GREAT DRIVE
Sometimes the back road to your destination is shorter and more scenic than the highway, like the route to KZN through the Eastern Cape highlands.
Take the back road from Cape Town to KZN for a scenic and shorter detour through the Eastern Cape highlands.
There’s a good reason why people from Cape Town don’t head to the Drakensberg or to the beaches of KZN in droves every summer. Not only do they have their own beaches and mountains back home, it’s also a very long drive! If you want to travel along the N2 from Cape Town to Margate, it’s more than 1 500 km – 18,5 hours behind the wheel. (Even Windhoek and Gaborone are closer.) The most difficult section is the 400 km between East London and Kokstad in the old Transkei. The roads are in a poor condition and the journey will take a minimum of six hours. But if you drive the back roads via Graaff-Reinet, Cradock, Queenstown and small towns like Lady Frere, Cala, Elliot, Ugie, Maclear, Mount Fletcher and Matatiele, you mostly drive around the former homeland. You’ll cut about 100 km off your route and a whole two hours of driving time. Don’t believe me? Ask Google.
East of Queenstown, the R410 takes you over Nonesi’s Nek towards Lady Frere. It’s not clear where the pass got its name, but some reckon it’s a reference to a nun or “nursie” who once worked at the Roman Catholic church at the base of the next pass, MacKay’s Nek. The church is a collection of small buildings that resemble the traditional building style of the area. MacKay’s Nek Pass is not very long, but it has lots of sharp bends. Be careful, especially when there is mist on the mountain. From the top of the pass you can see Xonxa Dam glimmering in the distance. It was built as an irrigation dam in the 1970s to encourage agriculture in the area, but now supplies water to Queenstown. The roads in the area are generally in a good condition thanks to a R5 billion Sanral project to improve 13 roads in the Eastern Cape. Once you pass the Glen Grey Hospital about 3 km from Lady Frere, however, the tar turns to cement. This cement road is older than any tar road in the area and was apparently built during the Anglo-Boer War to connect Lady Frere with this mission hospital.
The next pass, KwaGoniwe Tyaliti, is about 30 km on the other side of Lady Frere. It’s not very steep and even though it’s about 13 km long, many people cross it without realising they’re even on a pass. This section of the R410 between Queenstown and Elliot runs through Thembuland, which was once part of the Transkei. After summer rains, the sourveld on the hills, plains and valleys turns bright
green and the colourful houses stand out like Smarties on a green cloth. Most of the houses are rectangular with corrugated iron roofs and metal window frames, but there are still traditional rondavels with thatched roofs and small windows without glass to be seen. Like most villages in the area, Cala isn’t eye-catching, but look for the old jail when you drive through. It’s a sturdy, white sandstone building that looks like a fort from a cowboy film, with only one small door and no windows. Cala Pass is the last of the passes between Queenstown and Elliot. Before it was tarred, the pass was notorious and avoided by travellers, but now you can drive it in comfort and take in all the views along the way. Just before you enter Elliot, at the junction with the R56, you’ll find the first of seven stop-and-go points that will keep you busy for the next 80 km. Along the way you’ll see pedestrians ambling next to the road. People like Makhosi Lawrence Futshane, who is looking for two of his cows. A light brown calf running across the road doesn’t concern him. “No, that’s not one of mine. I will go look in that camp,” he says, pointing in the opposite direction to the way he’s walking. In Elliot, it’s the impressive cliffs and rock formations – like the Guardians rock columns on the northern side of town – that make visitors take notice. In most small towns in rural areas, you’ll find a church built in a Gothic style. Not in Elliot – the Dutch Reformed church in Dampier Street (one block from the main road) is an octagonal sandstone building with an asymmetrical tower to the left of the entrance, the way a child might draw a house with a chimney. There’s also a small replica of the building to the left of the church, which serves as a wall of remembrance. The signs at the stop-and-go points on the other side of town say you might have to wait for up to half an hour, but I’m never stationary for more than 10 minutes at a time. It’s a small price to pay for a big improvement in the road. While we wait, I look at the green grass and the agricultural fields. Most of the farmers here keep sheep and cattle, but more and more are planting crops like potatoes, soya and mielies. Speaking of mielies, a woman might knock on your window at one of the stop-and-go points to sell you a mielie cooked over the coals!