is definitely not a caravan or trailer-friendly route and I voiced my hesitation.

The long and the short was that Doug decided to continue despite my fears, and Dave decided to withdraw from the trip. This was not entirely due to my warnings but also to Valery not feeling up to scratch. We also heard that Roger would not be able to make it because of personal problems at home.

Saturday: Bushman’s to Ocean View

On Saturday morning, the remaining four vehicles met at Bushman’s River with our first destination set for Bathurst for breakfast. We drove via the "poor man’s game drive" (the old main road from Port Elizabeth to Port Alfred, now incorporated into the Sibuya Game Reserve) and the winding road through the spectacular Cowie River Valley.

After brunch (the trip took longer than expected due to the bad roads), we wandered along to the Fish River Lighthouse, a place worth a visit. This historic building was erected in the late 19th century with the light first shining on 1 July 1898. The warning light has a strength of 5,000,000 candelas and is 85 metres above the high water mark with a shine range of 32 sea miles. Wish I had that on the front of my Hilux!

The most unique feature about the light is that it has no bearings for the 2 ton light to spin on, but rather it floats in a bed of mercury, ingenious!

From there we drove back past the Bushman’s River, towards Boknes (small village on the sea shore), and onto the scenic gravel road going to Alexandria that services all the dairy farms in the area. We turned off the gravel onto a farm road and came out at a camping site, Ocean View, where we arranged to spend 2 nights in amongst the dense Eastern Cape bush on the edge of the sand dunes. This made for a snug campsite sheltered from the wind.

Interest. The location of this campsite is on the eastern edge of the area with the largest shifting dunes in the southern hemisphere. Truly spectacular!

Sunday: Beach Day

The next day was spent exploring the beach—miles and miles of pristine beach where there is not another soul to be seen!

Monday: To Brakkeduine

Monday morning, bright and early, we set off towards Port Elizabeth where we planned to leave Max, our faithful hound, for the duration of the trip, then on to Humansdorp and finally to a resort called Brakkeduine.

Doug and Santie, pulling their caravan, suffered a puncture and stopped in the little town of Alexandria to have the tyre repaired and we decided that the remainder would go on in convoy through the thriving metropolis of Port Elizabeth and meet them there.

Once clear of Port Elizabeth, the three remaining vehicles followed the R102, down the old Van Staden’s pass, across the single lane bridge spanning the Gamtoos river and past Jefferey’s Bay. At Humansdorp we hit the gravel roads eventually reaching Brakkeduine in the late afternoon.

Doug and Santie were already there with Doug trying his hand at fishing in the dam. The campsites are to die for! Set along manicured grassy terraced ledges overlooking the dam, each site separated by neatly trimmed hedges.

Tuesday: Dune Adventure

The following morning we met Johan, our guide for the day. After airing down (0.6 bar!), we set off in convoy to attack the dunes. Before we reached the first dune, Doug pulled a tyre off the rim. We all got stuck in to repair the wheel and were on the road again fifteen minutes later. The airjack proved its usefulness!

We played in the sand for the next few hours, then Roy managed to pull one of his tyres off the rim—on a steep incline and in the boiling heat of the midday sun. This time the airjack did not do so well! We were eventually forced to use Mike’s trusty hi-lift jack. Eventually, we changed wheels and headed for camp, then back to Humansdorp to get the wheel repaired.

In the mean time, Doug had also picked up a problem with his Prado, and he and Santie decided to head to the Toyota garage in Joubertina further along the R62 with the plan that we would all meet up again in Kareedouw.

From there, we headed off north into the mountains. The road was not bad, just rocky and plenty of loose stones: I was concerned about the tyres on Doug’s Prado and caravan but I need not have worried and we arrived at our camp as the sun was setting.

Baviaans Lodge is situated in the Kouga Mountains at the start of the Rus en Vrede trail across the mountains to the Baviaanskloof. The campsite is cosy, set among the trees on the bank of a small stream. There is a hot water shower and toilets, all well maintained and clean.

We enjoyed an evening around the campfire and I must be honest and say that I went to bed concerned about Doug pulling his caravan over the mountains to Baviaanskloof.

Wednesday: Rus en Vrede Trail

The following morning, I cannot emphasise how important it is to be ready and waiting at the designated time. The day was going to be slow going and I was factoring in time for recovery and vehicle maintenance on the mountain. As it happened, there were no delays of problems whatsoever, just slow going over the rough track. In fact, the only casualty was the awning from Mike’s Cruiser which was shaken free and rescued by Roy.

The Rus en Vrede trail was originally cut across the mountains by the woodcutters back in eighteen something. Now it crosses over three farms, and is a combination of gravel, loose rocks, mountain rocks and eroded farm tracks. There are also 13 gates that had to be opened and closed, thank you Noelene and Naome!

The views cover seven different mountain ranges giving one a panoramic view of the area. We were lucky with the weather, clear skies, no wind, and relatively cool conditions. The proteas were out in full bloom and the famous centuries-old cycads stand guard over the peaks and valleys

The trail ends at the Rus en Vrede farm where you pay the farmer per vehicle and per person(details below). Now, onto the main road through the Kloof and a little further we signed in at the entrance to the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve.

The road twists and turns through the Park with many water crossings, deep ravines and high rugged mountains crossing Holgat’s Pass, Kombrink’s Pass, and the Grootrivier Pass. The roads have not been maintained and the going was slow but the scenery was spectacular. The concrete strip road over the mountain is especially rough with the concrete slabs broken and displaced. This was no problem for our vehicles, in fact this was our preferred route given that we were all driving seriously capable off-road vehicles.

Our destination was Kudu Kaya, a working citrus farm where we have stayed before, our chosen campsite up on a hill overlooking the farm. Doug had to do a few running repairs on the caravan and Santie worked a good hour cleaning the debris caused to the food supplies being shaken loose by the rough roads: custard and gunk everywhere!

Again, a great evening around the campfire!

Thursday: Into the Kloof

Thursday morning saw us on the road to Steytlerville via Antonie’s Pass, a rugged rock and gravel road with many washaways which takes you down to Antoniesberg and the crossing of the Groot River. Again very slow and careful going.

We stopped at the Royal Hotel in Steytlerville for lunch before pushing on to Kaboega, a private farm in the mountains north of Addo Elephant Park, and sharing a boundary with the Park on the southern border. Here we set up camp at the big dam where we have stayed before. We were met and made welcome by the farm manager, Ian Ritchie and his wife Sandy.

Friday: To Kaboega

Friday morning Ian and Sandy arrived in camp in time for coffee and while we sipped, Sandy gave us an insight into the Bushman’s paintings in the area and a general history of rock paintings in Southern Africa: very interesting stuff! We had arranged for Ian to lead us around the farm, about 6 000 hectares, where he has an intimate knowledge of the plants, the animals, and the terrain. There are seven biodiversity’s present here and these diversities have been allowed to flourish with no human intervention for the past 30 to 40 years. We stopped every few kilometres for Ian to show us something, or to tell us a story, or to point out something interesting.

Apart from a locked gate to the neighbours where we had to cut the chain, there were no hitches as we climbed the mountain, crossing stream after stream, over rocks and through the bushes to the summit of the mountain. Here, we had originally intended to walk to some bushman’s paintings in the rocks, but the sun was westering and the decision was made to move on and rather have Ian take us to a swimming hole deep in the mountains before heading for home.

All in all it was a great and informative day and left us all wanting for more. Thank you Ian!

Saturday & Sunday: Mountain Zebra Park

Saturday, on the road again. I planned on taking the secondary gravel roads as far as possible en route to the Mountain Zebra Park via Somerset East and Cradock. We had a delicious breakfast in Somerset East, then followed the road through a giant conservancy before traversing the Swarthoek and Maraiskloof Passes eventually reaching Cradock where we all filled up with fuel.

West out of Cradock, it was a short hop to the Mountain Zebra Park where we booked in, found a campsite, and set up for the night. Originally we planned to spend one night here, allowing anyone that needed to return to Johannesburg for work on Monday morning to travel on the Sunday. Fortunately all decided to stay an extra night, allowing for extensive game drives on the Sunday.

The Reserve has a wide diversity of plains animals that were seen aplenty on the plateau areas, especially the rare and once nearly extinct mountain zebra, with other animals to be seen in the deep valley and gorges in the area. There are three 4X4 routes, none too challenging, but fun to drive.

We arranged a night drive for the Sunday evening. The weather was turning, cold winds and overcast, so we prepared ourselves with Old Brown Sherry and blankets. This was the middle (almost!) of summer, for goodness sake! The drive was great, buffalo, eland, kudu, you name it. Of great interest were the springhares bouncing along on their hind legs, and 6 porcupines. Sadly we saw no cats or aardwolves.

The drive that was to finish at 21h00 eventually got back to camp at 23h00: thank you to very knowledgeable and generous driver! By now we were frozen solid, back to our campsite for a whiskey and bed. In the morning the temperature gauge on my bakkie read 6 degrees!

Monday: The End

Monday morning we packed up and went our separate ways. As I always say, sad to leave but happy to be on our way home.

Thank you all that enjoyed the trip with us for all your help, support, friendship and generosity. I am sad that Dave and Verinica, and Roger missed out on a great adventure. Next time!

Trip Information

All the campsites have the basics of hot water, showers, ablutions etc.

• Cannon Rocks Caravan Park
  • Phone: 064 654 0043
  • 75 wind protected sites
  • Power to each site
  • Basic supply store
  • Rates: R370 (low season) to R620 (high season) for 2 people caravan or tent
  • Also offer pensioner rates and long-stay rates on request
• Oceanview Camping
  • Contact: David & Lynne Cordner
  • WhatsApp only: 082 573 3660
  • Power to some campsites
  • Rates on enquiry
• Brakkeduine camping and adventure park
  • Contact: Bennie & Tania van Niekerk
  • Phone: 083 657 0601
  • Email: bellakarmabt@gmail.com
  • Rates: R100 per person per night, Children R75 PPPN
  • Power to each campsite
  • Guided trips: R300 per vehicle (min 5 vehicles)
• Baviaans Lodge
  • Phone: 083 491 1009
  • Email: info@baviaanslodge.co.za
  • Rates: Camping R100 per person per night
• Rus en Vrede 4X4 Trail
  • Contact: Chris Lamprecht
  • Phone: 073 232 8932
  • Email: clamp@igen.co.za
  • Website: www.baviaanskloof.co.za
  • Fees: R150 per vehicle and R10 per person
• Kudu Kaya
  • Contact: Heloise & Unola
  • Phone: 087 700 8195
  • Email: info@kudukaya.co.za
  • Rates: Campsite per night R250 (2 people) plus additional adults R70 PPPN
• Kaboega
  • Contacts and rates on enquiry: kaboega@jabama.co.za
• Mountain Zebra National Park
  • Email: reservations@sanparks.org
  • Phone: 012 428 9111