Table of contents for Go! Hiking Guide 2023 in go!

Heads down, we toil up the slope. Four hours into a six-day exploration of the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area, we’re already cursing the scratchy fynbos, the reeds that snarl around our legs, and the ankle-turning rocks underfoot. Part of the Cape Floral Region and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, CapeNature’s Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area attracts relatively few visitors, particularly when compared to its popular northern neighbour, the Cederberg Wilderness Area. Visitor facilities are extremely limited by comparison; only a small section of the vast reserve has paths; and the only well-trodden ones are from the parking area to the nearby Protea and Disa pools, and the main tourist trail down to the magnificent rock pool of Die Hel. But that suits my husband Matthew and me perfectly: We plan to…

I’ve been to the Bushman’s Nek border post before, but I wouldn’t say I know the area well. The previous visits were at the end of the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and I was relieved to see the gate – which represented a shower, a hot meal and a soft bed. Both times, our hiking group went down Thamathu Pass as quickly as possible without really appreciating the scenery. A good friend of mine, the mountain guide Sarah Hearn, moved here shortly before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Bushman’s Nek has been her “backyard” ever since. When my husband Matthew and I visited Sarah, we wanted to hike to the top of the escarpment with her and experience a bit of Lesotho. Interestingly, the watershed (and the international border)…

DAY 1 4KM Groot Tuin to Brakwater People who’ve been into Oorlogskloof will tell you two things: It’s incredibly beautiful and incredibly tough. I don’t want to miss anything of the former and I want to know nothing about the latter! Luckily for me, I’m with a group of experienced hikers and botanical experts. I think we’ll be amazed and okay over the next few days. Today’s leg is very short. Sometimes, hikers continue past Brakwater to the next hut, but apparently the second day is tough so we decide to rather ease into it. We hike about 2km and climb up the southern ridge of Saaikloof. The landscape of Oorlogskloof that I’ve spent hours analysing on Google Earth starts to emerge around me: kloofs split into more kloofs, ridges…

Louis Roodt, East London @louis_roodt I took this photo from one of the viewpoints on the Crag Lizard Trail. The circular trail runs along the edge of the cliffs of the Valley of Desolation and offers amazing views of the surrounding Karoo. The route is fairly easy and there are lots of plants, reptiles, insects and birds to look out for. It’s named after the Karoo crag lizard, which is found in the area. Late afternoon is the best time to hike here. If you’re lucky, you might see a spectacular sunset from one of the viewpoints. Where? The park gate is 3,5 km north of Graaff-Reinet via the R63. Cost: R52 per adult; R26 per child. Contact: 049 892 3453; sanparks.org…

Why did you become a mountain guide? I’ve had a passion for nature and wilderness since childhood. Hiking takes me to my happy place. It’s about getting off the beaten track, rather than getting from A to B. Becoming a mountain guide was an offshoot of that passion – a natural progression. I’m a strong believer in the maxim:“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” What’s your book about? Standing 1 086 m tall as the protagonist of the story, Table Mountain has revealed itself to me over the years as a layered character whose depth cannot be plumbed in the course of a single lifetime. Lines of Least Resistance is a collection of vignettes describing all 101 hiking and scrambling routes on the…

TOAST COETZER Fujifilm X-E4 with XF 18 – 55 mm Lens I took photos with my Samsung A32 smartphone and with this camera when I did the eight-day Naukluft Trail (see p 52). The X-E4 is mirrorless and compact – the 18 – 55 mm lens is also short and light. In combo, they’re great for a longer hike where you don’t want to lug around your heavy D-SLR. This model is no longer on the market. The new Fujifilm X-T5 (897 g) is roughly the same size, but with many upgrades. R32 000 ormsdirect.co.za Jim Green African Ranger Boots The sole of one of my trusty Hi-Tec boots came loose during the Naukluft hike – it was partly my own fault because I hadn’t worn them in a while……

It’s a humid spring day in the Lowveld. At the Bush Pub & Inn near Hoedspruit, eight women sit around a table, chattering away. Most of us have known each other since we were students, but a lot has happened since we last saw each other and we’re trying to catch up on everyone’s lives. I look at my friends – most of whom live in the city, me included. We’re used to hot showers and flush toilets, beds with fitted sheets and puffed-out pillows. Now we’ll have to live in the bush and sleep under the stars while we do the Timbavati Primitive Trail. I suspect we’ll get to know one another even better over the next four days. Two hiking guides from Lowveld Trails, Leighton Barnard and Lori…

My husband Hancu comes from a hiking family, so it’s strange that he’s never hiked the Blyde River Canyon. Over New Year’s, he finally got to do it when we went on a mission with our friends Tanya Erasmus, Maude Sandham and Daniel Buckland. Hancu’s mom, Louise, remembers hiking the canyon with her own parents as a child. “It was so cold in the mornings in winter,” she says. “But as soon as the sun was out and it got warm, we shed our gloves and extra layers of clothes. My mom started each morning wearing long johns under her trousers and it was always a hassle to take them off when the day warmed up.” Our three-day trail will take us through the southern part of the Blyde River…

Carine Strydom stretches out her arms. “Hiking is like a drug,” she says. “You get addicted. Doesn’t this make you feel fantastic?” Carine, our “unofficial guide” on the new Kouga-Baviaans Trail, should know. She and her husband Pierre farm about 25km from here. She grew up in the area and a day seldom goes by where she doesn’t walk in these mountains. Yet she’s still bowled over by the wild beauty of this place. A storm is brewing, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. We’re on the second afternoon of the hike and we’re at one of the highest viewpoints on the slackpacking trail, drinking in Carine’s daily fix with our eyes. The silver clouds around the mountain peaks are bulking up like guys who spend too much time in the gym.…

Dirk Uys, Swellendam @yoospics This trail in Marloth Nature Reserve is perfect: The relatively steep path goes through a forest, past a couple of rock pools, like this one in the photo. I love sitting at a pool along the way because it feels like you’re in a fairyland: Massive trees extend their branches overhead; the water of the mountain stream is clear and cold; and plants grow all around, from interesting fungi to bromelias. When you reach the waterfall, you’ll feel like you’ve earned your padkos. It’s medicine for the soul! Where? Marloth is near Swellendam. Follow Van Oudtshoorn Road out of town.  Cost: R50 per adult; R30 per child. Contact: 087 087 8250; capenature.co.za…

Kalman Kozma, Pretoria  @kalmankozma Nuwerust Farm is in the heart of the Cederberg Wilderness Area – it’s an excellent place to book a self-catering house and unwind in the mountains. For those with an itch in their hiking boots, the farm offers a fairly challenging day hike that takes you up and past the steep Rooiberg wall (popular with rock climbers) and onto the Rooiberg plateau. Once at the top, there’s an optional 2 km offshoot that leads to a rock art site. The trail makes a gradual descent, then winds back towards the Breekkrans (Brandkraal) River, which you follow until you reach the campsite where you started. The steep climbs and occasional scramble give this hike its challenging label, but the incredible views make up for every moan and…

Lerato Monyatsi, Krugersdorp @leera_1 If you’re a city mermaid like me, always desperate to surround yourself with water, then you’ll love this hike! I keep returning to this trail when I need a quick workout in an amazing setting. The hike offers a mix of gradual inclines and has a technical bit as you gain elevation. The beauty was the mix of faces I saw all around: Families came with little kids who played in the Cascades in the Mahai River (1,5 km from the start), while those seeking more adventure proceeded to the falls. It’s a hike that caters for everyone, nature lovers young and old, water lovers and mountaineers. Where the path enters the forest around the 3 km mark and follows the course of the Gudu River…

Santie Gouws, Cape Town @fynbos_fluisteraar Having grown up in Germiston with its mine dumps, Jonkershoek was pure paradise when I moved to Stellenbosch as a student in 1990. The hiking bug bit almost immediately, and after all these years I can honestly say the Panorama Trail – the first mountain day hike I ever did – remains top of my list! What makes it so special? Number one must be the relatively easy access into high mountains: The overall ascent of about 1 000 m is all via footpaths; there’s no climbing. The dramatic scenery as you hike to Berg River Nek draws you in immediately. From the nek, there are mind-blowing views of Assegaaiboskloof’s deep gorges and the peaks towering over it. Tweede Waterval is behind you as you…

Why the Pacific Crest Trail? I’ve always been happiest when I’m in the mountains. I’ve done many local trails and climbed Kilimanjaro. (See the 2020 issue of go! Hiking – Ed.) In 2015, I started following an American YouTuber called Jessica Mills, or “Dixie”, on her channel Homemade Wanderlust. She was hiking the Appalachian Trail in the east of the USA at the time. I couldn’t believe such a long-distance trail existed! I looked up similar trails and was drawn to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) through the mountains on the Pacific Ocean side of the States. The seed was planted and then watered by the film Wild, based on Cheryl Strayed’s hike, and the documentary It is the People by Elina Osborne. There was no stopping me – I…

Peter, where does your love of hiking come from? I grew up in Cape Town and explored with my friends from an early age. As boys of about 10 years old, we used to go up Table Mountain and sleep in the caves on Waaikoppie. We also had a little rowing boat and we’d go camp on the shores of Zeekoevlei. How did hiking lead to mapping? In 1969, shortly after the Ceres earthquake, a bunch of my friends and I decided to hike down the Witels River. It’s one of the most remote rivers in the Western Cape and runs down a rugged kloof all the way from Ceres to Worcester. One of the guys had a hand-traced map on a piece of wax paper with a few points…

Osprey Exos 58 Backpack A backpack this size usually weighs more than 2 kg before you’ve packed a single Jelly Baby. The Exos comes in at 1,3 kg. It still has the characteristic Osprey ergonomics, but certain things have been scaled back: There are no Velcro adjusters on the shoulder straps and hip belt, for example, the padding on the hip belt is thinner and the frame is less bulky. The pack also doesn’t have the two standard compartments – there’s one big compartment and the floating lid can be removed. (There’s an extra flap and clasp you can use to cover the big compartment’s drawstring opening.) The frame has a ladder system to adjust the length by 10 cm to suit your torso. The AirSpeed suspension on the back…

DAY 1 14KM Naukluft to Putte We’re up at daybreak, stuffing the last few bits and pieces into our backpacks. We drive the short distance from the Naukluft rest camp to the reception office of the Namib-Naukluft National Park to sign our indemnity forms, then we head out at about 8.30am. The route initially follows the dry bed of the Naukluft River, a tributary of the Tsauchab, which flows all the way to Sossusvlei in good years. It’s easy terrain, suitable for warming up. The landscape is punctuated by beautiful wild fig trees and one slope is full of moringa and several species of commiphora. An augur buzzard circles and later I see a pair of Monteiro’s hornbills in a thorn tree. We tackle the first climb when we turn…

I’ve been meaning to do the weekend trail on Suikerboschfontein – a farm near Carolina in Mpumalanga – for years. Finally, my husband Hancu and I get our act together and we set off from Joburg early one morning. It’s about a 250km drive: You can easily leave on a Saturday morning and have enough daylight left for the first leg of the hike. My brother Marcus, his wife Nenine and their eight-year-old daughter Mischa left Mbombela an hour later than we left the Big Smoke – we’re all planning to meet up at Oom Japie camp on Suikerboschfontein and experience the waterfalls and kloofs together. DAY 1 10KM Oom Japie to Rooikrans It’s my brother and his family’s first weekend hike and we’re doing it the proper way –…

When I first visited the Soutpansberg, I expected an arid, rocky landscape. This was true, but only in part: The northern slopes are indeed hot and dry, receiving just 350mm of rain in a good year. This dry climate caused salt pans to form on the leeward side, hence the name “Salt Pan Mountain”. But the southern face is different: It forms a barrier that halts the moisture-rich air from the Indian Ocean that’s pushed north by the Drakensberg escarpment. This meteorological roadblock causes rainfall exceeding 2000mm per year in parts, resulting in distinct microclimate pockets and the emergence of several endemic plant and animal species unique to this mysterious mountain, including 133 different ant species, a breeding colony of vulnerable Cape vultures, the massive Soutpansberg rock scorpion, the Soutpansberg…

Helene de Wet, Somerset West @helenedewet19 This is one of the quieter trails near Cape Town. From its heights you get great views of the Cape Peninsula. The trail starts at the gate of Smitswinkel Tented Camp (opposite the entrance to the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park) and ends in Jan Smuts Drive in Simon’s Town. (Leave a car there beforehand.) In total, you gain about 900 m in elevation and there are a few narrow ledges with moderate exposure. The highest peak on Swartkop is Flagstaff Hill (678 m above sea level). It’s a great lunch spot with exceptional views of Table Mountain to the north; the Atlantic Seaboard to the west; Judas Peak, Paulsberg and Cape Point to the south; and False Bay…

Hennie van der Merwe, North Riding You can combine different trails at Blyde Canyon Forever Resort, depending on how far you want to hike. The Leopard, Guineafowl and Tufa trails make a nice loop that takes you past lots of scenic places. We were looking for a spot out of the sun: The Tufa Waterfall in the Kadisi River was perfect. It was serene, with water burbling and birds singing, and we had it all to ourselves. You’ll leave the cool rock pool feeling like a new person! If you’re in a rush to get to the waterfall, the 2 km Tufa Trail is a shortcut. Where? The resort is 50 km north of Graskop via the R532. Cost: R100 per person. Contact: 086 122 6966; foreverblydecanyon.co.za…

Richard Gardiner, Cape Town @rcgardiner30 Cape Town has such a great network of trails. This one follows the Pipe Track for about 3,5km, then it’s a steep slog up Kasteelspoort. From there, I headed south along the Twelve Apostles path, enjoying the views of the Atlantic before reaching the summit of Grootkop. To the north, my eyes rested on Lion’s Head, Table Mountain and Robben Island; and to the south, the shores of Hout Bay and Kommetjie. The cold air turned my fingers to ice as I tried to capture the 360-degree views without being blown over by the strengthening northwester! Scampering down the mountainside, I passed through clouds bubbling up from the ocean and headed down to the Pipe Track again via Corridor Ravine. My legs were tired, and…

Japie Kruger, Pretoria @japiekruger Tugela Gorge is a valley in the Drakensberg, underneath the Amphitheatre, carved by the famous river. You reach this spot about midway up the gorge. High cliffs, chilly rock pools and bulky boulders emphasize the scale of the landscape. Have a swim and eat some snacks to make your backpack lighter before you push on. More adventurous hikers can go even further up the gorge, over even bigger boulders, to see one of the highest waterfalls in the world. Go have a look – you won’t regret it. Where? The trail starts at Thendele rest camp in Royal Natal National Park, about 54 km west of Bergville. Cost: R60 per adult; R35 per child. Contact: 033 845 1000; kznwildlife.com…