Baboons Pass - Dec 2011

[PaulCB]

After much planning, welding, modifying, shopping and waiting, the anticipation soon turned to reality on the 15'th of December when 4 Cruisers, a Jeep, Isuzu and Range Rover converged on Ramabanta. With roads washed away, some even got a taste of what was to come before even getting to the camp site. For two days prior to our arrival, torrential rain had washed away low lying bridges between Roma and Ramabanta – the result was a 1 hour detour – all we needed after a 6 hour drive from JHB.

A late night braai was enjoyed by all, with the same question going through most minds – if the roads are washed away, what on earth is Baboons going to be like? The weather report foretold clear skies for the next 2 days, but when was a weather report ever meaningful in Lesotho?

On Friday morning the camp was abuzz at 6:30am with final preparations, letting down tires, fixing last minute gremlins and squeezing in a breakfast between the butterflies. By 8:15am, all the vehicles, drivers and co-drivers were gathered across the river just off the Semonkong road. The teams consisted of the following members:

Milton Slabber – White Land Cruiser 79 EFI. Lockers R&F, 33” MT's
Roy Slabber – Yellow Jeep (SVM). Lockers R&F, 35” MT's
Gerhard & Louise Victor – Khaki Land Cruiser 79 EFI. Lockers R&F, 33” MT's
Henri Stoffberg – White Land Cruiser 78 TD. Lockers R&F, 33” MT's
Paul Carter-Brown & Woolf Freinkel – White Land Cruiser 100VX V8. Lockers R&F, 33” AT's
Willie & Gerda van Rooyen (with Son Willie Jnr & friend Sheldon) – Blue Range Rover V8. Lockers R&F, 33” MT's..... pulling well-laden Venter trailer with a few minor mods.
Sakkie & Adele Coetzee – White Isuzu Frontier 2.8TD. Rear Locker. SFA conversion. 31” AT's
























By 8:25am we headed up towards the start of the pass and packed an obligatory rock on the pyramid at the base of the pass. Before long, lockers were on, low range engaged and the fun started...

There were signs of the recent rains all around, with water bubbling out of the mountains and often crossing the pass, but luckily the surface was largely dry on most of the initial rock climbs. We had clear skies and temperatures heading up into the 20's. The convoy progressed well, until I look a left instead of a right at the first hairpin bend. Damn GPS didn't tell me to turn ;-) In the process or reversing, a rock smashed my right-rear valve and the swoosh that followed was heart breaking. After Woolf confirmed it wasn't a side wall but just the valve, we tried plugging the hole with camel-snot but to no avail. We finally decided to reverse some more to a good spot where the vehicle was solidly positioned and jacked the back up and changed the tire. I took Woolfs earlier advice and removed all the tire pressure sensors – they stick out a critical few mm and increase the chances of the valves being caught on rocks. That was the the one and only tire related incident on the trip.

The km's of climbing went on and on with a bit of rock packing here and there to help lift the undercarriage over some of the larger rocks. Milton, Roy, Henri and Gerhard led the pack and without rock-jockies they often pushed their way though without the help of any strategically placed rocks. Luckily they sustained very little damage – just the usual rock rash on the sliders and diffs.


















































































Willie was the butt of many quirks (mostly from me) about his chances of a Land Rover pulling a Venter trailer up Baboons. All said and done, he never stopped believing and trudged through the first day with only a minor incident. His modifications to the trailer included:
some rollers on the back to help it slide if the departure angle was not enough
A bash plate to protect the axle
A PTO attachment with a universal joint in place of the standard trailer tow ball and socket connection. This allowed the trailer to rotate freely behind the car.



At lunch time the Jeep was summiting a tricky section of the trail but a combination of the carb motor and steep angles caused fuel starvation and it cut out. Attempts to get it going again in the heat were fruitless, with the battery dying and unable to get it going. Henri's spare battery and a bit of cool-off time was all that was needed to get it back to life and Roy pushed through the obstacle keeping the Jeeps revs right up.

At around 3pm Miltons road ahead was suddenly obstructed by a boulder rolled down the hill by some local village kids. It blocked the road ahead but his winch made light work of pulling it aside. He managed to sort it out so quickly that the rest of the convoy was unaware of the situation and by the time they got to the boulder, it was just another large rock on the side of the road.













































































At about 4:30pm, the Land Rover had to finally succumb to its pedigree and spring a leak. It had been a hot day and the hard work up the pass with little air flow. One of the coolant pipes leading into the manifold sprung a leak and started squirting coolant. Willie picked this up pretty soon and all hands on deck were there to take photos of the Landie with its bonnet open. After the engine had cooled a bit (helped with a few litres from a stream a few metres away), the pipe was cut a bit shorter and re-fitted. Lesotho spring water was gathered out the stream and the Landie was full again and ready to go.




By 5:30pm we arrived at our overnight stop along the route – about 14km into the trail. Camp was set up and a fire started for the braai that evening. We had collected water at the streams along the way and had plenty for nice not showers courtesy of the Glind heat exchanger. Louise, Adele and Gerda put together an incredible supper and soon with full stomachs, sun burnt skin and tired heads we passed out for the night... In the early hours of the morning while Willie was dreaming about his Prado at home, he heard someone skuffling around outside his tent. Well aware of the petty theft encountered by many prior travellers, he held little back and screamed as loud as he could to shock the poor wits out of the thief. The “dis ek Pa” that followed was a huge relief as it was just his son obeying natures call. Everyone had a slight chuckle under their duvets and passed out once more.













Some time after 6am, the camp started waking up and packing away for the next days adventure. A quick check revealed that everything was still in the camp, which was no surprise as we had packed everything away in the vehicles prior to hitting the sack. Myself and Woolf decided to replace the valve on my tire and used the hi-lift to break the bead and a ratchet strap to seat the bead for inflation. It was the first time I had ever needed to do this on a trail and was chuffed that the theory works in practice.

At 8:30am we were on the trail again – greeted with clear skies once again and moderate temperatures. This part of the trail was now a lot more wet, with surface water from the mountains washing over the rocks. There was mud in a few patches and some slippery rocks, but nothing too bad to necessitate chains coming out. The rocky climb near the start of the second day was fairly straight forward so long as the correct lines were taken. We all managed through fine without any winching, pulling etc. It was then onto the very narrow section a few km's before Goliath's rock. Sakkie did a great job guiding the wider vehicles through, with Roy deserving a medal for getting the Jeep through with its 2m track width (10cm wider than a 100 Series).

The climb up towards Goliath's rock was probably the most challenging due to the amount of water flowing down the road as well as the soil that was washed away leaving a lot of large boulders waiting to hang up on the suspension. As more vehicles got through, the rocks got more slippery and traction was a bit of a problem. Diffs were sitting on rocks and tyres churning big holes. A bit of rock packing in the mud and all the vehicles got through, again without any winching or towing.

Goliath's rock was no problem as it was still dry and we summited triumphantly at the end of Baboons at around 11am.














































We enjoyed another great meal, whereupon Henri was very quick to hand over the “Land Rover Cap” that he had earned on the last trip to Roy for his stalling issue. The fact that a dead battery and a dry carb warranted the coveted trophy was testament to the few issues we had on the trail. The poor Venter trailers rear spring hangers were pretty much ripped off, but only sorted out with a log of wood and duct tape back at Ramabanta.

























After lunch we headed off to the Maletsunyane falls an hour from the end of the pass and enjoyed the spectacular views. This must be one of the most unknown yet spectacular sights on our beautiful continent.



















After the falls, we headed back to Ramabanta for one last night in Lesotho before heading our separate ways. All agreed it was an amazing trip with just the right combination of challenges and fun. A few notables from the trip were that its the first Troopie, 100VX and trailer up the pass.

Personally, a big thanks to all of the team. It was a great trip and one we will all remember for the rest of our lives!


Note: Photos are a collection from myself, Louise and Sakkie.

[Henris]

Very very nice Paul.

Well put...

Yes. Great report of a great trip..

[Mitsu Bushy]

Bakgat stuff Paul.

"and a ratchet strap to seat the bead for inflation"

Elaborate on this pls. Would be nice to know.

Renier

[duncang]

Great report ! Thanks very much folks.

[OomD]

Wow seems like an awesome trip. Well done everyone!

[Fluffy]

Bakgat stuff Paul.

"and a ratchet strap to seat the bead for inflation"

Elaborate on this pls. Would be nice to know.

Renier

Yes, please do.

[Sampie]

PaulCB,

That was a very awesome trip report, me thinks you must quit the
IT business.
Best baboons trip so far.

[Woolf]

This was a great trip with a wonderful group of people. I want to thank Paul for giving me the opportunity to travel along with him. An experience of a lifetime

[PaulCB]

Bakgat stuff Paul.

"and a ratchet strap to seat the bead for inflation"

Elaborate on this pls. Would be nice to know.

Renier

Put a ratchet strap around the circumference of the tyre to squeeze the tyre to try and get a bit of a seal between the rim and the tyre wall. Then use the compressor. Also remember to remove the mechanism in the valve itself to maximise air flow.

[JP]

Awesome ouens, lyk na 'n trip in a million

[Sampie]

Just for the record,

The RR has got 31", not 33" tyres

[Sakkie]

Ek MOET met Willie en Woolf saamstem. Hierdie was een GREAT groep ouens om mee saam te ry en kamp. Een van die beste offroad excursions wat ek nog gedoen het....ooit.

[Spook]

Goeie gorste, ek haal my hoed af vir julle ouens. Meer nog vir die geel Jeep en sy drywer. Wow

[Dionne]

Very nice report. Best 4x4 trip ever.

[Robbief]

So many Different People, vehicles together and so many good pics and good vibs well done to you all, wish I could be a passenger one day, cant move the rocks or drive it.

Robbie

[PeetS]

Well Done Gents! ( & Ladies!!) Looks like a well planned and executed outing. Stunning country at the top!!

[Haggy4x4Bedinges]

Well done
Willie awesome RR
Frontier looks good also with some great wheel articilation

[PaulCB]

Here is some footage from the web cam I mounted under the VX:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKVTxHvTEto

[Swys14]

one word...stunning!

[Sakkie]

Ek het iets geleer op die trip.....daar bestaan wraggies ten minste vier Land Cruiser ouens met wie ek goed oor die weg kan kom