IT was the Wednesday before Easter – still fairly quiet on the roads – and Bill and I were travelling into the Eastern Cape via Matatiele and the spectacular Route 56.
There was a déja vu quality to our journey. Last year we’d set out on what we called our ‘filling in the gaps’ road trip along this very same road. However, thinking the N2 would be quicker that the R56 we’d hurriedly returned along this far less pleasant and much more congested main route after I’d broken my arm in the Baviaanskloof.
With hindsight, even though we were in a hurry to get home, the R56 would have been a far better option then, I think.
Anyway, regular Tent Travels readers will know that my accident had fortunately only occurred right at the end of our wonderful holiday and that the ‘filling in the gaps’ trip was only shortened by a week. We’d already done a wide loop through the Free State, Northern Cape, Western Cape and a lovely section of the Eastern Cape.
Sadly, though, we’d had to give a particularly lovely destination, the Mountain Zebra National Park, a miss. After we’d arrived home Bill had telephoned Sanparks to cancel our Mountain Zebra booking but a kind Sanparks employee had suggested that we postpone our stay rather than cancel it. We hadn’t realised we could do this so were grateful for her advice and we immediately booked for five days over Easter.
When we had planned our ‘filling in the gaps’ itinerary we’d reluctantly left out Addo Elephant National Park because of time restraints. As we were going back to that area to stay at Mountain Zebra, we decided to add a visit to Addo onto a trip that would close the circle we’d abruptly left open by having to cut short last year’s holiday.
So here we were, a few days before the busy weekend trip, revelling in being back on the open road – and what a beautiful piece of open road it was.
We’d left our home in Uvongo, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, at lunchtime and, a bit ambitiously, were planning to spend the first night of our trip near Elliot, about a five-hour drive from home. The R56 skirts the Eastern Cape section of the Drakensberg and is not only incredibly scenic but amazingly uncommercialised.
A number of guest farms and bed and breakfast and self-catering places have sprung up over the last couple of years but they are still rather few and far between; surprisingly so – this absolutely gorgeous, untamed section of our country has amazing tourism potential.
There are even less camping and caravan parks along this route so we’d been pleased to find out about Intaba Lodge, 9km north of Elliot. It was situated at the foot of Barkley Pass and a bit out of our way but it was one of the few establishments along Route 56 that offered camping facilities. We had quite a way to go to get there and wanted to arrive before dark so we were in a bit of a hurry. All the same, travelling this lovely Route 56 was a real joy.
Last time we’d driven it, it was late winter and the mountains were all harsh, dry, wintry browns; and rather chilly to say the least. Now although autumn was starting to advance, adding coppery tones to the long grass, the landscape was still predominantly green on this, a perfectly lovely summery afternoon.
We passed Maclear where last year, on our ‘filling in the gaps’ trip we’d turned off to go to Rhodes. Instead we motored on, keeping to the R56 on our way to Ugie. From this little town, it was just a short hop to Elliot and we were making good time. The road had edged closer to the Drakensberg by then and the landscape was rapidly becoming more and more dramatic.
When we reached Elliot, so beautifully situated in the mountains, we turned inland for a little way, along the road to Barkly East and ultimately, Aliwal North. When we finally reached our destination it was still light enough to put up our rooftop tent with ease. Just ten minutes or so later we’d set up the first camp of our holiday at the campsite at Itaba Lodge, a lovely, grassy little field ringed by mountains and offering clean, comfortable facilities.
The next morning we didn’t have too far to drive to our next destination, Mountain Zebra National Park so, as we were up pretty early, we decided to do an extra little drive up the pass. As we packed away our tent, the sun’s first rays peeped over the mountain tops and we watched the pearly dawn break as we finished a quick cup of coffee and a rusk. It was a lovely morning, not a cloud in the sky and a mere tinge of autumn in the air. The gentle light brought out the vivid greens of the mountains as we slowly advanced up Barkly Pass.
The mountains in this part of the world are beautiful, smooth green mounds and domes and plateau, decorated with golden sandstone buttresses and natural sculptures of huge, rounded rock outcrops. Some of the mountains appeared thin-skinned, the grassy earth barely covering the rocky layer beneath the surface.
At the top of the pass, we stopped to enjoy the view then continued on our way, slowly descending the pass, driving back through the town of Elliot then turning back onto Route 56 for a few short kilometres. Finally we said goodbye to one of South Africa’s prettiest but often overlooked routes, turning onto the road to Queenstown then Tarkastad and finally to Cradock.
A few more kilometres and we were at Mountain Zebra, looking forward to our delayed visit to one of Sanpark’s most majestically beautiful national parks.
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