Day 14 - Uitspan Campsite to Doringkloof Campsite

Date: 2025/04/20
Departure From:  Uitspan Campsite (Baviaanskloof)
Departure Time:  09h00

Weather: 
Overcast with patches of blkue sky
Departure Temperature:  15C
Peak Temperature: 24C

We arrived at Doringkloof Campsite  which is very different to when I was last here in 2003.  This campsite is about the halfway mark of the Baviaanskloof route and close to the western entrance of the Nature Reserve.   We selected a site next to the dam and setup camp.  One of the other campers informed us that the dam had recently been stocked with bass. A day visitor and fellow camper already had their rods in the water.  I hauled out my fishing rod and attempted some fishing.  I think the fish had taken refuge from the visitors and moved to the far-end of the dam.  No-one had so much as a nibble.

After lunch Mike and I did one of the four 4x4 routes.  This one criss-crossed the river up one of the ravines.   The going was not difficult with the deepest river crossing being just below the vehicle's running board. There is also a 4x4 route that takes one up and over the mountain to Kareedouw which I did in 2003.  We returned to camp and relaxed under the awning of Mike's Bush Lapa.

A group of travellers from Piet Retief arrived in their Discovery, Toyota Land Cruiser and VW 4x4 Camper.    We chatted about their vehicles and the route eastwards.   They were also going to travel East through the Nature Reserve the next day despite that the VW Air Dampers were no longer working. They heard that sections of the road though the passes had been damaged due to the heavy rains and had to be taken slowly and some sections require low range to take very slowly.  Also, due to the road wash-aways, some sections require a vehicle with high ground clearance.