Dirt & Trail Aug2020

Along Jack’s Pass
Broken bridge along
border patrol route on
the Nwanedzi River
on the Mountain Passes SA website and decided to
include it on their trip to visit Crooks Corner. As they
never managed to complete the pass, they were not
able to tell us much more, other than it being “flippen
hot” and that they didn’t receive any help from the
military base nearby when they got into a pickle. Even
the army didn’t want to patrol the pass anymore due
to the difficulty and remote location.
I then took to my computer and searched on
the Mountain Passes SA website. There was no
information, except that Jack’s pass is the northern
most pass in South Africa, with a single GPS
coordinate showing us the way. I even phoned the
mountain man, Mr Trygve Roberts himself, and
he told me that they had no choice but to remove
the pass from their database as it was extremely
dangerous and based in a militarized zone where live
ammunition drills take place. It was also reported
that no 4x4 vehicle or motorcycle would be able to
navigate the pass in its current condition. Hmmmm…
Dangerous times call for dangerous measures.
We set off that same week with our two
adventurized KTM 500s on the trailer, a bunch of
camping equipment and a vague line plotted on my
GPS. We made a booking at the Popallin Ranch, the
only place in the area that was still accommodating
essential visitors, mostly hunters. On our way, we
passed through the Tropic of Capricorn. After our
last work appointment in Louis Trichardt, we headed
even further north on the N1, through the Hendrik
Verwoerd Tunnel and Wyllie’s Poort pass in the
direction of Musina. I stared out the window and
watched as the scenery changed, it was my first ever
visit to this area.
Upon our arrival at Popallin Ranch we were met by
our friendly hosts who showed us to De Wets’s Camp
where we would setup base for the duration of our
stay. We discussed our plan to ride Jack’s Pass with
our hosts prior to our departure, and they put us in
touch with the SANDF Commander for the area to
get the necessary permissions to access the border
patrol routes. I MUST emphasize again that this pass
is located in a militarized zone and should under
no circumstances be traversed without all prior
permissions! The Commander made it very clear that
the pass had not been swept for explosives, mortars
and other live ammunition in over four years and we
would be riding there entirely at own risk. A woman
collecting scrap metal was killed in the area just a few
years ago when one of these old devices went off.
Our hosts also handed us a master key, this
key would enable us to leave the boundaries of
the Popallin farm, which runs along the Limpopo
River, and give us access to the militarized zone. We
prepared our bikes as the sun was setting over our
Beautiful palm trees
at DeWet’s Camp
Following a rocky
path on the outskirt
of the Limpopo River
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