On our four-day, three-night trip that spanned over a thousand kilometres, we overnighted in Willowmore, spent a night at Zandvlakte Guest Farm just outside the Baviaanskloof nature reserve and our last night was in Patensie. Our route took us through Grahamstown, Addo, Kirkwood, Steytlerville as well as Hankey, Jeffreys Bay, Port Elizabeth, Port Alfred and Bathurst.
THE JOURNEY
Day One – East London to Willowmore: 500km+-
The Dispatch Adventure team left East London for Willowmore deciding to take the inland route, through King William’s Town to Grahamstown and towards Port Elizabeth, taking a right turn towards Patterson and Addo. This is citrus-growing country and from Addo all the way to Patensie there are orange trees as far as the eye can see.
From Addo we continued on to Kirkwood and then onto the R75 towards Kleinpoort and the R329 to enter the Baviaanskloof and the main road to Steytlerville.
Just before reaching Steytlerville we came across the Valley of the Flags. This part of the R329 has been colourfully adorned with flags that have had a historical impact on Steytlerville. The flags were painted by a nearby farmer pre-1994 and updated after South Africa received its new flag.
A couple of hundred metres before Steytlerville is the turn-off to the Karroo Theatrical Hotel. Watch you don’t miss the turn-off to this though, there is just a small sign indicating the hotel is a kilometre down along on a dirt road.
In Steytlerville there are many interesting sites to see, including the family crests down the middle of the main street. Started in 2003, the flags depict the crests of families who have contributed to the history of Steytlerville and encompass families from all communities. Those families without traditional crests were encouraged to design their own, to identify their unique family clan.
On our way out of Steytlerville we stopped at Lizzy’s Khaya, a well-known restaurant that specialises in Karoo foods such as roosterkoek, vetkoek and curry and lamb stews, as well as sweeter things like koeksisters and malva pudding.
We then headed for Willowmore, travelling along a single lane cement road to reach the Willow Historical Guest House where we spent our first night.
Day Two – Willowmore to Zandvlakte Guest House: 120km+-
The team was up by 8am and got in a quick breakfast before heading out to see what Willowmore had to offer.
The original plan was to head to Uniondale for a quick visit before heading into the Baviaanskloof, however there is plenty to see in Willowmore.
As well Bakers Dam, the historical graveyards and the Black Stone Powerstation, the main street of the town features delightful antique stores, craft shops and coffee shops. We also came across the Willow Limo, a donkey-drawn cart on which you can enjoy a relaxing ride through the town..
We stopped at the Antieke Winkel, where you can buy almost anything, to pick up supplies before filling up and getting on our way.
While there is plenty to see along the road towards the reserve, we chose to stop at Vero’s Restaurant, which offers local cuisine such as roosterkoek with a variety of fillings, and at the Baviaans Craft Shop situated right across the road.
Also in this area are the Makkedaat Caves, cabins for hire that have been built into the mountain.
We arrived at our second nights’ stay – Zandvlakte farm – at around 2pm, where we were warmly welcomed. After a quick freshing up farmowner Pieter Kruger showed us some of the work he is involved in, with the aim of restoring the area’s water catchment ability.
After this tour we had a couple of hours to relax, before enjoying a delicious home cooked supper next to a crackling fire.
Day Three – Zandvlakte to Patensie: 80km+-
After enjoying a scrumptious eggs and bacon breakfast we got off to an early start, after being warned that, due to the heavy winds overnight, we could find it tough going through the reserve. This proved correct as a large number of trees had been blown over into the road, blocking our path. With no way of pulling the larger trees out of the way, and no other vehicles on the route to help, we had to manoeuvre our way through and around the various obstacles. Our 4x2 Everest came through with flying colours.
There are a number of camping sites and guest houses dotted along the way throughout the Baviaanskloof. The scenery is magnificent however be forwarned, in parts the road is only wide enough for a single vehicle, although there are areas where you can wait for the other car to pass.
At the top of the final mountain pass as you approach Patensie you come across a stop on your right,, where you can pull over and read about some of the plants and animals found in the reserve. Directly across the road from this is a track going down into a valley, if you walk down it, you will come across a disused cable car, spanning one of the gorges. A must see.
It took us close to four hours to get through the reserve, during which we saw plenty of kudu, monkeys and lots of amazing scenery. However we missed the more elusive buffalo and leopard which are also found in the reserve.
Once through we had a quick drive to Patensie, where we arrived at the Ripple Hotel just after 3pm. After dropping off our bags we went to find a place to have lunch and came across Padlangs which is a must-visit if in the area.
Day Four – Patensie to East London: 450km+-
After enjoying an early breakfast at the Ripple Hotel, the Dispatch Adventure team set off for the final slog back to East London. We stopped in at Padlangs again for a hot chocolate and continued on our way towards Hankey.
Once through Hankey we made our way to the main road, but decided to head back a bit to Jeffreys Bay, for a short stop.
From Jeffreys we moved on towards Port Elizabeth, staying on the highway straight through, with us then making a stop at the famous Nanaga farm stall for lunch.
From there we continued along the coast to Port Alfred to fill up with petrol, before the final stretch home.
We finally arrived back home in East London just after 5pm on Friday afternoon, quite weary after a thoroughly enjoyable adventure.
OTHER INTERESTING SITES
Willowmore
There are many lovely historical buildings in town, quite a few dating back to the 19th century, including the Old Dutch Reformed Rectory, built in 1864, The Old Jail, built in 1896, St Matthew's Church, completed in 1881, and the beautifully renovated Town Hall, built in 1896, which has an unusual clock tower.
Between Willowmore and Uniondale
Uniondale is known for its ghost story – a young woman who is said to stand alone alongside the lonely stretch of road between Willowmore and Uniondale. When people stop to offer her a lift, she is said to get into the car and then suddenly vanish.
The Baviaanskloof Road
The dirt road was built between 1880 and 1890 by South Africa's most famous road engineer, Thomas Bain. Together with his father, Andrew Geddes Bain, who emigrated from Scotland in 1816, he was responsible for 32 of the most important road projects in the Cape. It was among the last roads built by Bain, as he passed away in 1893 and it is by far the longest of the roads and mountain passes which bear his mark.
In the Baviaanskloof
The Cable Car: Winston le Roux's cable way system once bridged the gaping Waterpoort, providing an effective link between the Enkeldoorn and Bergplaas farming communities. Constructed in the early 1960's, the system was used to transport farm produce (wheat, potatoes, vegetables and livestock) between the two areas, by-passing the tortuous and time-consuming road route. The view west gives an idea of the extent of the valley's faultline and the enormity of the forces which buckled the earth’s crust.
Hankey
The Hankey Sundial in Hankey, which is the largest Sundial in the Southern Hemisphere and was erected in 1989 at the entrance of the town, right below the Vergaderingskop Mountain.
WATCH: Rugged valley of the baboons
The Eastern Cape’s major tourism drawcard has to be its epic unspoilt beauty, and on the list of top scenic trips has to be the beautiful Baviaanskloof.
If you decide to make this trip, make sure you have a vehicle with high ground clearance though as the roads, especially after rain and in our case, high winds, can be testing.
In this, the last of our six-part Dispatch Everest Adventure series, the team take a trip through the beautiful Baviaanskloof.
On our four-day, three-night trip that spanned over a thousand kilometres, we overnighted in Willowmore, spent a night at Zandvlakte Guest Farm just outside the Baviaanskloof nature reserve and our last night was in Patensie. Our route took us through Grahamstown, Addo, Kirkwood, Steytlerville as well as Hankey, Jeffreys Bay, Port Elizabeth, Port Alfred and Bathurst.
THE JOURNEY
Day One – East London to Willowmore: 500km+-
The Dispatch Adventure team left East London for Willowmore deciding to take the inland route, through King William’s Town to Grahamstown and towards Port Elizabeth, taking a right turn towards Patterson and Addo. This is citrus-growing country and from Addo all the way to Patensie there are orange trees as far as the eye can see.
From Addo we continued on to Kirkwood and then onto the R75 towards Kleinpoort and the R329 to enter the Baviaanskloof and the main road to Steytlerville.
Just before reaching Steytlerville we came across the Valley of the Flags. This part of the R329 has been colourfully adorned with flags that have had a historical impact on Steytlerville. The flags were painted by a nearby farmer pre-1994 and updated after South Africa received its new flag.
A couple of hundred metres before Steytlerville is the turn-off to the Karroo Theatrical Hotel. Watch you don’t miss the turn-off to this though, there is just a small sign indicating the hotel is a kilometre down along on a dirt road.
In Steytlerville there are many interesting sites to see, including the family crests down the middle of the main street. Started in 2003, the flags depict the crests of families who have contributed to the history of Steytlerville and encompass families from all communities. Those families without traditional crests were encouraged to design their own, to identify their unique family clan.
On our way out of Steytlerville we stopped at Lizzy’s Khaya, a well-known restaurant that specialises in Karoo foods such as roosterkoek, vetkoek and curry and lamb stews, as well as sweeter things like koeksisters and malva pudding.
We then headed for Willowmore, travelling along a single lane cement road to reach the Willow Historical Guest House where we spent our first night.
Day Two – Willowmore to Zandvlakte Guest House: 120km+-
The team was up by 8am and got in a quick breakfast before heading out to see what Willowmore had to offer.
The original plan was to head to Uniondale for a quick visit before heading into the Baviaanskloof, however there is plenty to see in Willowmore.
As well Bakers Dam, the historical graveyards and the Black Stone Powerstation, the main street of the town features delightful antique stores, craft shops and coffee shops. We also came across the Willow Limo, a donkey-drawn cart on which you can enjoy a relaxing ride through the town..
We stopped at the Antieke Winkel, where you can buy almost anything, to pick up supplies before filling up and getting on our way.
While there is plenty to see along the road towards the reserve, we chose to stop at Vero’s Restaurant, which offers local cuisine such as roosterkoek with a variety of fillings, and at the Baviaans Craft Shop situated right across the road.
Also in this area are the Makkedaat Caves, cabins for hire that have been built into the mountain.
We arrived at our second nights’ stay – Zandvlakte farm – at around 2pm, where we were warmly welcomed. After a quick freshing up farmowner Pieter Kruger showed us some of the work he is involved in, with the aim of restoring the area’s water catchment ability.
After this tour we had a couple of hours to relax, before enjoying a delicious home cooked supper next to a crackling fire.
Day Three – Zandvlakte to Patensie: 80km+-
After enjoying a scrumptious eggs and bacon breakfast we got off to an early start, after being warned that, due to the heavy winds overnight, we could find it tough going through the reserve. This proved correct as a large number of trees had been blown over into the road, blocking our path. With no way of pulling the larger trees out of the way, and no other vehicles on the route to help, we had to manoeuvre our way through and around the various obstacles. Our 4x2 Everest came through with flying colours.
There are a number of camping sites and guest houses dotted along the way throughout the Baviaanskloof. The scenery is magnificent however be forwarned, in parts the road is only wide enough for a single vehicle, although there are areas where you can wait for the other car to pass.
At the top of the final mountain pass as you approach Patensie you come across a stop on your right,, where you can pull over and read about some of the plants and animals found in the reserve. Directly across the road from this is a track going down into a valley, if you walk down it, you will come across a disused cable car, spanning one of the gorges. A must see.
It took us close to four hours to get through the reserve, during which we saw plenty of kudu, monkeys and lots of amazing scenery. However we missed the more elusive buffalo and leopard which are also found in the reserve.
Once through we had a quick drive to Patensie, where we arrived at the Ripple Hotel just after 3pm. After dropping off our bags we went to find a place to have lunch and came across Padlangs which is a must-visit if in the area.
Day Four – Patensie to East London: 450km+-
After enjoying an early breakfast at the Ripple Hotel, the Dispatch Adventure team set off for the final slog back to East London. We stopped in at Padlangs again for a hot chocolate and continued on our way towards Hankey.
Once through Hankey we made our way to the main road, but decided to head back a bit to Jeffreys Bay, for a short stop.
From Jeffreys we moved on towards Port Elizabeth, staying on the highway straight through, with us then making a stop at the famous Nanaga farm stall for lunch.
From there we continued along the coast to Port Alfred to fill up with petrol, before the final stretch home.
We finally arrived back home in East London just after 5pm on Friday afternoon, quite weary after a thoroughly enjoyable adventure.
OTHER INTERESTING SITES
Willowmore
There are many lovely historical buildings in town, quite a few dating back to the 19th century, including the Old Dutch Reformed Rectory, built in 1864, The Old Jail, built in 1896, St Matthew's Church, completed in 1881, and the beautifully renovated Town Hall, built in 1896, which has an unusual clock tower.
Between Willowmore and Uniondale
Uniondale is known for its ghost story – a young woman who is said to stand alone alongside the lonely stretch of road between Willowmore and Uniondale. When people stop to offer her a lift, she is said to get into the car and then suddenly vanish.
The Baviaanskloof Road
The dirt road was built between 1880 and 1890 by South Africa's most famous road engineer, Thomas Bain. Together with his father, Andrew Geddes Bain, who emigrated from Scotland in 1816, he was responsible for 32 of the most important road projects in the Cape. It was among the last roads built by Bain, as he passed away in 1893 and it is by far the longest of the roads and mountain passes which bear his mark.
In the Baviaanskloof
The Cable Car: Winston le Roux's cable way system once bridged the gaping Waterpoort, providing an effective link between the Enkeldoorn and Bergplaas farming communities. Constructed in the early 1960's, the system was used to transport farm produce (wheat, potatoes, vegetables and livestock) between the two areas, by-passing the tortuous and time-consuming road route. The view west gives an idea of the extent of the valley's faultline and the enormity of the forces which buckled the earth’s crust.
Hankey
The Hankey Sundial in Hankey, which is the largest Sundial in the Southern Hemisphere and was erected in 1989 at the entrance of the town, right below the Vergaderingskop Mountain.
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