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We finally left Umtata today after having waited out for the strike to finish for long enough. We have planned to come back here for one night to say goodbye to everyone in a couple of weeks. We also only have one day left on our visas and as there seems to be no end in sight for this strike we have to do something to sort that out.
We are only about 3 hours south of Lesotho so I rang the border post and was told that if we went into Lesotho for 1 day then on our return we would be given a 30 day extension of our visa. So we are off to Lesotho tomorrow to get our visas extended.
The view down Sani Pass from the Sani Top Chalet on tuesday. Ice corner on the way up the pass.
1st July
Well, the last week wasn’t quite what we expected. We turned up at the Sani Pass border post only to be told that they couldn’t give us the 30 day extension we’ be informed of, they could only give us 5 days. After a lot of arguing we managed to get them to agree to give us 14 days. We need longer than this, however, the hope is that the strike will be over in that time and we get the visa we need.
Whilst staying at the Sani Lodge at the bottom of the pass we met an Australian guy who was in the same boat as us with his visa and an English girl called Laura who was travelling around. They we really cool and we decided to hook up and go into Lesotho together for one night and them come back into SA. That wasn’t quite what happened!! The Sani Pass road is one of the toughest roads in the country to drive up. You might remember that we have actually been here before and you’ve seen some photos of the pass. Any road that has a bend called Suicide Corner, Grace Corner (so-named because you only get around it by the grace of god), Reverse Corner, (because it is so tight you had can’t get around it in one go, you have to reverse) and finally Ice Bend (because it has a waterfall and stream that permanently runs over it and for about 9 months of the year the water is frozen). It is also illegal to travel on the road in anything other that a 4x4. So that sets the scene a little for the conditions of the road.
The road up the Sani Pass. The Sani Pass Chalet. Below left is the field we camped in and next to that is our tents. All these shot were taken on tuesday.
Anyway, we drove up the pass; it takes about an hour to travel the 13kms up it. We got to the top and set up our tents and went to the highest pub in Africa for a few beers. Some of the people up there had been talking about snow coming but no-one was really sure so we didn’t worry about it. On the walls of the pub are loads of photos of the place covered in snow and we were all saying how amazing it would be if we saw some snow. Kind of lived to regret those words. Anyway, we stayed in the pub, met some Cape Town girls, a couple of Americans and an SA family. As the day went on it got colder and colder and the clouds built up. By the time it got dark we decided to head back to the tents (about 1km away).When we went outside there was a blizzard blowing and you couldn’t see more than a few metres in front of you. In the short time we were driving the road disappeared under snow and we couldn’t find that way back to the tents, it ended up with Brett (the aussie guy) walking in front of the car directing us until we finally found the tents. Snow was still falling like you wouldn’t believe so we quickly got in to the tents and went to bed.
When we woke up we found that we couldn’t get out of the tent as so much snow had fallen it had almost completely covered the tent had blocked the zip. I had to lie in the tent and kick the snow away and dig my way out of the tent. When I finally got out and looked around we discovered that the snow was between 2 and 6 ft in places. I went over the see if Brett and Laura were ok to find that during the course of the blizzard, in which the wind was so strong you could barely stand up in it, Brett’s tent had filled up with snow and he and Laura had basically slept under a blanket of snow. To say they were pleased to see the morning was an understatement! I went to start the car only to find that the diesel had frozen and so that car was stranded in the middle of the field! We packed away the sleeping bags, dug the snow off of the tent and moved into the backpacker part of the Sani Top Chalet. This is a converted barn about 750ms away from the chalet and pub. We dumped our kit in there and wandered up to the pub to find out what was going on. By this time the wind had got up and the weather closed in. It started to snow again and got really cold. In the pub they have a weather station it was displaying the temp as being -7 and this was at 1pm! This was also without the wind chill factor. During the course of the day the weather got worse and worse and we decide to head back to the backpackers as this was where all out kit was. The 2 Cape Town girls decided to come back with us and I offered to carry their kit for them. This was fine and we started the walk back. By this time the snow was up to our waists in places and the wind so strong that it blew Amy off her feet a couple of times. It took about 25ms to walk the 750ms to the backpackers and by the time we got there we could just see the family trying to get to us from the pub as well. The father was carrying the 7yr old and the mother the 5yr old and they looked like they were struggling. So I walked back to help them and by the time I got there the mother was really having trouble walking any further. So I ended up carrying the daughter. This was probably only 500ms but carrying the backpack, a kid, through the snow at 3000m ASL nearly bloody killed me.
Top left, in the snow and blizzard tuesday night. Top right, the car on wednesday morning.
Top left, Amy digging her way out of the tent. Top right, the field we camped in on wednesday morning.
TL, our tent after the snow. TR, the car and tents in the field. BL, camping in the snow. BR, the snow on the balcony of the Sani Top Chalet / Pub.
Anyway, by Thursday the weather had cleared and we were able to look around and it was really beautiful. The only problem was that there was so much snow that we couldn’t drive down the pass or over the Mts to the north. Seeing as the weather had cleared other tourists started to arrive. They drove up the pass to within 3km of the top and they walked the rest of the way. The owner of the chalet turned up and told us that it was the worst snow that he’d ever seen and that the pass was so bad we wouldn’t be able to drive down for a week! To make us feel better the owner let us stay in the Rondavels at his chalet for free. Which was good of him because we didn’t have enough money to stay even in the backpackers!
The next few days were spent simply waiting for the snow to clear in order to be able to drive back into SA. It was quite amusing though because for the 6 days we were up there we had not running water, we had to melt snow and icicles to get drinking water and for the first few days had no power as the diesel was frozen and so the generator wouldn’t start. It also took about 3 days to the get the landy started and get it out of the field that we had camped in. Everyday we asked people who were getting up what the road was like and the answer weren’t good. By Saturday some crazy local taxi drivers had managed to drive over the Black Mts to the north and arrived at the pub. They then cracked on straight down the pass, taken about 4 hours to cover the 3 km to where the road was ok to drive on. The snow was higher than their minibuses in places. Those guys are seriously crazy! We’d decided that if they could get down then so could we and so we decided that we would be going down the pass on Sunday. Sunday came and with it the report of more snow on the way and so with that we were definitely off. There was no way we were going to get stuck up there any longer. We had also been told that the road to the north, over the Black Mts, where the taxis had come from, had been closed off again due to some heavy snow falls and that loads of cars were stranded on the road. Now being stranded on these roads isn’t like being stranded on roads when it snows in England. There is absolutely nothing up there. According to the owner the temps at night were getting as long as -16, again without the wind chill. It is seriously hardcore and not a place you want to get stuck.
TL, The Sani Pass on wednesday, compare this to the photo of the Pass on tuesday. TR, snow outside the chalet. we couldn't get in through the door.
TL and BR, me in the snow. TR, Amy on the balcony. BL, the group of us that got snowed in.
TL, the nowman we made as memorial to the spot that the car got snowed in for 3 days. TR, us with Laura and the tents in a barn trying to keep out of the snow. BL, shower anyone? BR, our tracks through the snow after finally driving out of the field.
Anyway, we packed up our stuff and started making our way down the pass. It is impossible to describe what it is like really. The snow was feet deep and the ice 6inches thick in places. 1st gear, low range, diff lock and letting the tyres down from 3bar to 1bar pressure meant that we got down ok. About halfway down we met the taxis from the other day on their way back up. They were totally stuck and for the first time on the trip I was able to use the winch! I had to winch this taxi up the road so that I could go down. Whilst I was doing this the Natal Landrover Club turned up. Only one guy had managed to make it up to where we were in a sorted 90. He had had enough by the time he got to us and was going back down and so we joined up with him and went down. The ice was unbelievable in places. We hit one patch and the car just took off, I had to put her into a huge snow drift at the side of the road to stop her. This was because the drop on the other side was several hundred m’s! Still, it was a hell of an adventure. Tomorrow we are off the see our friends in Durban.
TL, the Sani Pass road winding down the pass after the snow. TR, deep snow on the road. See the diff track?
Driving down the pass. You can see that the fog has come in and how snowy and icy the road was.
TL, kitted out 90 from the Natal Landrover club. Below, crazy guy trying to drive up the pass. He lost it and slid back about 10ms and nearly went over the edge.
