Klein Tafelberg 23 – 25 July 2010

Sunshine at last as the rain clouds broke and moved away from Cape Town. It Friday afternoon and we were gathering at the Engen Garage on the N7 to depart to Klein Tafelberg at 3pm.

Four of us left at 3pm and rode in convoy to Piketburg, Aurora, then the dirt road to Redlyinghuis and the turnoff to the Farm.

The dirt roads were wet and muddy and our vehicles sprayed mud into the air covering the following vehicles, we weaved and slipped our way into the farm. Stephen the farmer was on hand to show us to the Chalets and the camping spots. All four chalets had been booked and the remainder set up camp on the damp ground.

That night we all huddled around the fires outside the chalets and court up on the latest news while. Two Jeepers arrived after 9pm the one was in just before midnight after getting horribly lost in the night.

Next morning the air was fresh and clean, some campers had struggled to sleep with the wood cutting that took place during the night. Two other Jeeps arrived from Langebaan and with a Toyota and Ford in the group we were ready to depart. Stephen had us sign indemnities and discussed the challenges we would encounter on the track.  The 12 vehicles set of with the experienced drivers in front and the newbie’s in tow with me riding in the rear to ensure no one fell behind or got stuck.

We moved quickly and without incident through the sand sections with no one getting stuck. We stopped shortly at the cave to look at the rock paintings and then moved onto the rock section. One Jeep driver chose to miss the rock section and had an early lunch while the rest slowly trickled down into the rocky ravine and snaked our away the rocky step sections.

With assistance of the other members all the vehicles managed to safely crawl across the rocks even the section where one member had neatly removed the neatly packed rocks to make it a little more challenging. A couple of tricky rock steps were encountered and we had arrived at our lunch destination. All happily snacked and drank refreshments and chattered about the first part of the route.

After lunch we meandered down the mountain until we reached the sand section where Stephen put the ladies through their paces in showing the men how to climb up a sand mountain without getting stuck. After we all had a turn we headed back to camp.

The boma fire was lit and all huddled around the fire to settle in to a night of eating and laughter as we discussed the ease of the track in the wet winter compared to summer. It was decided that we had to return in summer to see how the track compared.

Next morning 6 of us left camp and headed for the trail to test our vehicles once more as we re did the whole course stopping at strategic points for breath taking pictures.

A big thank you goes to the Jeep Club members that attended a fabulous weekend of fun and camaraderie at Klein Tafelberg. See you all at the next outing.

Regards

Craig Parsons