subject: MY DAY TO SANI PASS [print this page] MY DAY TO SANI PASS MY DAY TO SANI PASS
A DAY TO SANI PASS
My journey started all the way from Cape Town. I knew that about 1850 km were to be covered in one day to get to the outskirt of the Drakensberg Mountains, where lies one of the scenic and spectacular passes in southern Africa.
I asked my brother to drive me to Cape Town International airport to catch an 8:30 am BA flight to Durban. Since I live not far from the airport it only took us 10 minutes to get there. it was on a Saturday, the road was free flowing. I was inside the airport at around 7:15 and checked in my 13 kg bag and proceeded to the waiting lounge. I feel disturbed and embarrassed when I am late for anything or any occasion the same way I dislike the long queues and the announcement that"the flight has been delayed, we apoligise for inconvenient".
I went straight to the exclusive book shop to buy a magazine and sat quietly reading it until the announcement for boarding was made. There was a very long queue at the boarding gate for the flight BA 6303. I waited until the very last person has checked in and I joined empty queue.
I got into the plane, walked in the aisle until the last row of the airplane and there was my seat at the left side in the aisle. The plane was full. I understood why my booking agent took a long time to assure me that I had a ticket for this particular flight. I guess the flight was full and I was put on hold until a customer cancelled. I was not feeling ok to seat right at the end of the airplane. I thought there was something wrong with the back seats of airplanes.
There were many French tourists in the plane including 40 of them who were travelling with me to Sani Pass. In less than two hours, we touched down without any hiccups. I am a frequent traveler on Cape Town Durban route and there are sometimes strong tribulations but this time round it was a smooth fly all the way. The weather was fine, the staff were informative and fantastic in their serviceincluding the captain who kept us informed about the weather, the dorps and the towns we flew past above etc.
When we landed in Durban, the baggage collection was fast and I went out to meet the driver who was waiting to drive us to Sani Pass.
Durban was humid and hot as it is for the better part of the year. I was leading the group and my job entails telling them about places and itspeople, the fauna and flora as well as the history of the different places. I am a tour guide.
"Welcome to EThekwini", I told them. I explained them how the settlement of Durban started, where the name came from and how we see it today. We drove around to get a panoramic view of the town from the Victoria embarkment to the Golden Mile and the city centre including the vibrant Victoria market known also as Indian Market. They liked this one as they started bargaining for the better prices on curios, jewellery and spices. One of interesting section of the market was the place where medicine men were selling dried baby crocodiles, bones and roots as well as many liquids in all kinds and shapes of used bottles. Are there any human parts on sell here? One tourist asked me. Not at all; I assured them.
After a quick visit of the market, we went to have lunch in a local famous Indian restaurant where we tasted the Indian cuisine and delicates.
Some of the tourists wanted to go to the beach to collect the sand for themselves andfriends at home and I said no. The temptation to go to the beach could lead to the waste of our time and who knows, some criminals take advantage of touristsand prey on them. Besides, it was only less than a week that another client of mine got her bag snatched at the same spot while she was trying to soak her feet in the warmer "Indian Ocean". Her passport and other belongings were stolen and this had repercussion on her holiday that had to be cut short.
We left Durban at 14:30 to Sani Pass. Our first technical stop as guides like to call it was at Hawick's fall. The view of the falls was magnificent but there was a thunderstorm forming in the sky. All the street vendors were collecting their stuff, taking them to the storage. Sooner we left Hawick, it started pouring. It was very difficult to see where we were going. The driver had to take it easy and to adjust his air-conditioning to clean his windscreen.
After almost one hour drive in the rain, it started clearing. Rainbows were forming next to the road with few showers still falling and at the same time some patches of the sun shining at the mountains. I started talk about the Rainbow Nation in the sense of Desmond Tutu. It was the beautiful green mountains and open terrain of the Drakensberg. As we drove further it became clear skies and the mountains peaks revealed their rock formations.
We checked in at the hotel Drakensberg Garden at 18:30. A dinner was served at 7:00 and accompanied by the entertainmentbythe staff choir. It was a long day and every one of us retreated to our rooms.
The last time I came to the same hotel was in 2003. It was a night that I will never forget. The flight from Cape Town was delayed and instead of arriving in Durban at 19:30, it landed at 21:30. It was raining cat and mouse. Neither the driver nor I knew well the road besides the use of a map. The weather was very bad and the mist was very thick. We could only manage to drive 30 km per hour. It took us very long to get there and I kept thinking that we were lost. Anywhere, we managed to get at the hotel at 2:00 am and customers reckoned that we were going to the hotel "to wake up". I was happy that this time I managed to come to sleep not to wake up.
An appointment with a local Sani Pass operator had been arranged beforehand and we met the drivers in the lobby of the hotel to sign the formalities for the border. After that we jumped into the vehicles to take us for a full day adventure to Lesotho via the famous Sani Pass. We left at 9o clock in a seven cars convoy. Our first stop was at the South African border post where we received the exit stamp in our passports. Nothing was to be recorded into computers as they were not working. It was good for us as it went fast. We boarded our vehicles again to ascend the 8 remaining km to the top. After almost 3 km, one of the cars broke down. The question was to know what to do. Should we leave a group of us and go on top and one of the cars comes down to collect them? Should we asked them to walk follow us? An idea came to light: it was to drive a small distance, drop the people, leave them walking, come back to collect the other group and so forth. It worked magic and people liked it. It was the best view of the pass you could wish to have.
In the meantime, another four by four was dispatched to come to collect us from the top once we were done with our walk and visit of the Basotho village. I enjoyed the lunch at the highest pub in Southern Africa at 2800 m above sea level.
The coming down was as much interesting as going up. The view of the pass is endless. The only problem is the fear of "what if" the brake fails. You keep on asking how far you could land.
The notice at the top says that descending cars should give way to ascending ones but because of many sharp curves one motorist may not see another one until they collide head on. I wonder if there has ever been any sort of accident. We met Lesotho taxis caring full of passengers and their goods and I couldn't believe that this Pass could be used by the same 14 seater vans that I am used to see on our tar roads. I couldn't count the number of passengers but it looked to me as if it was overloaded. Dangerous!
The ride was shaky and bumpy but it always worth the trip. I have now done it a number of times but a very trip is unique but all keep lingering in my memory.
