The Whale Trail – take three
Almost fourteen years after the first time, we elected to sample the slackpacking option for this trail. Slackpacking involves paying R520 per crate/coolbox for transport from hut to hut. It makes for very good meals, meals that can do the "huts" justice. "Huts" and...
Witels – what else?
Having "done the Witels" back in 2009, I had little intention of doing it again, but then she-who-shall-remain-nameless talked me into another MCSA mission from 25 to 30 December. Anyway, when Christmas Day dawned it had already transpired that...
Riviersonderendkloof zipline adventure
High up in the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site between Stellenbosch and Grabouw, eleven steel cables spiral and zigzag down the Riviersonderendkloof ("river-without-end gorge"), forming a series of catenary for a thrilling,...
Stettynskloof to Du Toitskloof Traverse
This MCSA hike is led regularly by August Carstens since he participated in a mountain bike event along this route. I can't get my head around the biking concept because there is no discernible path to speak of in the upper Stettynskloof while thick riverine bush and...
Cathedral and Banghoek peaks
As Paul, the hike leader, had warned, the climb of the Cathedral (Second Ridge Peak) and Banghoek Peak would make for a "lang dag". And so it proved to be. The MCSA party of fourteen covered 16.5 km and climbed a total of 1790 m over 10.5 hours. We ascended via the...
Video: Abseil training on Paarl Rock
Abseil training led by Teuns Kok for the Mountain Club of SA, Stellenbosch Section
Overland Safari 2015 vlog
I don't expect this post to be of much interest to others besides those who were in the party who drove the 8000 or so dusty kilometres. It is however a video record - comprising 5 short, amateur videos - of our overland safari through Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and...
Empty camps in southern Africa
July to September is the peak safari season in southern Africa, as I remember it from my days in the safari tourism industry. It is winter, but dry, which is good for viewing wildlife and the days are warm - shorts and t-shirt weather. Malaria risks are also low....
The ill-fated voyage of the Malachite
Perhaps the fact that the houseboat Malachite Imfant is currently wrapped up in the recently-deceased owner’s estate was a harbinger of things to come. As it puttered out of Marineland at Kariba in balmy conditions however, the group had the distinct feeling that...
Canoe meets hippo at Mana Pools
There we were quietly enjoying the tranquility of the Zambezi from our Mana Pools campsite. As is so often the case, tranquility is an illusion in the wild. Suddenly there was a commotion upstream of us. A canoeing safari group had rounded the bend and one canoe had...
Recent Comments