Visgat reprise
Thirteen years after the last time down Visgat canyon, I had the privilege of another swim down this almost pristine gorge. The permit was arranged via the Cape Town branch of the MCSA by Paul Verhoeven at late notice. We dropped everything to descend it once more and...
Wild Coast hike
The 5-day, 61 km (69 km by my GPS) Wild Coast hike down the scenic Pondoland coast featuring overnight stays at local homesteads, is one of those must-do hikes. Besides moving through the unfolding spectacle of the shoreline you will gain some insight into a...
Hiking to Cape Point
Table Mountain National Park This 14.5 km hike from the Cape Point gate to the visitor centre at the point, <down the False Bay coast, has long been one of my favourites. It offers spectacular views of the southern peninsula and False Bay across to the Kogelberg...
Short walks in the Canadian Rockies
Jasper National Park I extended a recent business trip to North America to visit my daughter, Heather, in Edmonton. She and her husband, Dirk, treated me to a fantastic long weekend in the Canadian Rockies, in Jasper National Park. Winter had officially set in and...
Summiting Sneeuberg
Cederberg Wilderness Area It took me 32 years since my first hiking experience in the Cederberg to summit Sneeuberg - in my 60th year and on the occasion of the Mountain Club of SA's 125th anniversary camp. Paul Verhoeven organised and led the hike and although it was...
The Postberg Trail
West Coast National Park The Postberg Trail is pretty exclusive, only opening for the spring months of August and September and accommodating just 12 hikers per day. It is a two-day trail of some 26 kms in length but with negligible elevations. Bring your own tent and...
A short walk to Noordhoek Peak
Silvermine, Table Mountain National Park It has been many years since I walked the Silvermine plateau and the spectacular ridges and peaks above Noordhoek. On the spur of the moment I decided to exploit Marion's new-found interest in the outdoors to revisit Noordhoek...
Gentle adventures in the southern Cape
Our mid-winter tour of the Garden Route and Little Karoo ran the gamut of weather from crystal-clear, windless days to fierce storms, from balmy Karoo days to icy nights. We set off to take the roads less travelled and to stay at least two nights in a place to get a...
Tierkloof abseil
Paul Verhoeven arranged this exclusive adventure for a small group of mountain club members. It involved climbing the Peaks (¨Pieke¨), some of the highest summits in the Jonkershoek area and then 9 abseils down Tierkloof, the cleft that angles down south of the...
The Swartberg Trail
The Swartberge - the black mountains - are literally black now. A recent fire, the second in quick succession, has charred them. The other wildfire a few years ago destroyed the third hiking hut so that the trail has had to be adapted to use only two huts over three...
Baviaans2Coast MTB tour
6-day mountain bike tour through the Baviaanskloof, across the back of the Kouga Mountains, across the Langkloof, down Prince Alfred's Pass to Wittedrif This time we decided to plan a more compact private tour, which still included the incredible Baviaanskloof but...
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...
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