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Korannaberg Trip Report - 29-02 May 2011
Again the most amazing track, fabulous vistas, tough obstacles, charming hosts in Heleen and Bruwer who are sadly no longer going to be running Korannaberg and its fate at the moment is unknown, which is a huge tragedy as it is one of the top 10 tracks in the country.
We all duly arrived at Korannaberg, being a pretty easy run through as the roads were not that busy as everybody was away on their long Easter Break., and the campers, with the exception of Graham and family who were already set up, moved into the "indoor" accommodation as it was bitterly cold.
We set off on the Maluti trail, which is the first day trail with lots of rock climbs, steep ascents, majestic views of the Free State as far as the Maluti Mountains and then some. Quite an eye opener for those who had not done it before. Magnificent sunset drive to the top of the Mountain and back down in the dark, always fun. The usual visit to Holkrans cave, where for the first time in many visits the water was cascading over the cave due to all the rain that we have had throughout the country. Exhausted drivers and crew back to the Farm House where a communal braai coupled with lots of laughter and anecdotes of the days proceedings ensured and we all had a relatively early night.
Matopos trail - what a magnificent trail, not many people get the opportunity to do it as it is a long trail, very scenic with a few seriously nasty Swamps!!!! You traverse the plateaux across the working farm fields where the Brahman cattle and dorper sheep are on show, magnificent animals, together with kudu, waterbuck, jackal, impala and springbok, wildebeest, blue and black. A drive down a river bed with quite a few nasty surprises beneath the water but ably guided by Bruwer, and not too many of us succumbed to the odd re-arranging of the wheel alignment, to come to a stop at a beautiful waterfall which if NOT guided one could easily disappear over!!! Then onwards to Joes se Huis, the Korannaberg is steeped in Boer War History and History of the lesser known Koranna Tribe of Bushman descent.
Now the swamps, what a muddy time we had!!!! As it was a very long drive the "girls" took over driving and did they do WELL!!!!, we had previously navigated a few swamps with a couple of "oopsies" necessitating "pulls" but going home, it was a somewhat different approach and climb out, Debbie and Kens Isuzu, with Debbie driving, had a stirling attempt at it, much to the amusement of the children who were telling her what to do, Ken just quietly standing by, but to no avail, although a very valiant effort, Tertia on the other hand had three goes at it as she was NOT going to give up, and with some serious valve bouncing at 7,000 revs, with a suitably horrified looking Christo sitting next to her, she made it on the third attempt leaving the rest of us looking like swamp monsters!!! One after the other we all got stuck, and quite a few recoveries later, including Ben in his Rubicon, they NEVER get stuck, succumbed to the viscous mud, Lana having done a stirling bit of swamp driving just prior to this. Mark who was "tail end Charlie" also succumbed to the mud in Stompie, and Graham managed to lose a suitable amount of his "front end" in the swamp. ALL GOOD CLEAN FUN.
Another beautiful day at Korannaberg came to a close. The weather was starting to close in, we had two beautiful sunny days, so we all packed up and left early on the Monday morning, after Ken managed to get his Isuzu stuck on the road to the Canyons and Christo again to the rescue. Lots of mud and muddy equipment duly carted home and the car wash business must have been booming.
It was a really amazing trip, great company, great camaraderie, and food for the soul. Korannaberg ALWAYS a winner, even for the most hardened off-roader, there are always surprises.
Mike Stockton
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