Take the high road

If you’re not chasing the best roads in South Africa, you’re simply not doing it right. By roads, of course, I mean dusty mountain passes with spectacular views. As travellers and overlanders, we live for the langpad, and the Eastern Cape Highlands has long, winding roads in abundance.

On my way back to the Cape from a recent Wild Coast expedition, I couldn’t help but sample the region famed for the ‘Ben 10’ passes – a collection of mountain routes that traverse the highest roads in South Africa. Among them is Makhollo, AKA Ben MacDhui, which, at 3 001m, is the highest driveable road in the country, dwarfing the far more famous Sani Pass.

I had just fitted a brand new RSI SMARTCANOPY and SMARTKITCHEN to our Isuzu long-termer, so it was only fair that I got a chance to test it all out over the course