Welcome to RalphPina.com

Thank you for visiting my outdoor blog. RalphPina.com documents my experiences over many years of appreciating, and adventuring in, Nature. It celebrates visual beauty, advocates minimal impact, reflects on humans’ relationship with our ecosphere, spans the planet but focuses on the wild diversity of southern Africa. Photos, videos and GPS maps of hiking, cycling, kayaking, abseiling, canoeing and windsurfing..

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Fish River Canyon Trail

by Ralph Pina | May 18, 2014 | Ai-Ais/Richtersveld, Fish River Canyon, hiking, Namibia, trails, wilderness trail

"...in the desert you can't remember your name / 'cos there ain't no one for to give you no pain ..." America's Horse With No Name seemed rather apt as I reviewed the Go Pro video clips from this hike. The Fish River Canyon is a remote, ancient and dramatically harsh...

Karoo MTB Tour 2014

by Ralph Pina | Apr 18, 2014 | Baviaanskloof Mega-Reserve, cycling, Gamkaberg Nature Reserve, Sanbona Wildlife Reserve

Ah man - those were idyllic days on the backroads of the Baviaanskloof, Karoo and Little Karoo. I left my legs on Rooiberg Pass and my mind somewhere between Bruintjieskraal and Montagu. But it almost didn't happen. Makadas Adventures' tour was to be a repeat of the...

Eikenhofkloof abseil, Groot Drakenstein

by Ralph Pina | Mar 21, 2014 | Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

Eikenhofkloof is much more benign than Volstruiskloof. There are only about 7 shortish abseils down sloping walls rather than the precipitous, long drops down Volstruiskloof. So I would recommend that you do this one first if you are a novice. Paul Verhoeven led this...

Volstruiskloof: 15 abseils later

by Ralph Pina | Feb 13, 2014 | Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

Duiwelskloof (Devil's Ravine), Duiwelstand (Devil's Tooth), Groot Drakenstein (Great Dragonstone), Helshoogte (Hell's Heights), Banghoek (something like Scary Corner) - these mountain feature names suggest something about the nature of the mountainscape in which this...