TRAIL GUIDE
Most 4x4 trails near holiday destinations have an admission fee, but there are still a few challenging ones near coastal and mountain towns where you can play for free.
Gansbaai, on the Cape south coast, about two hours’ drive from Cape Town – three hours during holidays – has a free trail along the sea. Four kilometres south of the town, in Van Dyksbaai, also known as Kleinbaai (apparently there’s a story behind this confusion), you’ll see dozens of diving cages hanging behind massive motorboats. Shark cage-diving tour operators use Van Dyksbaai as a base for this adrenaline-charged activity. But you’re not here for a meeting with the guys with the grey coats and big teeth. Rather drive on, westwards down Kabeljou Street to where the road ends in a parking lot next to the cold Atlantic. Here is a stubby post with a tiny sign (it’s actually just a laminated card) with the words “Gansbaai Trail” printed on it. The first kilometre is pretty tame and occasionally you’ll find pensioners in small, sheltered coves having a picnic next to their Honda CRV. While it might be considered easy though, you won’t be able to complete the trail in an ordinary sedan. Then, suddenly, the trail becomes more challenging. In places you can clearly see how guys in soft off-roaders struggled in the loose sand. There are deep ruts where tyres spun furiously, and the scrape marks on the rocks bear testament to the numerous chassis that paid the price of human error. The sand trail makes a few sharp turns; drivers of double cab bakkies need
to choose their line well otherwise you’ll have to perform three-point turns in the deep, loose sand. At one of the sheltered coves there is enough space to pull over and plant a fishing rod next to a cooler box. The mild, dry climate at Kleinbaai (or is it Van Dyksbaai?) is almost Mediterranean. You can catch geelbek or cod or simply stare at the whales frolicking in the water a few hundred metres away. There are seven shipwrecks in the immediate vicinity, amongst them the HMS Birkenhead that ran aground here in 1852. Apparently, it was the first shipwreck where women and children were put into lifeboats before men. >
But if the lure of off-road action is stronger, continue with this coastal trail. The last 1,5 km is tougher than the first section – it might qualify as a 3 on our difficulty scale, but it’s a low 3 bordering on a 2. Locals will say that it sometimes turns into a nightmare, especially during December when holidaymakers in their bakkies wreck the trail. It’s therefore better to attempt this trail in April or May when the weather in the Cape is at its best and no one except locals drive here. The unwritten rule is that you should drive the trail from east to west; in other words, from Van Dyksbaai to Danger Point, but feel free to do it in the opposite direction. It is slightly more challenging because in this direction it’s not always possible to choose a good line through the rocks and the dunes are steeper. And because you’re going against the stream you’ll have to make way or reverse when there’s a vehicle approaching from the front.
The unwritten rule is that you should drive the trail from east to west, but feel free to do it in the opposite direction – it’s slightly more challenging.