New Track Build - Saturday 1 July

[Mad Manny]

Howzit, AntonB & I have been invited to go help develop a new 4x4 Track/Trail.
We are heading out this weekend to help build/mark out the the route..
We'll see how it goes - hopefully this will become a new 4x4/Camping/Fishing spot.

The farm is 14 km outside of Modimolle, Abba Game Lodge is next door.
It's 200km from the Woes Rand, so about 120km outside Tshwane.
24*40'24.6S 28*17'41.1E

We need to give it a name, it is, as yet, unnamed.

I'll give more feedback next week once I've been there.

If anyone wants to join us this weekend, it's free. We are sleeping indoors, but you can camp too.
We are leaving Saturday morning (early) & coming back on Sunday.
You just need bedding & food & drink. We'll braai Saturday night.
We may stop for a quick boerrie braai along the route too.
Just contact me on o82 453 13o6 if interested.

Hopefully I'll have some positive feedback on Monday.

[Anthony Forgey]

I would love to have joined, but I already committed to another venue on Saturday. Enjoy it!

[Paul#25]

Could you order some warmer weather please Manny. It's too cold for me to venture far from my heater. The metal is my body is battling to defrost.
On a serious note. I can't make this one but it'll be lekker to have something for the club to use like there was near Dinokeng.

[PsyPhin]

Goodluck, sounds interesting. I am fully booked for Saturday unfortunately

[Renier_c]

Also have other plans for Sat.

[Mad Manny]

The Track Build:
Prelude:
So Anton tells me on Friday that he will pick me up @ 05:05 Saturday morning.
I tell him to *&%$$# get &^#@!.
But he is insistent.

I spend Friday night packing:
* An Ammo box filled with everything to make proper coffee (Bodem, kettle, butane burner, coffee etc).
* Tons of bedding (it are cold).
* A Cooler box with beers & drinks.
* Snacks & braai stuff
* My kit
* Etc.

10:00 I'm in bed. Alarm set for 04:00.

I drift off thing that Anton is a *(&$#% & that I'm going to get up just to go waste my time on some 2 bit farm helping some old boer who thinks we'll build a track in 4 hours & then he'll sit back & watch the Moolah pour in.
I also had some trepidation about the facilities & accommodations & foresaw a day in the Gulag tomorrow.

I would later find out how wrong I was, but read onto hear about that....

[Mad Manny]

The Track Build:
Saturday ~ getting there:
Anton may not be great at Admin, but one thing he is, is punctual.
I wake at 03:40, deciding to make the best of the day, but I remain apprehensive.
Anton arrives at 05:05 sharp.
We load up & head out.
I've got flasks of coffee.

We drive through Modimolie & 14km later get to the farm, The Stables.
It's exactly 184.5km from the Beyers Naude on ramp.
Tolls are around R100. It took us just over 2 & a half hours, but we did make a stop en route.

Saturday ~ arrival:
We are greeted by four friendly dogs of different breed; Ridgeback, Fox Terrier, dwarf Jack Russell & a poodly thing.
Our hosts, Andrew & Louanda show us in. We're staying in stables converted to rooms.
When Anton told me this, I pictured straw, exposed rafters, cold, manure & a horsey smell - but I was VERY pleasantly surprised.
The place is lovely - see the pictures below...

The Stables

[Mad Manny]

The Track Build:
Saturday ~ the build:
We get sorted & head out, Andrew in his extended Cab Hilux D-4D with a few workers & Anton & I in his Isuzu KB5.
We drive past a dam & Andrew shows us the site of the future camp site.
We then start the trail & slowly start realising the potential.
We see the opportunity for two obscals, but Andrew suggests we leave those for later.
We then get to a potential 2nd camp site, which will be for wild camping, it's at a hide - Andrew suggests calling it the Hideout.
There is a daunting steep loose rock decent to the Hideout, but fortunately there is a back road.
We decide to not develop this obstacle either (it's a 4 hour build, at least) & we press on.

We then start building obstacles. Initially 6 of us, but later 8, cutting, chopping & moving rocks.
We build for about 3 hours, then head back to the dam for lunch.

After lunch we continue building, we now have a system, Anton & Andrew walk ahead looking for a way through, I follow with the workers, supervising the clearing & building.
Anton & Andrew then return, fetch the vehicles & drive the track we've just built, we then fine tune depending on how they manage.
This process is repeated over & over.
Finally the day was up & we headed back to The Stables..
Andrew says we had built about 1/3rd, but we were to realise later (on Sunday) we'd built about 20% to 25% of the track.

It's hard to say how long it would take to drive the part we did build, but I'd guess about an hour to 2 hours once we complete the 1st 3 obstacles we skipped.
The obstacle to the Hideout , which Anton suggested we call Double Locker Hill could take a group of 5 vehicles about 45 minutes.

Saturday ~ the evening:
Andrew takes the workers back to town & we start a fire, the day has made me very enthusiastic & I can see this becoming a great 4x4 venue. We have a great braai, Andrew cooked my medium rear Sirloin perfectly - the food was great.
By 22:00 we are out - a very hard, successful productive day behind us.

[Mad Manny]

Ill tell you about the best part & wrap this up tomorrow.

[Mad Manny]

At this point, before continuing with what happened on Sunday and my Conclusion, I thought I'd mention few points:
The farm is at the source of the Waterberge.
The Nylstoom is nearby, misnamed by the settlers who thought they found the source of the Nile.
The biggest negatives with farmers building tracks on their farms is actually the farmer himself, but Andrew is Ex Corporate and definately looks like the type of guy who "gets sh!t done".
His wife has that eclectic creative style that transforms the simple from bland to quaint in the nicest way.
Louanda is the perfect person to run a 4x4/Camping/Fishing type venue.
The farm is perfect for track development.
So a good foundation on which to build a venue...

[Mad Manny]

The Track Build:
Sunday ~ the rest of Bobbejaans Krans:
We were only up after 07:30 ~ I slept damn well.
After coffee the 3 of us headed out ~ Andrew wanted to show us the 2/3rds we didn't get to yesterday (80% in my view), we start off from where we stopped, find a nice place for a halfway stop, Andrew agrees to build a braai boma and a ladies loo ~ too many places don't cater for ladies, who are expected to 'hold it in' for hours.

We continue exploring more possibilities and even find yet another location for another small (5 site) camp spot.

We continue exploring possibilities and then we stop, Andrew wants to show us something ~ we take a short walk through the trees and come upon the most stunning view. We are on top of the Krans, there is a steep Rocky slope in front of us leading down to the flat fields of the farm far below.

There are stunning possibilities here and the service road running parallel for those not brave enough for this section, which Andrew decides to name World View ~ an apt name.

After the World's View section we arrive at a spot where there are two options, you can either cross the river and head back to camp, or you can turn right for fun.
We discuss what to do.
After a short discussion we decide to give the 4x4'ers the choice, if you've had enough you go straight, but 'Bittereinders' will turn right and do 'Wet Willy' a short tough section along the river where you will come to 'Twin Falls' two stunning waterfalls where you can cool off and, since you are so close to the end, crack a few beers after a long hard days wheeling.

[Mad Manny]

Wrap up.
I think Bobbejaan Krans at The Stables has great potential.
The owner and his wife are the right people to do it.
It's in a nice area, it's only 120km for Pretoriaaners, mostly on a world class highway.
By comparison, Moegatle is a 100km drive for me & that's not on a highway.
There is a town, Modimolle if you need anything, food, fuel, a Tyre repair etc.
It'll be a fresh, new venue.
If they are too full you can stay nearby, there are a few places....
There are, in addition to Cattle and Sheep, various buck on the farm, we saw a few dozen.
There is also an assortment of varke (flat, iron and bush )

Negatives?
Well there aren't many, but here goes...
It's too far from Jo"burg for a day trail, you'd need to overnight.
Anton and I did just on 400km door to door from my house (Casa Carnivale) & back.

R100 in toll fees to get there.

Modimolle town is a shthole, OK for provisions and fuel, but don't stick around.

There is poor signal on the trail, but I (Telekom Mobile) had signal in most places.

Whilst there are buck and varke, there are no big 5 (so no lions to run from Wessel).

Otherwise, it's a great spot.

[Mad Manny]

So what now?
1. Anton & I need to return for 2 or 3 days to complete the track with Andrew.
We may take one or two volunteers, guys like Flip or Ant who can lend their expertise in obstacle construction would be ideal (more on this later).

2. Andrew needs to:
i. Build, at least, the first campsite.

ii. Prepare the paperwork: I have sent them a sample Indemnity form and rules.

iii. Set up the admin and payment system, including pricing.

iv. Do the signage ~ so much of signage.

Then, once that's all done, we will have a launch weekend where you (4x4AG Club members) will pay for the track, but enjoy free camping.
This will be a limited release.

Then it's up to Andrew and Louanda to make a success of it.
I'm sure they will.

Footnote: Neither Anton or I have any commercial interest in the venue, we are doing it for the love of wheelin"!!!

[PsyPhin]

No videos, photos of the building?
So it didn't actually happen?

[Disco Nic]

No videos, photos of the building?
So it didn't actually happen?

Manny is all talk. We know this.

That he uses a 3310 as a daily doesn’t help either.