With the easy run on tarmac provincial roads now behind us, driving had just become more interesting as we navigated the twists and turns of the gravel-surfaced R393 following the Telle River along the Lesotho border. We were now headed for the challenge of the 2 170 m Lundin’s Nek, unsure of the condition of the road following days of heavy rain.
In their day, when they were regularly maintained, both Lundin’s Nek – and Naude’s Nek which we were due to tackle later in the day – hosted special stages on one of the SA rally championship events, the curves and sheer drop-offs providing a unique challenge. Today, sections of the road surface of Lundin’s Nek have been washed away, streams of water leaving deep ruts across the road surface and exposing loose rocks in places. While the gradient was never a challenge, the road surface combined with the vehicle’s relatively modest ground clearance meant that progress was limited to a walking pace on many of the rougher sections. Through these sections, it was necessary to observe the off-road basics of keeping the wheels on the highest points and keeping speed down to avoid bouncing over rocks and damaging the underside of the vehicle.
Even without the use of the snow, mud and sand drive selector modes, or resorting to manual gear selection, the DCT held onto 1st gear allowing easy throttle modulation through the rougher sections. The key to this was a low 1st gear ratio, meaning that the DCT had no need to slip the clutch during slow progress however, being a wet-clutch design, it should be capable of handling some abuse if required. AWD was unobtrusive although it was clearly engaged as wheelspin was kept to a minimum. Being focussed on driving it almost came as a surprise to reach the summit and look back, take in the views and to realise how high we had climbed.
Following the relatively gentle descent from Lundin’s Nek we headed toward the R396 which links Barkly East and Rhodes, heading east toward Rhodes. The village remains as picturesque as ever with tree-lined avenues and quaint homesteads, most of them clearly much loved and restored. Arriving for refreshments at the Walkerbouts Inn, a charming rustic hotel with a reputation for great food and its cosy pub, we were welcomed by owner Dave Walker who shared some village tales before it was time to tackle the last challenge of the day, the 2 592 m Naude’s Nek pass.
The pass has an interesting history dating back to the 1890s when some local farmers, the Naude brothers, built a track through the mountains to create a shortcut between Rhodes and Maclear, and to move their sheep to higher grazing land depending on the season. By 1911, their track was upgraded to a military road, later becoming a national road.
A lack of maintenance has seen it revert to rocky track in places, being better suited to 4WD especially when wet or covered in snow. Once again, our vehicles coped exceptionally well with the gradient and rough track, and in little over an hour and with the temperature now down to 10°C, we arrived at our overnight stop, Tenahead Lodge.
FAST FACTS
Model: Kia Sorento Sorento 2.2 CRDi SXL AWD 8DCT
Price: R998 995
Engine: 2,2-litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Transmission: 8-speed, DCT
Power: 148 kW @ 3 800 r/min
Torque: 440 N.m @ 1 750 – 2 750 r/min
Ground clearance: 176 mm
Fuel consumption: 6,8 L/100 km
CO2 emissions: 177 g/km
Keyword: Kia Sorento Adventure – Part 2