Extreme HIGH 5 PASSES CHALLENGE

I was ruminating about this daring escape and the exploits of other fugitives, the cattle rustlers who’ve operated on the tracks around Lesotho’s borders, as my co-pilot Harvey Tyson and I travelled the rutted mountain roads between Sterkspruit and Tele Bridge. We were en route to Lundin’s Nek to face the “SA’s Extreme High Five” passes challenge (as it is promoted by Tiffindell), and had decided to cram in another new pass on the way there.

Although we got lost a few times on this largely un-signposted road, we eventually did arrive at the Tele Bridge-Lundin’s Nek crossroads. There we celebrated our find, and Donald Woods’s courage, with a tot of fine Irish whisky.

Apart from the engaging driving and spectacular scenery along the roads that skirt Lesotho’s majestic mountain kingdom, it is historical anecdotes like these (another is the capture of the rebel Chief Moorosi) that add layers of intrigue to an adventure like ours.

But if it’s just driving and scenery you’re after, you certainly won’t be bored on the 14.5km Lundin’s Nek Pass (R393). As the website www.mountainpassessa.co.zadescribes it, this track has “101 bends, corners and curves, including four hairpins, several unbridged stream crossings and very steep, unguarded drop-offs”.

The website calls it one of the most underrated of SA’s big gravel passes, and we agreed. A few sections could well be classified as a Grade 1 4x4 challenge; but, if the pass were wet - or worse, had some snow or ice on it - it could be dangerous or even impossible to