State of the road to Injisuthi

I think that short stretch of dirt between the end of the tar and the Injisuthi gate is the worst road to any KZNWildlife area of late.

I was there about a week ago. I own a hatchback. However the road is becoming bakkie/4x4 territory only. Nearly had to turn back its got so bad. In some sections its barely navigable as the smaller cars have difficulty crossing the ruts and middlemannetjie's

I spoke to the lady at the office and she said that the road belongs to the municipality officially, however they don't really care about it since its after the last bit of rural settlement that stretches up that last bit of steep road that's usually caked in cow pats A no mans land really, and they couldn't give 2 hoots about the Injisuthi resort.

I strongly abject to that as the resort brings tourism and money to the surrounding areas. Is there not a way where we can perhaps drum up some support or speak to a powers that be to perhaps get a grader in there and resurface that stretch? They obviously spend large amounts of money maintaining the tar section, so no money i think is a cop-out excuse. On the Sunday, of all days, when we drove back there were 3 mobile tar "repair" units fixing various tar sections. All very high tech too!

Injisuthi is, I think, one of the best locations for entry into the berg, next to cobham, monks cowl, rnp and cathedral.
Lets not loose it due to no support, to some silly road falling to pieces!

I'm cautious about bringing anything political to this forum, but the state of neglect of the road to Injisuthi beyond the last settlement has always struck me as a bit of a political statement on the part of the responsible authorities. As Elandman points out, there is pristine tar leading off on spurs from the main road.

Somewhere else on the forum the struggle between Cathedral Peak Hotel and the road maintenance authorities is discussed (there is also an article on the VE website itself I think). So the issue is wider than just Injisuthi. In the case of Injisuthi though, there has been no fight-back. Injisuthi camp is not like Didima in terms of its clientele.

Will a Ford Sierra station wagon be able to handle it? I'm hoping to go there in December, hopefully my car which resembles a WWII tank (in fuel economy anyway) can handle it.

Ps. The worst road in the berg has to be the 900m stretch to Swiman Hut, I did it at 5-10km/h and it managed to disconnect my speakers in my car, although I was able to do it at this speed...

Much the same ghaznavid Just gotta putt along in 1st at walking speed. Worthwhile to get your passengers to walk instead, car ends up higher, and they get warmed up for walking

mnt_tiska, good to see that Cathedral are at least fighting for it. Suppose they have more $$ backing there because of the hotel and resort. And yes, it does seem like a statement of sorts, purposeful neglect

There isn't anything wrong with a dirt road. We don't need tar. All the dirt needs is a grader to go over it once or twice, scrape the surface flat. That's all it needs. And you usually see at least 1 or 2 of them out there at any one time.

Yeah i took my tazz about 2months ago, previously a year ago it had handled the road fine, but this time, seriously suspension and steering shaft at risk of busting. 1st gear crawl, even had some herd boys harass us for "sweets" while walking next to us, no possible to pull away faster

They really should issue a warning for 4x4 vehicles only, that stretch is extremely bad and a danger to smaller sedans IMHO.

Thanks intrepid. Yeah I was hoping to arouse someones interest on the subject who is high up on the food chain.

As I'm just a lowly minion in the scheme of things who loves the berg and hates it when stupid things like road conditions stops me and others from enjoying one of the best mountain ranges in the world!

Agreed

I'm over the next few weeks going to see who i can speak to through KZN Wildlife and the Municipality for the area, perhaps even a farmer or two in surrounding areas with the required equipment.

Will post any updates worthy of posting if I have any.

Thanks Intrepid! Who knows, maybe it will be sorted before I go in late December...