There are 10 of us. Every year, since 2004, we get together for an annual guys getaway, THE AIMLESS MYSTERY CLASSIC as we like to call it. An off-road pleasure spree, that has to date covered most of southern Namibia and the Northern Cape.
Choosing the locations for these trips is my responsibility, a secret kept from all other participants and only shared on a need to know basis.

It follows therefore that I am constantly on the prowl for new ideas, somewhere new and different to go.
When I read the DRIVE OUT article “Bums in the Seats” by Philip Sackville Scott, I knew I had found just the thing. The Kliphuiskloof trail sounded brilliant, isolated, challenging and I knew none of us had been anywhere near that area before.

The challenge was set.

On April 23rd, ten men, set off in 5 vehicles.
We were ready, rations packed, toys prepped, GPS locked and T4A loaded.
Nine nights and ten days…and no one knew where we were going, but me.

Our route would take us through the Kagga Kamma, Die Mond, Sanddrif and Jamaka via Wuppertal. Dirt roads, from Op die Berg till the N7, just north of Citrusdal.

Our first night saw us staying at the wilderness camp site in Kagga Kamma. The ablutions there were great and the service friendly, but for some unknown reason we couldn’t figure at the time, we froze.
Over coffee the next morning we realized the problem, we were 1000m above sea level.
The following night, after a day of leisurely sight-seeing and lots of fresh air, we were ready for the cold and slept like babies.

The following morning we set off for Die Mond, bearing north through the park.
It was slow going. The tracks clear on the GPS, were almost invisible in the earth before us. Then the tracks on the GPS stopped altogether, and we turned left at a fork, where we should have gone right. The very informative Slingsby’s map confirmed our error, and sealed our fate. From then on till the Old Post Road, Slingsby led the way.

Die Mond, situated on the Doring river, is a lovely, indulgent spot. The campsite is well maintained, and clean, but busy. Despite that, we still had hot water on demand (from an overworked donkey) and firewood delivered as per our request.

While there we visited the “look out point” where the Maitjies and Doring rivers meet, spending some time checking out the bushman paintings on the opposing cliffs and leisurely lazing in the rocks at Aspoort.

The next day, we were off again.
Next stop: the Doring river camp. The drive there, via Elandsvlei, was uneventful. The road well maintained and the views spectacular. The locals gave us directions so we had no problem finding our way.
Still, we turned off too soon, an error that allowed us a rarely glimpsed perspective of the Doring river.
We retraced our steps back to the main road, continued some 5km north, and there came across a post card sized sign, marked “4X4”.
The exact waypoint for this turning is S32 11,470 E19 32,211.
This route  dropped us quite literally straight down from the canyon roof to the river bed. Low range all the way.

On the river bed, we found a small sandy beach and set up camp for the next two nights.
While doing so, we were surprised to hear fish jumping in the neighbouring stream, a sound which instinctively prompted the manne into a Stywe Lyne mode.
We caught some small mouth bass and several Geel vis.
But, responsibly put them all back as “tag and release” was the order of the day.



After two great evenings, looking at the stars and telling stories, we set off on the Kliphuiskloof trail. Crossing the river was easy, as there was no water flowing over the makeshift bridge.
Then we saw the trail zig-zagging to the top.
What was that about bums in the seats?
I started calculating worse case scenarios in my head:
the Disco’s should be ok, but what about the Mazda and Isuzu?
Do they have enough clearance?
Whay happens if something goes wrong on the way up?

The V8 Disco went first – and arrived at the top without to much bother.

It was my turn next.
With the radio blaring out instructions of what to do and what not to do, my Td5 hit the trail.
Using centre diff lock and traction control, the Td5 never missed a beat.
I was up – no problem.

The Disco 2 was next.
After a few heart stopping moments, where a stationary landie sat spinning it wheels aimlessly within arm’s reach of the edge, it too was up.

Next was the Isuzu, followed by the Mazda.
With wheels slipping and dust bellowing behind, they slowly crept their way to the top.

(The Isuzu’s nickname was quickly changed from “Worshond” to “Jaghond”.)



And that was it. We were all safely up and on our way…
Eventually we met up with the Old Postal Road (GPS restored) and turning west, continued between vast fields of Proteas and Rooibos Tea bushes, through the Bidouw Valley, Wuppertal south towards Sanddrif.

That night, all we could talk about was the trail up the mountain.
We soon realized how lucky we had been. Had one vehicle not made it up that pass, we would all have had to turn around and go another way.
In the Drive Out article, the author had driven a Cruiser and he came down the trail, not up. Although we had our “bums in the seats”, we also had our “hearts in our throats”.
Should anything have gone wrong, we would never had been able to stop and restart on such an incline.

We stayed two nights in Sanddrif. The camp site was clean, and came complete not only with electricity, but our own private ablution block as well.
The staff over the road (at the winery) were 100% accommodating, meeting all our requests for Ice, bread, potatoes and even some wine.

Our last stop, Jamaka, just a few kilometers up the road, was almost empty, so again we had the whole place to ourselves. It’s a great spot, with bird life aplenty. The river trickles by all night.
We settled down to a relaxing afternoon in the shade.
We drove a short distance up a track up to a small plateau for sundowners.
As this was our last evening, our spirits were low, but the talk that night was, “where to next year?”

What you need to know

How long were we away:
We travelled from the morning of 23rd April till the afternoon of the 2nd May 2010.
Nine nights and ten days.

What vehicles did we drive:
The AIMLESS 4x4 COMMUNITY drove
•    Disco Td5 - Greg & Randall
•    Disco V8 - Morne, Jan & Piet
•    Isuzu 2,8TD - Riaan & Piet
•    Mazda 2,5TD - Wayne
•    Disco V8 - Gawie & Murray

Total distance travelled? 
Approximately 735kms (tar 360km & dirt 375km)

Directions?
We relied on Tracks for Africa, Slingsby’s 8,01 map and gut feel sometimes.

Camps visited
•    Kagga Kamma (weather was cool at night)
•    Die Mond (weather was perfect)
•    Doring River camp (weather was perfect)
•    Sanddrif (weather was perfect)
•    Jamaka (weather was perfect)

Passes driven
•    Nuwekloof  (tar)
•    Mitchell’s (tar)
•    Gydo (tar)
•    Katbakkies (dirt)
•    Kliphuiskloof (dirt)
•    Eselbank (dirt)
•    Uitkyk (dirt)
•    Niewoudt (dirt)
•    Piekernierskloof (tar)

Problems encountered
•    Slow pressure release on a back tyre on one Disco, due to sand between rim and tyre.
•    Isuzu’s back bumper and running boards bent.
•    A Two way radio stopped transmitting but could receive OK.
•    Had no ice for 6 hours.

Things I could have done better
•    Packed in more ice
•    Taken more pictures
•    Spent more time in Wuppertal
•    Learnt about the stars before the trip, or just bought a book about it.