If you can’t move the mountain, build a pass over it. And if you must traverse the pass, do so in the luxurious yet extremely capable Kia Sorento. And that’s what we did on an exciting ‘roads less travelled’ trip from Pietermaritzburg to Bloemfontein with Kia South Africa.
In the Southern Drakensberg between Maclear and Rhodes in the Eastern Cape, the Maloti, Drakensberg and Witteberg Mountains meet. And it is here that you’ll find Naude’s Neck pass. Baby brother to the more famous Sani’s Pass, it isn’t a ‘baby’ by much, topping out at 2,592 m above sea level (compared to Sani Pass’ 2,876 m), making it one of the top five highest passes in the country.
The eponymously named pass was constructed in the 1890s by the Naude brothers to create a shortcut between the villages of Rhodes and Maclear. Not only did it make it easier to move their sheep to different mountain pastures, but the 32 km pass effectively cut 128 km off the existing road connecting the two villages. While it was initially only a rough rock and gravel track, the brothers showed great skill in constructing the pass, so much so that road engineer George Mandy used it as a basis for building a military road through the mountains in 1911. It later became a national road (the R396), but in recent years has reverted from a pristine surface to a rocky road best suited to high ground clearance vehicles or even better 4WD vehicles when rain and snow make the pass that much more impassable (excuse the pun).
Challenge Accepted
Although available in AWD derivatives, the Sorento may not be the obvious choice for an off-roading adventure. Perhaps because of its high levels of refinement and lower ground clearance than typical bundu bashers, yet Kia was confident the Sorento was up to the task and invited a group of motoring journalists to prove it.
Our small convoy left Pietermaritzburg’s Oribi Airport early one sunny Wednesday morning and headed towards the KZN Midlands and a much-anticipated breakfast stop at Rox Coffee Company in Boston – long a favourite stop of ours en route to Underberg, thanks to its excellent coffee, delicious sandwiches, and, when available, some seriously more-ish fruit cake. Suitably refuelled – us, not the Sorentos, which had barely broken a sweat – we continued south-east, ticking off the little towns of Underberg, Matatiele and Mount Fletcher as we went, saying goodbye to KZN and hello to the Eastern Cape.
We made an attractive convoy. The Sorento boasts Kia’s distinctive ‘tiger nose’ grill but new ‘tiger eyeline’ LED daytime running lights frame the headlights giving it a sharp and assertive impression, while its enhanced dimensions (being longer, wider, and taller than its predecessor), sharper bodywork lines and longer bonnet make it appear more imposing on the road. Inside, we enjoyed the sophisticated upmarket feel of the cabin (including ambient mood lighting), the user-friendly 10.25” touchscreen infotainment system and the wireless smartphone charger, which was much needed considering how quickly we depleted our phone batteries taking pictures of the increasingly dramatic and beautiful mountain scenery.
About 50 km shy of Maclear, we turned right onto a dirt road, which quickly made us appreciate not only the Sorento’s excellent suspension but its 2.2 CRDi turbocharged diesel engine, which kicks out 148 kW of power and a sound 440 Nm of torque. And while the road surface proved rough, the Sorento’s eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission changed gears as smoothly as a knife through butter.
Speaking of butter, you can’t beat the farm-fresh variety, which was just one of the many delicious things in store for us at the Naude farm, where we stopped for lunch. Eagle-eye readers will recognise the name, and yes, this is the same family whose forebears built the pass over 100 years ago. These days, one Naude brother lives on the Maclear side of the pass and the other over the mountain on the Rhodes side – and yes, they use the pass to visit each other.
AT ALTITUDE
After a hearty feast, we were keen to tackle the pass for ourselves, and neither it – nor the Sorentos – disappointed. Carved sinuously into the mountainside, Naude’s Neck offers some of the most spectacular views in the Eastern Cape, especially when the mist and the clouds roll in, adding to its mystique. Those clouds also bring rain in summer and snow in winter, but our Sorento was fitted with Mud, Snow and Sand mode that automatically optimises the engine torque output and distribution, as well as stability control characteristics to best suit each scenario. Not that we needed to engage any of these on our uneventful, though memorable, amble up the pass.
South Africa’s highest mountain lodge awaited us at the top, the five-star boutique hotel of Tenahead Lodge & Spa. The attractive stone lodge is fronted by a beautiful garden of Alpine plants (it does get freezing here) and is nestled in a dip between two waterways, ensuring that each of its rooms comes with the soundtrack of rushing water to accompany spectacular views out of their panoramic floor to ceiling windows. Roaring fires in our rooms and the restaurant, good red wine, and a delicious meal ensured a warm and cosy stay.
STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE
The following day we set out to conquer the other half of the pass, which proved rockier than our ascent, but which the Sorentos handled with aplomb, nonetheless. We were greeted on the other side by the quaint hamlet of Rhodes, where each of the town’s stop signs bears the lines of a song – “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Stop, it’s Hammer Time” – the legacy of a particularly good night at the pub! One of these pubs can be found at The Walkerabouts Country Inn & Pub, where we eschewed the bar in favour of tea and delicious milk tart overlooking the prodigious rose garden.
From Rhodes, it’s a reasonably straight shot via Barkly East and Aliwal North to Bloemfontein – our final destination – but the Sorento still had some more tricks to share, so we instead chose to skirt along the border of Lesotho while tackling Lundean’s Neck Pass (self-proclaimed as “one of the most underrated big gravel passes” with another 2,000 m plus summit). We didn’t see another vehicle during our pass traverse (just a lot of sheep and goats), but it’s little wonder as the road is rough and requires some 4×4 expertise. There were large rocks, small river crossings, and quite a few times when at least one wheel left terra firma, but we emerged on the other side with nary a scratch, puncture, or damaged undercarriage. This was even more impressive, considering that one of the vehicles was a 2×2 derivative!
THE ROYAL WAVE
After our rocky mountaineering, the road to Zastron felt smooth as silk – aided again by the Sorento’s 18” tyres, excellent suspension, and some seriously comfortable seats. We continued the seriously comfortable vibe with lunch at the charming Ons Hotel in Zastron, where the owner regaled us on the time Queen Elizabeth (then Princess Elizabeth) visited Zastron in 1947. Based on our very enthusiastic reception, we joked that our little convoy may have been the next best thing to visit Zastron since the royals!
LAST WORD
It may have been a joke, but we cruised into Bloemfontein that evening in a style that, if not quite befitting royalty, certainly came close to it. The Sorento is a sophisticated, highly specced SUV that looks like a million bucks. The top-of-the-range derivatives almost cost as much as that, but our two-day adventure certainly demonstrated that its worth every penny, because not only does it look the part of a luxurious urban cruiser, but it’s tough as nails underneath and more than capable of handling almost anything you can throw at it. Come to think of it, the Sorento and Queen Elizabeth had that in common.
Report by NICKY FURNISS | Images © JONATHAN CRAWFORD
