Table of contents for Go! Hiking Guide 2024 in go!

ED’S LETTER Late in March, a photo of Jasmin Paris popped up everywhere in the media. She was slumped on the ground with her pack still on her back. Her legs were bloody and muddied and her hair was in sweaty tangles around her face. The photo spoke of exhaustion beyond words. When I first saw the photo, I didn’t know who Jasmin Paris was. But I immediately felt empathy for her because that’s exactly what I look like at the end of a long day on the trail! Then I read that this British veterinarian had just completed the Barkley Marathons - a 160 km ultrarunning event with a 60-hour cut-off, which is widely believed to be the hardest event of its kind in the world. She was the…

We’ve been walking for an hour and now we’re resting in a grassland. We’ve done a lot in the last 60 minutes: gazed up at overhanging cliffs, climbed a rock wall with chains, descended teeny stone steps... The iconic Brandwag Buttress rises to our left. Golden Gate Highlands National Park was named for sandstone features like Brandwag that flank the valley like the golden gates of heaven, especially when the sandstone seems to glow from within at sunrise and sunset. We’re not alone in paradise. A big troop of baboons has been trailing us. “I’ll share my snacks with them, but then they must help me carry my pack,” our friend Tanya Erasmus jokes. The sentry laughs along - an old male with a big scar on his rump. Or…

When you look at a map of the Western Cape, the Langeberg curls like a smile. The mountain range is part of the Cape Fold formation and it stretches for nearly 170 km from Worcester in the west to Riversdale in the east. The southern slopes enjoy the regular moisture of cold fronts, while the landscape on the northern slopes is baked by the Karoo sun. Several vegetation zones meet: mountain fynbos, proteas, more heath species than you can list, Succulent Karoo and even indigenous forest in the ravines. More than 1 200 plant species have been recorded in the southern Langeberg alone, many of which are endemic to the area and thrive in anonymity, waiting to be named, like the cherry satin flower that was only discovered two years…

LANGEBERG SWELLENDAM TRAIL • 55 KM/5 DAYS It was an inauspicious start. Our first attempt at the Swellendam Hiking Trail was aborted before we’d even left the office at Marloth Nature Reserve. Adam Nel, the acting reserve manager, told us that 134mm of rain had fallen the day before and the rivers were swollen and impassable. Some other hikers were stranded at the Wolfkloof Hut. “You can see the waterfalls from my office,” he said, pointing into the gloom. Adam predicted the route would be closed for a couple of days: It was too dangerous for us to venture out. He went on to recount various rescues and extractions and we realised this trail was not to be taken lightly. We spent the night in Swellendam anyway, hoping for a…

MULTI-DAY HIKE PONDO • 62 KM/4 DAYS Just the name tells you everything you need to know: The Wild Coast is remote and undeveloped, and Pondoland - between the Mthatha and Mtamvuna rivers where the Eastern Cape and KZN come together - is the wildest part. Many companies offer guided hikes in Pondoland, including a tour operator called Wild Child. I’m here to do their four-day Pondo Slackpacking Trail. I live in Cape Town, so I flew to Durban then drove south to Port Edward, where I met up with our guide Wojtek Orzechowski and the other hikers on the lawn outside the Estuary Hotel. “I hope you’re ready,” Wojtek said. “We’re lucky - it’s a beautiful day and the sea is calm.” Wait a minute... What’s that about the…

BOOKS What do you do when you’re not writing? Henk: I’ve been a hiking and cycling guide for more than 20 years. I’ve led tours to far-off places in Africa, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and the Far East. I’ve hiked since childhood and our family often spent time on trails, especially in the Boland and the Tsitsikamma. Lizet: As an infrastructure consultant, I can work from anywhere in the world. I’m a nomad at heart and I’ve lived in Germany, Ireland and Australia in the last two decades. But I often come back to South Africa. The Fish was the first multiday hike I did as a young student in 1989 and also the place where my passion for hiking was sparked. Why is the Fish so appealing…

WEEKEND HIKE KLIPSPRINGER • 36KM/3 DAYS It’s early August and the most recent photo on my cellphone is of my cat curled up in front of the gas heater. I took it three days ago in Bloemfontein. When my friend Japie Kruger and I left the Free State this morning, there was ice in the air. But the closer we got to Augrabies Falls National Park, the hotter the sun burnt down. Now we understand why we were warned about the heat, even in late winter. As we set up camp and pack our bags for tomorrow’s hike, a plague of insects descends and I realise miggies will be another unique challenge we’ll have to deal with in the coming days. Apart from the heat and the insects, the Klipspringer…

WEEKEND HIKE HARTMANN’S-T KOU • 22 KM/2 DAYS August is trying to be spring, but she was raised by winter and she can’t shed her cold, windy habits. That’s why my friend Japie Kruger and I are huddled around the roosterkoek fire at the office in Goegap Nature Reserve when we should have been on the trail already. We’re grateful for the fire - it’s only here during wildflower season and there’s nothing like a roosterkoek with cheese and jam and a cup of hot chocolate to keep you cosy. The profits made from this seasonal snoepie are used to feed the poor of Springbok. We were here a year ago to hike the two-day Hartmann’s-T Kou Trail (T’kou is the Nama name for the jacket plum tree, which is…

LANGEBERG ARANGIESKOP • 21 KM/2 DAYS Like most keen hikers who have a bucket list of trails, I’d heard of Arangieskop. But I’d also heard horror stories about how tough it is, so I crossed it off my list. Friends told me about losing toenails, breaking legs, helicopter rescue missions... No thanks! My philosophy is that being out in nature should make you feel relaxed, not freaked out. But then a friend invited me to climb Arangies and - to my surprise I accepted! Maybe she just caught me at the right time: I was longing for an escape after a hard year. Still, I couldn’t shake my bad feeling about the hike, especially when it ended up being postponed twice - once due to bad weather and once due…

MULTI-DAY HIKE OTTER • 45 KM/5 DAYS Did you know that the Otter was the first officially proclaimed hiking trail in the country? Every day since it opened in 1968, it has seen a steady stream of hikers. Seriously! It’s so popular that it’s fully booked a year in advance. And for many hikers, once you’ve experienced it, you want to go back for more. The scenery in the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park is diverse, and the location of the hiking huts makes it even more special. Every night you sleep right on the ocean’s doorstep, lulled to sleep by the waves. As far as multi-day hikes go, the Otter isn’t one of the toughest out there, but the constant ups and downs take their toll.…

BOOKS The first seafarers to round the Cape of Good Hope saw Table Mountain mainly as a landmark. The gargantuan chunk of rock was visible from far out at sea - confirmation that the ship was still on course. But the mountain wasn’t much more than that to the first European visitors. Back then, mountains weren’t simply climbed for fun. Who knew what dangers - natural and supernatural - hid in the gorges? Later, curiosity and a sense of adventure won out and people started to climb the mountain and write about their experiences. John Compton is one of those people. Tell us about yourself. I am an emeritus professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT). I’m originally from California but moved to…

WEEKEND HIKE MAGALIESKRANS • 15 KM/2 DAYS “You’re going to do a rustige hike in the Magaliesberg? Not possible...” At least, that’s what regular Magalies hikers will tell you. One of them is my friend Melanie van Zyl. She misunderstood my message inviting her along. “Oh, you mean the farm Rustig? I thought you said we were going to do a chilled hike! ” Melanie first hiked the Magalieskrans Trail at Rustig when she was training for the Mnweni Trail in the Drakensberg. It’s the closest trail to her home in Johannesburg that mimicked the mountainous conditions she’d encounter in KZN. For the rest of our hiking group - me, my husband Hancu, Maude Sandham and Daniel Buckland - this will be our first visit to the farm. But clearly…

WEEKEND HIKE PHIRING • 23 KM/3 DAYS Somewhere along the Panorama Route, not far from the towns of Pilgrim’s Rest, Graskop and Ohrigstad, is a small village of around 600 households. To the north, the land rises for nearly a thousand vertical metres before plummeting abruptly into the Lowveld via the imposing red cliffs that you can see from Hoedspruit and surrounds. This is the edge of the lesser-known Limpopo Drakensberg Escarpment, and the backyard of the people of Phiring. Until recently this stretch of mountain (about 20 km in a straight line from the JG Strijdom Tunnel in the west to the Blyde River Canyon in the south-east) has been quite unknown to the outside world. It has been used mostly for grazing cattle, initiation schools and prayer. But…

A distress flare goes off in the mind of many hikers when they read the words “wilderness trail”. That’s if you enjoy exploring the outdoors but you also want some creature comforts like a shelter, a flush toilet, a well-marked trail... Those kinds of things. “Wilderness trail” implies a slog through the bush, navigating by GPS and looking for water in the veld. That’s not the case with Boosmansbos, which is in the wilderness area of the same name next to Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve. Once you’ve done this trail, you’ll wonder if the conservation authorities used “wilderness” to put people off and keep the trail a secret! Because it’s actually quite tame. The trail is well signposted and fairly well maintained, and the overnight shelters are hidden in a pretty…

Driving to our rendezvous point, I marvel at how quickly Capetonians can escape the city. Once out of Somerset West, we chug up Sir Lowry’s Pass, then it’s a simple jaunt through winelands and apple orchards and along the pretty Overberg coastline to Grootbos Nature Reserve. I’m already in holiday mode by the time we arrive at the trailhead. Shaen and I are part of an enthusiastic group of hikers, all entranced by the biodiversity of the Walker Bay Conservancy. The Fynbos Trail will take us through this conservancy over the next three days. Many of our group are specialists, like palaeontologist Dr Charles Helm, whose mission is to look for fossilised vertebrate tracks in the limestone rocks. If he’s successful, the tracks will be the first of their age…