Ek gaan middel Junie Sani doen. Is dit optimisties om van onderkant van Sani na Katse te ry in een dag?
En twee is dit wys om kettings saam te neem.....vir wis en onwis?
JohanM wrote:Arrie dit is defnitief doenbaar, maar eks seker jy wil nie non stop ry nie. Begin van bo op die pas en maak jou reg om teen laat middag by Katse aan te kom. 200km = 8 ure se ry. Hom laasjaar gery so.
Johan is heeltemal reg! As jy nonstop ry, ten minste 8-9ure! Seker jy gaan om bietjie te verken en rond te kyk! Sal nie aanbeveel vir 'n eendag trip nie!
Kettings glo ek nie sal nodig wees nie, tensy dit nou eweskielik begin rof sneeu, maar dan sal hulle elkgeval Sani sluit!
WayneSchalk wrote:My thinking was on a normal weekend mayby take half friday and just drive up spend some time at the pub, rive one of the routes ontop and back down
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Sleep Friday night at Himeville.Drive Sani on Saterday,after that ,back to Himeville for a lekker kuier.Sunday,we hit the road back home.
2004 Hilux 2700i 4x4 Legend 35 Cowley branch and freeflow,long range tank,dual battery system,home made front and rear bumpers.
Ons het eintlik klaar verblyf geboek onder by sani backpackers en dan die volgende dag by orion by katse......gaan maar kyk om 6uur by sa grenspos deur te gaan en dan sien hoe laat ons bo sani bereik. Darm geen depositos by tweede aand verblyf so kan ander verblyf soek.
Dankie vir die advies ouens!
Against the grain, against the odds
I will rise, and i won't trip again!
Dawn of a new day, never looked as good as this!
Arie wrote:Ons het eintlik klaar verblyf geboek onder by sani backpackers en dan die volgende dag by orion by katse......gaan maar kyk om 6uur by sa grenspos deur te gaan en dan sien hoe laat ons bo sani bereik. Darm geen depositos by tweede aand verblyf so kan ander verblyf soek.
Dankie vir die advies ouens!
Weet nie hoe korrek dit is nie, maar T4A dui aan dat daardie grensposte net van 08:00 tot 16:00 oop is...
WayneSchalk wrote:My thinking was on a normal weekend mayby take half friday and just drive up spend some time at the pub, rive one of the routes ontop and back down
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Sleep Friday night at Himeville.Drive Sani on Saterday,after that ,back to Himeville for a lekker kuier.Sunday,we hit the road back home.
WayneSchalk wrote:My thinking was on a normal weekend mayby take half friday and just drive up spend some time at the pub, rive one of the routes ontop and back down
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Sleep Friday night at Himeville.Drive Sani on Saterday,after that ,back to Himeville for a lekker kuier.Sunday,we hit the road back home.
Dis 100%
Klink goed!!!
Maar ons sal moet bietjie 'n draai maak by highest pub in Africa!!!
Dankie baie.......net bietjie geworry oor sneeu op die pad.......het nog nooit eers my pote in sneeu gesit nie......maar sal hom maar vat soos hy kom! Dis mos maar deel van die avontuur!
Against the grain, against the odds
I will rise, and i won't trip again!
Dawn of a new day, never looked as good as this!
Het al a paar keer by Sani op gery, die sneeu is nie n probleem as dit n paar cm is nie, maar n groot probleem as dit dikker word. MAAR die GROOT probleem is die swart ys op die klippe in die skerp styl draaie. Ek het al voetuie gesien wat agteruit gly wanner de wiele traction verloor.
In Somer kan jy met n 4x2 met grond clearance, Sani doen, maar in Winter, net n 4x4 met Diff lock en ek wat altyd my kettings saam.
Make sure you have chains for the wheels, last year a lot of guys got caught without chains and had to sleep at Oxbow lodge while they wait for the road to be cleared from the ice. Cars was all over the road.
Johno & SWAMBO (if finances allow it, I would like to do it in the SNOW)
Live Life in the FAST lane.... Forget the past, Embrace the FUTURE!!!! To 4x4 or not to 4x4 thats the question.... IT'S A JEEP ..... You wouldn't understand.... [rimg=206x128]
The Sani Pass between South Africa and Lesotho is an international tourism icon. But if, as many claim, the attraction lies in the poor state of the road, a proposed upgrade could destroy Sani’s eco-tourism industry.
The Sani Pass has never been a good road. Running through the southern Drakensberg and linking eastern Lesotho with KwaZulu-Natal, it’s not one pass but a series of eight passes rising over 3,000 metres. In many places, it’s too narrow for two vehicles to pass and some of the hairpin bends require three-point turns. In winter, it’s covered with snow and ice and summer rains cause mudslides. The adventure of driving this road is the main reason people travel it.
In July 2006, the Department of Transport announced plans to upgrade the Sani Pass. Work has started on tarring the approach, but the controversial part of the project is Phase 2: the 19 kilometres from the new border post to the summit. Tourists, tour operators and local communities are unhappy about the possibility that this part of the pass might also be tarred.
They have good reason to be. A standard tarred road in such extreme conditions will quickly deteriorate to the point where it has to be closed, unless expensive maintenance is constantly carried out. ‘It’s better to have a bad dirt road than a bad tarred road and our track record for road maintenance is abysmal,’ says Di Dold, environmental co-ordinator for the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa in KZN.
Ironically, it’s precisely because the road is so bad that there are scarcely any accidents on the Sani Pass. ‘The uneven road results in motorists travelling with extreme caution at very low speeds,’ says Russell Suchet, owner of Sani Lodge. ‘If the road is tarred, I foresee a large number of serious accidents caused by inexperienced drivers.’ The dirt surface also provides traction when the road is covered in snow and ice. A smooth surface would form sheets of ice and create potential death traps.
But the greatest concern is that tarring the Sani Pass will destroy the very thing thousands of tourists travel there to find: the sense of isolation and achievement. ‘The Sani Pass is a brand,’ says Gerrit Rautenbach, editor of Mooiloop. ‘It’s an incredible tourist attraction.’ But that could depend on the road staying rough.
‘The first thing people ask me is, “How’s the road?”’ says Charles Major, a tour operator. ‘That’s the big attraction.’ The economy of the Himeville-Underberg region largely depends on tourism, but ‘if you tar the Sani Pass, the tourism industry could collapse,’ says Dold.
Tar is not the only option
Fortunately, nothing’s final yet. ‘Everyone who hears about it immediately assumes the thing is going to be tarred from top to bottom,’ says Russell Stow of Arcus Gibb, the consultants preparing the EIA. ‘But it’s intended to be an all-weather road and that could be a number of other surfaces – paving, cobblestones, rocks.’ A probable solution is a combination of surfaces to suit each section’s characteristics.
It’s obvious something needs to be done. Even for a bad road, the Sani Pass is in a terrible state. ‘Half the reason to upgrade the road is to protect it from collapse,’ says Stow. ‘The section called the switchbacks is particularly unstable. Any heavy weather or floods and it will slide down the valley.’
The road is in such a state of disrepair it’s damaging the environment in a World Heritage Site. When it was built, there was no proper drainage installed and no consideration of run-off. ‘There are places where the erosion caused by the road is severe,’ says Prof Steven Piper, a tour operator. ‘I’m talking dongas 10 to 15 metres deep.’ Silt is deposited in the river below, obstructing its flow.
However, an upgrade could also negatively affect the environment. Construction will destroy vegetation for several metres on either side. Ease of access will bring travellers who don’t value the pristine state of the pass. Deprived of the thrills of the old dirt track, 4x4s and quad-bikes might resort to uncontrolled off-road driving.
The decision to upgrade the Sani Pass was made without consulting the people it would affect. But public participation in the EIA will correct that. ‘We’re getting everyone’s ideas,’ says Sanusha Govender, an environmental scientist at Arcus Gibb. ‘We’re asking them to tell us how we can do it better.’
The answer will probably be ‘do what you must, but don’t tar!’
‘It’s the romance of the thing,’ says Rautenbach. ‘If they tar it, I won’t go there again.’
‘My visitors take away a sense that this has been their most spectacular day in South Africa,’ says Prof Piper. ‘I want as little change as possible.’
Life is Easy.....! It's the freakin' people that make it difficult!
Hi Guys, I haven’t been able to complete our TR yet but will get around to it some time. I just thought I would comment on the condition of the pass.
We went up 2 weeks ago and what I can say is that they ARE working on the roads there. We cam across a few BIG tipper trucks, diggers, scrapers and front end loaders on the pass. Not on the easier flat sections but parked on the hairpin bends almost all the way up the pass near the Lesotho border. The pass has been widened and a trench has been dug all the way up. I would suggest that those who want to do sani must do it asap because as things are going it looks like it will be "plat kar" friendly in no time at all. Not saying tarred but most definitely not like it used to be.
Here is a pic about 3 hairpin bends from the top and you can see the vehicles parked on the band to the left.
20130622_134819.jpg (27.02 KiB) Viewed 4053 times
PRESENTLY DISADVANTAGED Custom built Rock Sliders, Bumpers, Belly protection.... Anything you can think of Cell: 076 122 3744 E-Mail: fpanaino@gmail.com Bear Grylls calls it "Ultimate Survival", overlanders call it"Camping"
The thing about Sani if you know it well is that it changes VERY quickly.
They are spending some money and making it smoother and nicer, but one torrential downpour will change its character again.
We have been up and down Sani numerous times, and it is always a different experience. But really worth seeing the Drakensberg.
Read on the community forum that they are not going to tar the last 17 km, only going to upgrade the gravel road and work on the water run off/ drainage.
Friends of mine have just this last weekend, 'climbed' Sani Pass, the road is smooth all the way up, the trucks and bulldozers are still on the slopes. No snow but the temp was -5.
It seems the challenge is no longer the trip up Sani but maybe the mountainous route to Katse or any other destination.
Going up the Pass in its current condition (good) and staying over at the lodge has not got the appeal for me right now. I would rather spend the finances on a different trip / destination I have not yet been to.
'n biertjie in die hoogste pub, leker, sal maar net handskoene moet vat. Daai biertjie gaan koud wees 
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