Easter Pans Bash 2005 – Geoff Hill

 

 

Following on from our Mankwe trip last year we decided to try to go to the pans as reports were that they were not as wet this year.

 

The following were the participants and their vehicles.

            Geoff Hill and son Andy in a Land Rover Discovery 11 TD5 Auto.

            Steve Hill and son Brendon in an Isuzu KB 280.

            Dave Nixon and son in law Craig in a Hyundai Terracan.

            Gregg Howard and son Wesley in a Land Rover Defender 90.

 

We left home in Johannesburg south, Alberton and Benoni on Thursday 24 March 2005 at 08h08 and made our first mistake by taking the N1 where some army dude shot himself in the head and caused a massive traffic jam. We headed for Stockpoort and it was a pleasure going through compared to the chaos of last year at Martins Drift. Gregg had by this time been able to leave work and was travelling about four hours behind to meet at Khama. Distance travelled 625km.

 

Good Friday saw us off to Lethlakane for a fill up before we were on to Kubu. The pans on the southern route were getting progressively wetter and yours truly got stuck and Gregg had to extract me. I now saw what forum members meant about Auto boxes and heavy going as the temperature light came on but it was only for a short time. We camped at Kubu which was magic. I had bought one of those cheap shower goodies that plugs into a cigarette lighter for power and has a little pump you drop into a bucket of water. This proved to be a success of note as we all had a shower overlooking the pans in full moonlight. Distance travelled 247 km.

 

Saturday saw us departing from Kubu to travel to Nata. When we got to the vet fence we had a group discussion and decided to try the “Not Recommended” route as per T4A. A red flag to a bull! On this track before the pans beware the foxholes which can swallow a wheel. Following my temp light incident I decided to drive in low range 4th lockup on the pans and that seemed to work, as there was minimal torque converter slip. Gregg led the way with me bringing up the rear as we both had radios. I had some more fun as I did a 180 on the pans because by driving at the rear the surface was broken by the other 3 trucks and was very slippery. A rather sheepish voice came over the radio announcing he (Gregg) was stuck. When I got there 2 vehicles (90 & Terracan) were both deep in the muck. After getting the other 2 vehicles stuck trying to pull them out we finally, using the hilift jack and push sideways method, managed to get the 90 free and he pulled us all out. We made Nata at about 05h00 after a very interesting day. Distance travelled 132km. Fuel consumption for this leg turned out to be a heavy 17.13lt/100km.

 

We left Nata for the Dukwe cut line to go via the Kukonje turnoff and see if it was passable. The pans were very wet on this side and we gave it a miss. The vet gates wanted to confiscate our meat but we had done a Hennie and removed them from sight. I had left a pack of burger patties for them to confiscate if they really felt the need but the Disco’s rear door refused to open to get to the fridge. As traffic was building up on both sides the guard suddenly wasn’t interested anymore and waved us through. Just as well as those burgers were really great for lunch at Kukonje turnoff. We followed the cut line all the way to the Lethlakane/Serowa road with the intention of sleeping at Camp Itumela but we had spent too much time on the cut line and so had to try Khama again. Distance travelled 316km.

 

We left Khama and filled up again in Serowa and travelled via Shoshong to Malahapye logging new tracks for T4A. We travelled down the A1 to the Buffelsdrift turnoff (this was not pleasant as these guys have a death wish). Our intention was to use the Buffelsdrift border post but this no longer exists (a big game fence blocks the road) so we had to back track to Stockpoort. This time the border crossing was not as efficient and it took 45 minutes to check each vehicle coming back to SA. We then travelled via Thabazimbi and Brits to avoid the N1 parking lot and arrived at home in Alberton at 19h25. Distance travelled 764km.

 

Total distance travelled was 2084 per the Disco’s Speedo and 2106 per the GPS. Fuel consumption for the Disco with roof top tent was 13.49lt/100km.

 

A great long weekend and some very good company.

 

Thanks guys,

 

Geoff Hill

 

Images : Click Here !