
Long Tom Pass links Mashishing (Lydenburg) on the Mpumalanga escarpment with Sabie in the Lowveld. Your drive might start off sunny, with views of grassland and pine plantations, but there’s a good chance you’ll soon be enveloped in mist. Long Tom is 26km long and its summit is at 2150m above sea level. From there, it loses 670m in altitude as it snakes down the slopes of the northern Drakensberg.
Just think how inaccessible these mountains must have been in the 1840s, when transport riders drove their ox-wagons through the bush to Delagoa Bay (Maputo).
And long before then, between 1500 and 1820, the Bokoni people crossed these mountains on foot. They lived between present-day Carolina and Ohrigstad and farmed using terraces. On some of the farms in the area you can see the ruins of their stone kraals, like faded tattoos in the grass.
Remnants of the ox-wagon routes are also still visible next to the R37, as are marks left during the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).
I’m exploring the pass with historian Gerrit Haarhoff, author of the book, Forgotten Tracks and Trails of the Escarpment and the Lowveld. We’ve just departed from Mashishing. After 17km we notice two signs close together: One indicates the highest point on the pass; the other reads, “Mauchsberg”.
“The sign is wrong,” says Gerrit, pointing in the direction of Sabie. “Mauchsberg is that one, with the tower. It’s the highest peak on the pass, not the highest point on the road.”
“So, what’s this hill called then?” I ask.
“Bôggerol,” he replies.
Denne historien er fra April/May 2023-utgaven av go! - South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April/May 2023-utgaven av go! - South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på

My best holiday ever
Most holidays are enjoyable, but some stand out for different reasons. Something on that trip - be it a destination or an experience - stays with you. Seven writers tell us about the getaways they'll never forget.

Choose a wild life
Africa is the home of the safari, and who unlocks this experience for tourists? An experienced, knowledgeable field guide, that's who. But how does it feel to sit behind the wheel of a Land Cruiser twice a day, answering the same questions over and over?

The day I almost became a Himba bride
Why do we travel, asks Sophia van Taak? One reason is to see how other people's lives differ from our own. But sometimes it's what we have in common that's most surprising.

BIRDS
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS FOR BIRDERS

Benin for the Bokke
By late October 2023, adventurers Jean Cooper and De Witt Oosthuizen were somewhere in the middle of Nigeria. Their plan was to be in neighbouring Benin in time to watch the Springboks play in the final of the Rugby World Cup. But they ran into roadblock after roadblock..

There's something about White River
White River is on a hill between Mbombela and Hazyview. You're a bateleur swoop from the Kruger Park, the Panorama Route and the Sudwala Caves, but why rush through? Come see what the town has to offer.

A farm stall? Here?
The Tankwa Karoo usually looks like Mars. It's an empty landscape where you can sometimes see the outline of a springbok shimmering in a distant mirage. It's remote. The main road, the R355, cuts a lonely 250 km slice from Ceres to Calvinia. The last thing you expect to see is a farm stall...

SKRIK VAN RONDOM FARM STALL, REDELINGHUYS
The road from Piketberg to Elands Bay leads from the Swartland through the Sandveld to the reeds of Verlorenvlei.

In a holy land
English explorer William Burchell stopped recording his southern African exploration at a Tswana settlement called Litakun, in the koppies north-west of modern-day Kuruman. As we make our way there, it becomes clear: South Africa is a sacred place.

Two's company
If you could park two Fords in your dream garage, which would they be? Most of us would pick the mighty Mustang and an apex bakkie like the Raptor, but there's also an awesome new Tourneo minibus that throws a spanner in the works...