Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi Guys,

As some of you may have seen, Susan and Myself took Bismark to Matroosberg Reserve this past week-end.
We Camped there for 2 nights, in the normal camping area.


on Saturday, we headed out to do the 4x4 trail, which I can actually say is divided into 4 sections
The 1st section is a circle route around the farm, and is ok for 4x2. The 1st part of this must be taken to get to the 4x4 route.

I skipped a few pics as this was rather mundane stuff.
The second section is 4x4, and pretty easy, mostly small rock, lots of it and very loose, not to steep, 15-20 deg at most, with only one or 2 hard sections (that is before doing the rest of the trail off course, then in hindsight, its a walk in the park)
This is just past Land-rover hill, looking back toward the campsite & farm are.


Then there's the 3rd section, which is harder, longer, and much more satisfying, although I think still graded a 2, also 1 or 2 hard sections, but the road gets a lot rockier in places (signs of things to come?)
A view down the side of the Pajero.


The road, still in good condition here. With a nice piece of rock face coming up.


Said rock face, still coming up, about 20 deg, with a 15 deg tilt to the left



At the top of section 3 in my opinion.
The View is spectacular. At this point we are already at 2049 Meters above see:




Then, the last section.....
The point of no return, and also one of the hardest climbs, its at one point 30 degrees, and very loose, I had to take the left side, as the right side was a major axle twister, and poor ol me, don't have a reardiff lock:


I almost immediately regretted going past the above mentioned point, as there were now many times that I thought Bismark would not make it, incl some axletwisters where we were left teetering on opposite wheels, and somehow the Pajero pushed through.
This is what the road condition was like the rest of the way (this is a good piece of road).


..... and then it just got worse... at this point, Susan was taking pics of the gear knob, the sun visor, her eyebrow, my nose, etc, I decided to delete these, and rather try get pics of the road on the way down again, once Susan calmed down and steadied her hands.


Now, finally over the top, Susan's hands steadied enough for an approach shot of the end destination:


THIS, was cool, I decided to do my bit for Pajero's everywhere - The Land-Rover Club, who were obviously having their group get together, where somewhat non-plussed, when I arrived there with our Pajero, with no rear diff lock (I must admit that at this point, we passed one or 2 Landy members, that were not willing to do the last bit, and so waited for their group further back down from whence we came.
You gotta love this Pajero pick (sheep amongst wolves, or wolf amongst sheep)


the end of the road:


an now for the view:





and here we are, finally, at 2325m above sea level, this is the highest point in the Western Cape:


some of the fine specimens of plant/flowers up here:



back down we go, the way we came, at this point I literally had to get out to make sure I wasn't driving over the edge of the mountain:

This rock-face is part of the road that you take.


another nice view on the way back down:


its either those beautiful views (above) that you look at, or else, its the road, that we now have a few pics of, since Susan was feeling braver, and more steady:



Susan even managed to get in a semi-well- aimed shot of another beautiful flower specimen:


Then it was back to the road ahead:


Getting better:


Then again at the top of 3rd section (Canyon View point)
a 200m drop (apparently, people get killed falling off here every few months)
Absolutely breathtaking views:




Last 2 shots from around / just below Land-rover hill:



Route was about 7.5 km, from the camp site, according to Inge the Scandinavian blond GPS (although, to get back from the top, instead of re-tracing my tyre tracks, she wanted me to go straight down the mountain to get back on the N1.
so not sure if that 7.1 KM is accurate, I think the route is actually 12km, IIRC, and took us 2hrs up, 2 hrs down.
Damage done: scraped and dented both left and right running boards (minor) as there are sections where the road turns sharply, yet is just wider than the pajero, with massive rock either side.
Tyres: turned down to 1.4 bar, took the route 5-10kph slowly, not a scratch or cut anywhere.
We couldn't do 'Die Poort circle route which has 'the Gutter' as part of the route, as it is currently graded a definite 5, with a good chance of damage (the landy guys couldn't do it either.)

All in all, an absolutely AWESOME experience, that I would recommend to anyone.
I learned a lot about crawling & braking on this route.
Also, the area that offers possible damage to running boards, is literally on the last 50m before the plateau, so anyone scared of such scratches or dings can stop there (that's where the other landys waited)
I would also definitely recommend having the right tyres for the job.
These is also a 4x4 obstacle course down below (close to the camp sight)
Temps: Cool in the shade (camping is in the forest as you can see) the wind is a bit chilly, but otherwise, at the bottom it was 28-34 degrees, and up top it was 15-18 degrees, with a heavy windchill factor (up top).
Cost:
Camping R50 pppn +R70 per vehicle once off, if not doing the route.
4x4 Route: R250 per vehicle once off, + R50 pp.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Nice report...

Now to do it in midwinter with 2 feet of snow

The Matroosberg was my first ever 4x4 trail, but on that trip we only went as far as the main plateau (where that lady fell recently), because we were limited in terms of time.

Great report, and great pictures.

I love that arrogant Pajero among the Landy's!

Thanks, Ned, this route is now a definite on my hitlist. Maybe a GTG in the winter?

Regards,
Anton

Thanks guys,

I would rate the section up to top of section 3 as grate 1 - 2, and most of the section after that as grade 3, with one or 2 short spots as maybe nudging over to grade 4, although not so certain (as I could do it with my Pajero.
I definitely think its something we can all manage (although it definitely gets more difficult after that 1st plateau)
what I referred to as top of section 3.
The only questionable spot as far as possible damage to running boards would be the 50m or so before the final plateau.

I know were looking at a national G2G in June/July, but could we not do this as a WC G2G toward end of next year.

I would suggest earlier than now for 2 reasons:
1) Wind is an issue (for camping it is problematic, because even though we tolerate wind, as us Capetonians generally do, it gets rather unpleasant, as you cant sit by the campfire and wile away the hours, as you get smoke inna face, and it gets too damn cold.
2) Its very dry already, the river that runs through the camp is totally dry (as are the rock-pools further down stream)
only other rock-pool is about 2km of 4x2 track away, and not all that great. Also, the mud-pit (part of the 4x4 obstacle course) is totally dry.

I would suggest late October, as then its before the wind picks up, and although its dry, there's still water in the streams etc.
Although it is colder, its easier to dress for the cold, than it is, to dress for wind.
Yet, the trail I think will be dry enough for all members to safely do it.

I agree with both of you, I'd definitely like to do it as a wet course, but would strongly warn all to at least do it once or twice dry. This I think as a G2G venue, it should not be done in winter,
we do after all want all members to feel comfortable in taking part, and I can tell you, although we did this as a single vehicle, there's no way I would do it in winter as a 1st time, even in a convoy.

Awesome report, Ned. Very nice pictures too.

Nico.

Ned

Just a point. On the actual trail I would not rate any of it a 1. At the very least the actual trail is a 2, ranging to a 3 for the rest of it in good dry conditions, and 4-5 in winter. I have done Matroosberg in the pissing rain and it is not something I want to repeat in a hurry.

Nice one Ned. Simon I did Matroosberg about five years ago and i think i agree with Ned it is a grade 3 grade 2 being Klienhelderberg. When we did the trail Anthony and myself had lockers so we just drove up, but my other mate had a nissan hardbody with open diffs front and back and he battled. We had to pack rocks for him on numerous spots.

Hi Colin,

That looks like its been built up nicely,
We were informed that presently the gutter looks much worse than this.


In fact, one of the staff was doing his rounds at the campsites making sure, that the correct tyre pressures were to be used, and to warn against anyone doing the gutter as they said that it was in such bad repair and they had not yet been able to get a team up there to fix it up.

but, judging from your picks, and what I've found on GE, I think with a wee bit of road-building, it would be well worth it, as the rest of the circular route, looks awesome to do.