Klien Tafelberg

[JaMMeX]

Hey All

I am heading out to Klein Tafelberg this weekend with a crew of LandCruisers and Pajeros (cough cough hehe)

Anyone here done the trails, and any feedback?

Bruce'ster

[ThysdJ]

Ja lekker... enjoy broke-back mountain.. heartbreak hill or whatever...

[JaMMeX]

hahaha

yeah heard the end hill is quite something! you done it?

[ThysdJ]

Nope, I have not but there are some wise men here who have. We had a long discussion about that hill way back with old Bosvark. See if you can find it, there are pics as well if I remember correctly...

[JaMMeX]

shit is it that hectic!

[ThysdJ]

no man, you be driving a Hilux.. nothing is hectic...

[Turbo]

They have 2 routes.The Bobjaan that is the rocky road and the Skilpad which is the sand route.
I did the skilpad (with Bosvark) with my 2.4 SFA.Did not go up"THE HILL".One guy in our group attempted to go up in his Pajero 3500 and got stuck.He reversed and went of the spoor into a deep ditch.Took about 90 minutes to recover him.This was mid summer and very hot.
You should not have aproblem this time of year with all the rain we had.

Enjoy, the campsite is amazing.

[swifty]

I did the trail about 4 years ago, I still had the 2.2 DC. In a group of 10 vehicles (Hiluxes, Cruisers, Patrols, Landrovers etc.) I was the only one to clear the HILL.

The 2.2 Lux was running on 32" tyres @ about 0.8bar and I fitted a Lockrite locker in the front diff a week earlier. As the Lockrite cannot be seen (no telltale vacuum or compressor pipes), everybody was amazed at the (standard) vehicle's performance!

I'm not sure what the HILL looks like now, but at that time there were lots of thick sand and halfway up one had to negotiate huge cross axles. Most of the vehicles got to the cross axle area and just made it worse....

[JaMMeX]

Yeah! It should be ok now, but hey! I will be happy to try, if I dont make it, then so be it, would rather return home with my Vehicle in 1 Piece! But then again, Ill see what the Adrenalin does!

[Klonkies]

Hey Jammex,

You will surely enjoy Klein Tafelberg. check in the Trail reports, i wrote a little summary of our experience including some pics.
The Venue is excellent - the trail offers some challenging sand routes and then THE rocky sections is to seperate the hilux from the rest! ah ha...

But serious - you`ll love it and most seriously you`ll finish Heart-break hill. (took me 6 attempts, but i made it up )

[Dadz Toy BFI]

Anyone got co-ords for this Trail asblf
R

[Hoppy]

I've done it a few times, very nice trail and good clean facilities, one of a few trails with a pool.

Very easy to find, just other side of "cross candle bush"

Will try to find co ords, my gps has been there, but i don't know how to ask it.

[Mud Dog]

If you can find it on Google Earth, you can pull the co-ords off there.

[Hoppy]

32 36 37 S
18 29 00 E

[Dadz Toy BFI]

32 36 37 S
18 29 00 E

Thanks Allen

[Mud Dog]

32 36 37 S
18 29 00 E

Thanks Allan

[Dadz Toy BFI]

32 36 37 S
18 29 00 E

Thanks Allan

Thanks Amdy

[Mr_B]

32 36 37 S
18 29 00 E

Thanks Allan

Thanks Amdy

Thanks Richie Rich

[Dadz Toy BFI]

32 36 37 S
18 29 00 E

Thanks Allan

Thanks Amdy

Thanks Richie Rich

Pleasure Breeton

[jsrossouw]

We did it the other day. We did skilpad but we could not do the tough rocky part once you get up the hill. The rain washed away all the sand that keeps the rocks steady so that path is a mess. They did it the day before we got there and every 4x4 in the group got stuck except the guide's defender. There was a guy with a V8 disco 1 with arb lockers front and back and he couldnt even get out there. They had to pully winch all the cars out and it took them 8 hours to do the course. Plus with all the rain the last couple of days the course isnt half the fun it should be. We didnt get stuck once, the sand is hard.

Good luck, hope you enjoy it.

[Mr_B]

We did it the other day. We did skilpad but we could not do the tough rocky part once you get up the hill. The rain washed away all the sand that keeps the rocks steady so that path is a mess. They did it the day before we got there and every 4x4 in the group got stuck except the guide's defender. There was a guy with a V8 disco 1 with arb lockers front and back and he couldnt even get out there. They had to pully winch all the cars out and it took them 8 hours to do the course. Plus with all the rain the last couple of days the course isnt half the fun it should be. We didnt get stuck once, the sand is hard.

Good luck, hope you enjoy it.

Thanks Stephan

[JaMMeX]

Thanks guys!

Looking forward to it, and ill have a write up and some pics monday!

Hope the sand is loose by now!

[Bloues]

Enjoy it - waiting for the wright up....!!!!
just make sure you have recovery equipment for the pajero's..........the Cruisers etc. wont need it !!!!!!

[JaMMeX]

im back, alive and smiling, will write something with some pics asap, just trying to get thru some 100's of mails!

My God! It was UNREAL!

[Dadz Toy BFI]

im back, alive and smiling, will write something with some pics asap, just trying to get thru some 100's of mails!

My God! It was UNREAL!

Peekchaz :!: :!:

R

[JaMMeX]

So here it finally is friends.

It is the best campsite I have ever stayed at. The owner Steve and his wife were so hospitable and on arrival we were greeted with the warmest welcome. The first night was surprisingly warm and a relaxed braai was enjoyed by all.

The next morning we set off at around 10 am on Saturday for the Klein Tafelberg Trail. I completed the entire route, (sat out of Heart-Break Hill’s sand climb as I just wasn’t in the mood for high revving my KZ) but everyone waxed it and it looked easy compared to the challenge’s we had just completed before it.

The course is set against one of Cape Town’s most extraordinary natural surroundings of flowing green hills, blankets of colourful flowers blooming for Spring and the privilege of ancient bush paintings along the way. It starts off with a sandy trail (Pajero 1 got stuck 3 minutes in). My Tyre gauge gave me the wrong reading before we left and I also got stuck soon afterwards due to been to hard. I dropped my pressure to 0.8 and “Voila!”. The rest was a piece of cake with nice soft sand, twists and turns through the burms and a few mini dune climbs with a few 4x4’s getting stuck.

The rocky sections where great fun but flippin scary at times! My Hilux really needs a raise as there was lots of knocking and my running boards took a big beating. My tyres have little holes and rubber gashes in the sidewalls now so much for 3Ply Side walls on the BFS. The others did not have this issue but I unfortunately got “owned” by the rocks! We were then asked if we wanted to do the more “challenging” section. The 2 SWB Pajeros sat out on this one. The crew that took this section on was Myself, an 80 series LC, an LWB Pajero, followed by another group with a V6 Colt, V6 Pajero (old shape) and a Toyota Prado (pre 2002). My adrenalin pumped down the steep rocky sections as we approached the “serious” stuff! With my foot flat down on the brake pedal the car still slid through difficult rocky cross over’s. A few more bangs and bumps led us to the ultimate challenge of the course…

“The Steps” ...

O MY GAAAAD! My immediate thought was: "Ya right, and a car climbs up this???”.. Steve looked at me and reassured me that my KZ would be fine. He then did a demo in his new Land Rover which made it look so easy. The LC 80 series did it with no worries (wait until you see this beast. It looks like a monster truck). It was time for me to brave the steps. My Cousin, Gordz (80 Series Owner), jumped in with me and as we approached The Steps with my hands shaking, knees knocking, adrenalin pumping and a few prayers that we don’t do any serious damage, and off we went! The others all screaming: "Go, go, go!” “Keep up the momentum!” “Stay away from the clutch!” “DONT STOP!” “GO!". Before I knew it, my KZ (Obelix) was on the up! Crawling over the steps slowly and neatly, it felt like I had won an F1 race. It was such a great achievement for the day.

We then stopped off at a really awesome picnic spot, had some lunch with some cold beverages for a 30 minute rest and then it was time for the final trek towards the soft sands of “Heart-Break Hill”.

Once we reached the hill we stopped off. Some of the guys played around but as I said I decided to sit this leg out due to sympathy for my dear Obelix. It took about 2 attempts for most to clear it due to the soft sand. Steve mentioned that in summer the sand became even softer and that not many were able to conquer it in those kinds of conditions and plenty towing and recoveries end up taking most of the day away.

We had lots of fun on the way home sliding and drifting at great speeds through the sand burms towards the camp. Everyone was exhausted from the 5 – 6 hour trip and what better to end it off than with a Captain and Coke, a big warm fire and a delicious steak dish!

***** Stars all the way!

Photos -> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3 ... c6c3f28b29