Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

This weekend a few of us went to Platbank. The trip was arranged by Mad Manny but since he was kind enough to advertise it here as well, a few of us joined.

From this forum we had Manny himself, Ant, Peet (Bugjuic), Tinus and myself.
Platbank is sifuated wbout 30km other side of Vaalwater in the Waterberg. The camp is situated in a bend in bend on a river, under clifs. One of the most beautiful camps it has been my privelege to visit. It is relatively basic but quite adequate for a group of 10-12 vehicles. There are two ablution blocks with hot water (one from a donkey, the other gas), a thatch roof and a braai area with a zink. But the water is not certified to be safe for consumption (it is filtered river water) and there is no power. Unfortunately there were over 20 vehicles so the ablutions were under some pressure.

It's about 300km from Kempton and most of that along the N1. So easy to get to but susceptible to bad traffic on a long weekend.

There are four routes on the farm ranging from suitable for a relatively standard vehicle (although not a soft-roader) to rather flipping tough, and over the course of the weekend we tackled parts of all of them.

Johan Swift and Muller Coetzer (well known to river trip-goers) were also there and guided us expertly.

Saturday morning we tackled the River Route.

Fantastically scenic and easy enough that a normal double-cab can do it (although one got stuck twice and had to be winched by Muller) but there are a couple of "optional obstacles" that are rather more challenging , to the point that Muller had to winch himself out once and I had to haul out my Hi-lift jack and pack some rocks to get myself off a rock. Ant helped me but in the process managed to smack his toe with a rock under the water.

There are a number of places on this route where one can park next to or even in the water for a rest.

The photos below are not mine. I didn't take many and still have to down-load those I did take from the camera. These days I always seem to be to busy guiding and helping to take photos.

On Sunday the serious guys did the Rubicon route (I wonder how many Rubicon routes there are in this world), while a few of the other guys did the Mountain route. The Rubicon follows another river bed, dry at this time of year but with lots of big rock year round and is not recommended for standard vehicles. Typically it is said one needs 35" tires as a minimum and some say double lockers are also a must, although the real problem is clearance rather thean traction. There are some serious axle twisters and steepish inclines of loose boulders though.

The Mountain route crosses the Rubicon several times as it meanders through the koppies.

Me being deaf and dum deceded to also do the Rubicon despite my 33's. But I have done it once before. The rest of the group was Johan Swift (fairly seriously modified Jeep), Muller (also), Tinus and Ant (both double-locked GU's on 37s) and Douw (old two-door Range Rover on 35's with double lockers and lots of beefed-up drivetrain components).
What was interesting is that every single vehicle that did the Rubicon was shod with Maxxis tires.

Note that I would definitely not recommend this trail for Patrols on tires smaller than 37" unless you are very confident in your underbody protection. I had to drag my car over several big rocks. I don't know about small cars like Zooks.

Other than dongs and scrapes from underneath, the trail went pretty well for all of us, except when Tinus had a small lapse in concentration and parked his front axle on a HUGE boulder. Hi-lift and wheel buddy sorted the situation out pretty quickly though.

Most of the group then completed the Mountain Route as well, although I had to turn back from just before the end of the Rubicon.

Later in the afternoon this group did another, apparently even more difficult trail. I unfortunately missed that too.

Monday morning was just pack up and come home, an uneventfull trip despite fairly heavy traffic. At least the toll gates were fully manned and flowed pretty well when we went through.

My thanks to Mad Manny, Johan Swift and Muller for the arrangements, Ant, Swift, Muller and Tinus for the guidance and assistance and everone else for the company and cameraderie. A real fun weekend and a venue we should definitely consider making a regular destination.

Great write up PC!

Looks like a lekker weekend trip!