Rust de Winter Bundu Trail
The Rust de Winter Bundu Trail is situated about 100km north to north-east of Pretoria, Gauteng.
Friday night and Saturday morning at the SA Jeep Club camping site next to the Elands-river.
 The
camp-site is located next to the Elands river with high Apiesdoring trees
creating a truly tranquil atmosphere. Being next to the river one can hear
and see a host of different bird species of which the Kingfisher is the most
noticeable. |
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The camp-site caters for caravans and tents and even has a few bungalows. |
 Little
Vinkie after a good night's sleep. |
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 The
camping area sports ablution facilities and braai areas. |
Assembling at the start of the trail on Saturday morning.
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We were a total of 12 vehicles including the marshals. Running boards were removed based on some good advice from the marshals. |
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The first hour.
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Some local transport. |
Nothing spectacular happened except that the Pajero in the group got stuck in some mud (not this guy in the Jeep though). |
River crossing.
  This
river can get nasty after some good rain but all of us managed quite
comfortably (even the novices had no hassles). |
   Jeff
Meyer with his Mitsubishi TDi. |
|
   Melt
Booysen with his Toyota Hilux 2.4. |
Lover's lane.
 Lover's
lane is a narrow gorge that is flooded after some good rain. The riverbed
with some sizeable boulders ensure some exciting driving upstream. |
  Vinkie
seemed to have no major problems. With his Hilux 4x4 2.4 diesel and
occasionally engaging a recently fitted rear diff-lock, he could take the
best of what has been dished out. |
 These
two guys seemed to have it somewhat tougher. The little Willy's Jeep got
stuck a few times and had to be rescued. The larger Jeep (1956) 4.2 petrol
does not have diff-lock and had a sizeable load which is some cases proved
to be a little nuisance as he got stuck as well. |
| One of the participants with a 3.0V6 Colt Rodeo drowned his vehicle some by taking the wrong line and had to be rescued. Unfortunately, there is no footage of this encounter. | The only other participant who attempted Lover's lane was Darryl Gibson with his double-cab Toyota 2.2 nicknamed Bigfoot. This guy upped the diff-ratio from 4.875 to 5.25 with diff-locks front and rear and 33inch tyres. He refused to bypass this route. (See picture at the top of this page). Unfortunately no action footage available. | Apart from the other marshal who had to escort the rest of the group no-one else wanted to attempt Lover's Lane. |
A few uphill dongas.
   Nothing
spectacular to report except that the novices got some practice getting to
know their vehicles. |
 Pajero
strutting his stuff. |
 |
  Vinkie
doing his bit. |
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The final hurdle before calling it a day.
 Bigfoot
did not even raise any eye-brows. The marshals enjoying their own private
joke while Bigfoot makes the hurdle look like a highway on a Sunday. |
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  Melt
having a go. Seems cool. But then, it is a Toyota Hilux. |
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That's it for the Saturday. It took about 7 hours to do about 40kms.
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Enjoying the view and a night-cap on Saturday night on top of the highest part of the mountain. |
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Sunday morning. A little walk in the park.
Clearing the way after some good rains in the area.
Cooling off. The temperature was about 40ºC and it was very humid due to the rains.
