The Whale Trail in the pandemic
As South Africa emerged from the hard lockdown in mid-2020, I became desperate to escape to the outdoors. On the off-chance that the Whale Trail was open, I contacted Cape Nature and easily obtained a booking for the trail in January 2021. The hugely popular trail was...
Burnt dogs, no Englishmen
A wilderness hike in the Cederberg in December is not everybody’s cup of tea, so when the weather report predicted the mercury rising to a scorching 40°C on day 3 of the proposed trip, I was quite surprised when there were no last minute cancellations, even from the...
Mad dogs and Englishmen …
... go out in the midday sun (in the Cederberg in summer) Or so the song goes. Except that the hiking group comprised a Belgian, a German, a half-Dutchman, a half-Greek-Cypriot and a boeremeisie - the instigator. All keen hikers and outdoorspeople. Almost exactly...
Hike above Kogelbaai
Studying satellite photos - on Google and Bing maps - of the mountains above Kogelbaai, I was able to discern a definite zig-zag path to the jeep track on the plateau north of Kogelberg Peak. So armed with a GPS waypoint for where the path leaves the Klipspringer...
Deep into Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve
With much perseverance and determination Santie had obtained a permit to hike to Shamrock Lodge (it's really a basic hiking hut) at Landdroskop, What we didn't know, however, was that the permit was a "special dispensation". So when I arrived at Nuweberg gate, before...
Zebra stripes and yellow streaks
The MCSA Stellenbosch's first official post-lockdown outing was a weekend hike to Zebra Peak (1458m ASL; Sebrakop on national geo-spatial maps) on Piketberg. It is located on private land on the plateau rim, north-east of most of the cultivated lands. With the...
Berg River Dam to Jonkershoek traverse
Via Assegaaiboschkloof With Santie having proposed another springtime foray into Assegaaiboschkloof to view the blushing brides in bloom, I misguidedly proposed a refinement to the hike: why not start at the Berg River Dam and continue over Bergriviersnek to...
Blind Gully and Diagonal, Table Mountain
I was keen to hike Table Mountain again after an absence of more than two years. The suggestion that we ascend via Blind Gully sounded interesting, but I was simultaneously wary given the name of the route. I was concerned about exposed scrambling and negotiating...
HH Epic Trail
Hepic Trail for short. The Hepic is a private hiking trail that follows the route of the original Epic cycle trail above the railway line that snakes out of the Helderberg bowl. It is located north-east of the Gantouw Pass below Hanskop. Access has to be arranged...
Three Sisters and Perdeberg
Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve, Kleinmond I was expecting a stroll with a gradual climb to the Perdeberg lookout, something I have done a couple of times. But I was rapidly disabused of this notion when we veered up onto the Three Sisters ridge and proceeded to scale its...
Perdekop escape
While languishing in level 4 lockdown, we had been planning our escapes to the great outdoors where mega-social distancing is possible, and even desirable. Undeniably, outdoor exercise, fresh air and sunlight boost your immune system (along with other factors such as...
Botmaskop fly-past
Nobody said I couldn't fly the drone past Botmaskop while in lockdown, so here's a short clip of a virtual hike: [HTML1]
Kromrivier Kloof: bucket list stuff
Mountain man, Paul Verhoeven, has been the de facto custodian of my adventure bucket list, although he is unlikely to know this. It was he who pointed out the gaps in my admittedly-very-short list of abseil adventures, and insisted that the popular kloofing trips on...
Solitude at Agtertafelberg hut
Kevin had suggested a hike that has long been on our list: the Wemmershoek Traverse from Mont Rochelle above Franschhoek across the Wemmershoek mountains to the MCSA’s Agtertafelberg hut. When the designated weekend arrived heavy rain was forecast so departure was...
Turret Peak mission
Koue Bokkeveld mountains In 2009 the inaugural Rim of Africa mega-hike was aborted two days shy of our destination, Turret Peak, due to adverse weather. By then we had been on trail for 10 or 11 days. But I have always wanted to eventually get to Turret Peak, so when...
Hunting in Assegaaiboschkloof
It’s spring in the Cape and Santie decided that she wanted to hunt a wild population of blushing brides (Serruria florida) in Assegaaiboschkloof, the valley in which the Berg River rises before it drains into the Berg River Dam. So Santie, Magdel and I set off with a...
A weekend at Zoo Ridge
Red Cederberg The name “Zoo Ridge” has always struck me as a bit of marketing hyperbole. It is a name given to an area between the Swartruggens and Skurweberg mountains in the south-eastern Cederberg. But when you get to wander through its mazes and arches and wonder...
A pristine winter’s day on Victoria Peak
At 1589 m ASL Victoria Peak is the highest summit in the Jonkershoek range. From the grassy dome one can see Table Mountain beyond Stellenbosch Mountain and Haelkop, south over the Groenland mountains above Grabouw and Elgin, the blue - and once more spreading -...
A militarised Wolhuter Wilderness Trail
Kruger National Park This was my third or fourth Wolhuter Trail since the late nineties, but it was like no other. The anti-poaching ¨war¨ has changed the atmosphere in the park. It is like we are clinging on to a century-old, island model of conservation that is...
Picnic at Hangklip
The unmistakable Hangklip (hanging rock) peak is in the Hangklip Core Conservation Area, one of many such areas in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve. It is a nature gem wedged between the growing and ugly sprawl of Pringle Bay and Betty's Bay residential areas. The...
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