Sani Pass

Monday morning dawned crisp and clear after all the rain from the night before. We decided that this was indeed the Sani Pass day. We were up and showered by 7.30 and then the mist came down. Thick as pea soup and all you could hear were the drops falling off the trees. It was otherwise completely quiet. It was 6degrees when we left, nogals chilly.

We decided to go anyway and to check when we get closer to Sani if it would be worth going up or not. Well we stopped at Sani Park Hotel for a coffee and it looked like it was lifting and we carried on in the hope that things will improve. Well, improve they did. As you can see the mist had nearly lifted completely and the 12 Apostles were just about clear.

The 12 Apostles clearing for us

Crossing Borders

The road up as far as the SA border is rough, but in no way difficult and you are allowed to go that far  with a normal car, that is now a non 4x4. From the border onwards it gets decidedly rougher, like you would expect on a gravel pass. The scenery is awesome. It is just so big and beautiful and the mountains are so majestic. The views back down the valley is just nearly overwhelming

The view down the valley.

The rough part on the GPS

The real tough part of the pass is the last 1.5 km. That is the real Sani challenge. It is everything that any picture shows and the at best a think a challenge to the driver. Dick did a great job and was in his element, but there was definitely no stopping once we got going on that bit, plus you are contantly aware that you have to go down the same road again.

The view up the pass

 You are still crawling and turning tight corners the one minute and then ”whoeps” you are at the top and on the plateau in Lesotho. You have to go through the border post again and “nogals” pay a R30 “toll fee” Not sure what that gets used for, but we just pay and smile and say thank you very much for the privilege to be there.

If you travel a further  10 km along the Swartberg pass, this is now not the Oudtshoorn one, you get to the highest road in Southern Africa at 3217 metres . It is a rough road yet again, but the nice thing was that along the way we saw some Lesotho kraals and we also met Joseph on the horse. I asked if I could take a picture and he said ok, but I must pay, so I asked how much and the price was R10. Unfortunately I only had R20, so I got to take 3 pictures. He was very satisfied with the result when I showed it to him!!

Joseph, my R20 model

Lunch was at the Sani top chalet/restaurant. It was still chilly and we justified having a glass of red wine and some comfort food. Dick had a hamburger, but I opted for the Homemade veggie soup with freshly baked bread. The waiter said that he does not think that I will be able to finish it and I thought otherwise, however I was beaten. The soup was delicious and the bread was about the size of half a normal loaf and freshly baked with what looked like home ground flour. I brought the rest home and we had it for supper

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The journey back was quiet and uneventful, other than the fact that the mist was back. Every now and then you would hear the bells from the goats that hang on the slopes of the mountain. How the heck they walk there, I really don’t know. Low and behold, I looked up and I saw a man walking there as well, with a pile of wood on his shoulder. I sure he must have been an Afican Spiderman.

 We had been and seen and conquered the Sani pass, which was on the list of “to do’s” for this holiday. We have driven over many passes and especially 2 years ago in Ethiopia, however the Sani is up there with the best and rates high in terms of spectacularity!! 

The way down

Lesotho Kraal