Tag Archives: walking trail

Summertide Diary: Exploring Wilderness and surrounds

21 December 2020

It pays to be out early in South Africa’s wild places, and the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park is no exception. Even when the sky is still heavy with rain and the sun nowhere to be seen.

A damp sunrise over the Serpentine

African Reed Warbler

Beware of children being followed by guineafowl and tortoises…

Pelargonium

Unidentified flower

Ertjieblom (identified with the kiind assistance of Bonnita Hill)

Sombre Greenbul looking even more glum in the rain…

Wild Camphor Bush

Grass Flower-heads

Red-eyed Dove

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Greater Striped Swallow

After breakfast we felt like exploring a little further afield, and so headed to the Woodville indigenous forest a few kilometers away from Ebb-and-Flow. We explored the wet forest, marveled at the enormous Outeniqua Yellowwood that rules over it and kept a lookout for birds and other creatures trying to hide from us, until we could stand the pestering mosquitoes no more!

Woodville Forest

Woodville Forest’s giant Outeniqua Yellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus)

Woodville Forest – Common Arum Lily

Common Arum Lily

Unidentified flower

Woodville Forest

Woodville Forest’s giant Outeniqua Yellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus)

Large Wild Iris

African Paradise Flycatcher

Common Bush Brown

Forest Buzzard

From Woodville we extended our joy ride to Rondevlei and the Swartvlei beach, and then had a quick look around the holiday town of Sedgefield, of which I have many happy childhood memories, before heading back to camp.

Unidentified flower

Water droplets on a blade of grass

Unidentified flower

White-breasted Cormorant

Cross-berry

Swartvlei Beach with Gericke’s Point

Kelp Gull scavenging on the beach

Just being outside at Wilderness was such balm for the soul. You don’t always have to be out chasing the “hairy and scary” animals for which Africa is famous to enjoy yourself in our wild places…

African Hoopoe

Common Star-Apple

Grass Flower-head

As yet unidentified tree in Wilderness

Sooty Blue butterfly

Another Wilderness mystery plant

Unidentified flower

Sour Fig

Guineafowl feather

Water droplets on aloe leaves

Bar-throated Apalis

More frog hunting before bed-time resulted in these photographs of Raucous Toads:

Raucous Toad

If you’d like to read more about the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park, please have a look at this special feature about it that we published a while ago.

Summertide Diary: Exploring Bontebok

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19 December 2020

Our first morning in the Bontebok National Park started with a visit from a VERY big Rain Spider in the kitchen. Despite their large size these spiders aren’t deadly to humans (though a bite would be very painful), but considering that other visitors might overreact if they encounter this one and kill it I decided to catch it and relocate it to a suitable spot outside (and had to keep a curious Cape Bulbul at bay while the spider hid in an aloe). After all this excitement we could enjoy breakfast overlooking the Breede River as morning broke over the Lang Elsie’s Kraal Rest Camp feeling very pleased with ourselves.

Rain Spider escaping the Tupperware at Bontebok National Park

Rain Spider trying to hide among dead aloe leaves at Bontebok National Park

Very curious Cape Bulbul

Breede River at sunrise

The previous time we visited Bontebok it rained for most of the two days we spent in the Park, and so we didn’t get to explore much. This beautiful morning presented an opportunity to rectify that, so we got an early start to our first drive through the reserve.

Common Waxbill

The view from Aloe Hill towards Lang Elsie’s Kraal Rest Camp, with the Langeberg in the distance

Grey-backed Cisticola

Cape Mountain Zebras on a hillside in the Bontebok National Park

Denham’s Bustard

Spotted Thick-knee

Yellow Bush cones (Leucadendron salignum) in Bontebok National Park

Koppie Foam Grasshopper

Grey-winged Francolin

Cape Grassbird

Karoo Scrub Robin

Bontebok is a stronghold for the endangered Renosterveld vegetation

Red Hartebeest

Speckled Pigeon

Four-striped Grass Mouse

We wanted to go check out the local picnic spot, known as Die Stroom (“The Stream”) before it got too busy with day visitors. It does seem a lovely spot to enjoy a relaxed picnic while also taking pleasure in all the Park’s other attractions.

Die Stroom Picnic Area

When we got back to camp one of the star attractions of the Park, a Bontebok, was waiting for us at our chalet, together with an Angulate Tortoise and lots of birds.

Bontebok outside our chalet at Bontebok National Park (photo by Joubert)

Angulate Tortoise

Greater Striped Swallow

Another one of the things we missed out on during our previous visit to Bontebok was most of the walking trails available to visitors, so before lunch (and before it got too hot) I got going on the Acacia and Bushbuck Trails, which follow the course of the Breede River. Along the way a few viewing decks have been built overlooking peaceful stretches of the river.

Viewing deck on the Bushbuck Trail

The Breede River seen from a viewing deck on the Bushbuck Trail

Toktokkie

Sombre Greenbul

Rain Spider egg sac

Egyptian Geese and Yellow-billed Ducks sharing a section of the Breede River

Walking trail in Bontebok National Park

Toktokkie

One of the decks along the Bushbuck Trail overlooking the Breede River

Ants exploding from their nest in a wooden bench

Bontebok National Park’s fishing spot along the Breede River

Breede River panorama

An as yet unidentified grasshopper

Common Meadow White

Sour Fig

Karoo Scrub Robin

After lunch there was time to walk around the camp.

Breede River rapids at Lang Elsie’s Kraal

Southern Masked Weaver female

Namaqua Dove

Angulate Tortoise

Fiscal Flycatcher

Thick-billed Lark

Cape Robin-Chat

And then another circuit of the Park’s game viewing drives saw us through till sunset.

Bontebok

Spotted Thick-knee

Denham’s Bustard

Grey-winged Francolin

Cape Grassbird

Bontebok running across our way (photograph by Joubert)

Grey Rhebok

Steppe Buzzard

Bontebok National Park protects the threatened renosterveld vegetation-type

After dinner and with the camp now clothed in darkness I went down to the river to look for frogs at the water’s edge. Thrilled to find a few of three different species, though even more exciting to see was the Sharp-toothed Catfish actually jumping onto the river banks to catch any frogs sitting too close to the water!

Cape River Frog

Clicking Stream Frog

Bronze Caco

Sharptooth Catfish patrolling the water of the Breede River after dark

While away from our chalet our little “camera trap” caught this Large-spotted Genet patrolling outside.

Large-spotted Genet caught by our camera-trap outside our chalet at Bontebok National Park

If you’d like to learn more about the Bontebok National Park, have a read through this special feature we published after a previous visit. For more about the beautiful Bontebok antelope, read here.

Map of Bontebok National Park, from a brochure published by SANParks

Autumn Highlands Holidays – Golden Gate

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About time we started telling you about our autumn holidays in the mountains in detail, isn’t it!?

Our first stop was an old and familiar favourite: Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the eastern Free State Province, with scenery so unique that photos from there are instantly recognisable. Here in the foothills of the Maluti and Drakensberg ranges, rugged rocks, hillsides green with waving grass and crystal-clear streams of fresh water all beckon to be explored, and the de Wets just can’t resist!

Golden Gate Dam

Golden Gate scenery

Brandwag Buttress seen from Glen Reenen

Brandwag Buttress seen from the Golden Gate Hotel

Brandwag seen from the Golden Gate Hotel

Scenery along the Mushroom Rocks Trail in Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Big sky country!

Mountain views

Golden Gate’s vulture restaurant

Scenery along Blesbok Loop in Golden Gate

Golden Gate photographer

Golden Gate scenery

Golden Gate scenery – the turnoff to Kestell

Golden Gate scenery

Impressive rock formations typify Golden Gate

Little Caledon

Poplar and Blue Sky

Clean Mountain Water

Oak Trees in the Meriting Picnic Site

Little Caledon River near Wilgenhof

9 years old: March 2019. Walking in the Mountains

Walking in the Mountains

Mountain stream

Little Caledon River flowing past Glen Reenen

View from Highlands Mountain Retreat

View towards the Drakensberg

Dolerite Dyke formation

Full Moon over Glen Reenen

Walking around Golden Gate is the best way to experience the variety of beautiful wildflowers adorning this special place.

Beautiful wildflowers at Golden Gate

Beautiful wildflowers at Golden Gate: River Lilies

Beautiful wildflowers at Golden Gate

And then while taking in the floral splendour you are bound to notice the astounding diversity of insects, amphibians and reptiles that have made this highland habitat home.

African Monarch

Geranium Bronze

Common Meadow White

Table Mountain Beauty

Long-winged Orange Acraea

Yellow Pansy

Swamp Bluet

Unidentified Grasshopper

Maize Beetles might not be indigenous to South Africa, and actually they are an agricultural pest, but they still make a pretty picture!

Leprous Grasshopper

Wandering Wolf Spider with a fly it caught

Unidentified Grasshoppers, possibly from the genus Catantops

Raucous Toad (photo by Joubert)

Speckled Rock Skink

Golden Gate also boasts with a wonderful array of birds, many kinds of which are hard to find elsewhere in the country. During the 4 days we spent in the Park we identified 56 species of bird, just a small slice of the 180 kinds that have been recorded here since the Park was proclaimed over 50 years ago.

Banded Martin

Little Grebe with chicks

Greater Striped Swallows

Ground Woodpeckers

Amur Falcon (photo by Joubert)

Pied Starling

Cape Canaries

Cape Sparrow

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Common Fiscal

Grey-winged Francolin

Mountain Wheatear

Red-knobbed Coot

African Black Duck

White-rumped Swift

White-throated Swallow

African Stonechat

Cape Weaver

Crested Barbet

Hadeda

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Red-collared Widowbird

Yellow-billed Ducks

Cape Turtle Dove

Speckled Mousebird

Female Red-winged Starling

Male Red-winged Starling

Red-winged Starling pair

Golden Gate’s also home to a selection of mammals, both big and small, that are well adapted to the sometimes harsh climatic conditions of a mountainous abode, and these are often encountered while exploring the Park on foot, horseback or the comfort of a vehicle.

Black Wildebeest

Young Chacma Baboon

Blesbok in silhouette

Eland

Grey Rhebuck

Golden Gate’s rangers have beautiful horses with which to patrol

Red Hartebeest

Young Springbok

Black Wildebeest

Herd of eland on a mountain slope

Golden Gate’s rangers have beautiful horses with which to patrol

Red Hartebeest on the run

Black-backed Jackal

Glen Reenen is one of six SANParks-managed establishments offering accommodation to visitors at Golden Gate. On this trip we spent four nights in cottage 27, which has a lovely view from its veranda of the Mushroom Rocks and the glen from which the camp takes its name.

Mushroom Rocks from Unit 27 at Glen Reenen in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Cottage 27, Glen Reenen Rest Camp, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, March 2019

Golden Gate Photographer

Glen Reenen must have the most beautiful fuel station anywhere!

Glen Reenen

Glen Reenen Cottage 26

View from Glen Reenen on a misty morning

Glen Reenen Panorama

Golden Gate lies about 400km south of Pretoria. Our favourite route to the Park is over Sasolburg, Heilbron, Bethlehem and Clarens, though the quickest option is probably via Harrismith and the N3-highway.

Our favourite route to Golden Gate, via Sasolburg, Heilbron, Petrus Steyn and Bethlehem, a distance of about 400km from Pretoria (map drawn with Google Maps)

From Golden Gate we made our way to Royal Natal National Park in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, and we’ll be sharing some pictures from there in following posts.

Golden Gate’s Scenic Splendour

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The three of us spent a bit of time today exploring another one of the hiking trails that radiate from Glen Reenen in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. This must be one of the most beautiful pieces of South Africa!

A special time at the Giant’s Castle

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Spending Easter in a beautiful natural location is almost a given for the de Wets. Our original plans for this particular long weekend was to visit the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, and specifically the Cathedral Peak area, but a last minute change in reservations had us heading for the Giant’s Castle area of the Park instead. A special place to celebrate a special holiday!

While we had only three days to spend at Giant’s Castle, the weather made sure we experienced almost every climatic experience the Drakensberg mountain range can conjure (with the exception of snowfall). Dark thunder clouds one day gave way to heavy fog and a constant drenching drizzle the next, followed in turn by a day of glorious sunshine! Giant’s Castle must be one of the scenically most spectacular parts of the entire Drakensberg range, and you cannot help but stand in awe at the shear majesty of the landscape surrounding you.

Thunder clouds descending on the Giant’s Castle area

Waking to a heavy fog

The road into the Giant’s Castle area

Bushmans River under overcast skies

Crystal clear mountain water

Beautiful little pond just below the camp at Giant’s Castle

the Drakensberg bathed in a glorious sunrise

Can you see the giant lying on his back?

Giant’s Castle scenery

Walking along the Bushmans River

Giant’s Castle scenery

Whether it rains or shines, Giant’s Castle’s grandiose scenery will keep your jaw dropping every so often. When that happens, and you bend down to pick it back up, take a moment to enjoy the magnificent juxtaposition of tiny beauties – pretty flowers, exquisite butterflies, delightful droplets, ornamental moss and lichens, and dainty insects – all around you!

Wildflowers abound in the Drakensberg

Mist-formed droplets on a spiders web

Orange Acraea

Lichen on a rockface

Beetles congregating on a bloom

Ladybug

Common Hottentot Skipper (male)

Water Bronze

Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)

Wichgraf’s Brown

Wildflowers abound in the Drakensberg

Eyed Pansy

It goes without saying that such a scenically attractive piece of earth wouldn’t be complete without a myriad of wildlife to round off the picture, even if, as at Giant’s Castle, they have to be content with taking a back seat to the surrounding landscape.

Eland being dwarfed by the magnificent landscape

Silhouetted Eland

The rangers’ horses huddled together on a cold morning

Bushbuck ewe

Mountain reedbuck in silhouette

Buff-streaked Chat

Olive Thrush

Cape Robin-Chat in the garden at Giant’s Castle Camp

Chorister Robin-Chat

Cape Rock-Thrush (male)

Red-winged Starling atop a boulder

Lucky visitors may spot a Bearded Vulture soaring above

Jackal Buzzard in flight

Black Saw-Wing

Common waxbill

White-necked Raven

Bold baboons frequent the camp at Giant’s Castle

Giant’s Castle is one of our favourite destinations in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, and we can’t imagine that we’d ever get enough of it (our previous visit was also over Easter, in 2014). Excellent amenities in the camp (managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) and a terrific network of short and longer walking trails ensures that every visit is a pleasant and fulfilling experience, one we can highly recommend!

Giant’s Castle Chalet #4, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, April 2017

A walk in the Park

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There’s no doubt that hiking is the biggest pastime enjoyed by visitors to the Royal Natal National Park. Walking through the mountains allows access to so many beautiful spots. We particularly enjoy the easy trails that lead from the Mahai campsite and visitor centre, like Otto’s walk and the trails to the Cascades and Fairy Glen.

The beautiful campsite at Mahai

Bushbuck are commonly encountered along the trails

Looking up at the mountains

The cascades trail

Crystal clear mountain streams

This was the last installment on our December visit to Royal Natal National Park in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg. From here we travelled to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in Zululand, and from tomorrow we’ll be sharing some of what we experienced there.

Up into the Echo Ravine again

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The last time we walked the Echo Ravine Trail from Glen Reenen, Joubert was still a bit too young to join. This time around Marilize and I could finally share this beautiful walk with our son, something we’ve been looking forward to for some time.

Crossing the Little Caledon at the start of the trail

Looking back at Glen Reenen

Towering sandstone cliffs

Looking over the Glen towards Brandwag

In the ravine

Well camouflaged rock hyrax watching our progress

Beautiful wild flowers abound

Garden Acraea butterfly catching a piggy-back ride with Joubert

Cape Bunting

Summer at Golden Gate

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Our New Year’s visit to Golden Gate Highlands National Park marked the final stop on our three-week long bush holidays. For this final leg, we were joined by Marilize’s parents and my sister and brother-in law at Glen Reenen Rest Camp.

Glen Reenen, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, December 2014

This Park may have been proclaimed originally to safeguard the awesome mountain scenery, but the hills and valleys are also home to a pleasing variety of birds and animals. We found most of the game concentrated towards the east of the Park, around the Basotho Cultural Village.

Glen Reenen

Clean and crisp mountain water

Red hartebeest

Re hartebeest dwarfed by Golden Gate’s scenery b

Eland herd

Springbok

Black wildebeest

Springbok

Golden Gate scenery

Blesbuck

Black-backed jackal

Golden Gate scenery

Cape Bunting

Cape weaver (female)

Golden Gate scenery

Baboon acrobats

Golden Gate’s magnificent scenery and hidden jewels are best enjoyed along the many walking trails traversing the area. Have a look at the posts we dedicated to the Brandwag, Echo Ravine and Mushroom Rocks walks, three shorter hikes that are ideal introductions to this mountain ecosystem.

Which way to go?

A trail with a view

Looking back out of the gorge

Looking up

Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Golden Gate Highlands National Park was another highlight of the trip and a perfect setting to conclude a wonderful holiday. Quality time spent with dear family saw us home in good spirits and strength for the year that lay in wait. And just to be sure the Park is still as beautiful as we remember it, we’ll return soon enough. We simply can’t stay away from a place this magical.

Golden Gate 30122014

Golden Gate 31122014

Golden Gate 01012015

Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Rapid in Little Caledon

We didn’t think three weeks in the bush would fly past as quickly as it did. We started of with two nights at Chelmsford Nature Reserve, then three nights at Ithala Game Reserve, three nights at uMkhuze Game Reserve, three nights at Lake Saint Lucia, five nights in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, one night at Midmar Dam, and finally four nights at Golden Gate Highlands National Park. By the time we reached home back in Pretoria again, we had covered a distance of 4022km between and in some of our favourite South African wild places. An epic December bush holiday indeed.

Our route between 13 December 2014 and 3 January 2015 (map drawn from Google Maps)

Beneath the Mushroom Rocks

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If the trail to the top of the Brandwag Buttress is the most popular of Golden Gate Highlands National Park’s walks, and the Echo Ravine trail the most spectacular of the short walks radiating from Glen Reenen, then the Mushroom Rocks trail is the easiest and least demanding. And that’s a good thing, because you can concentrate on finding the little jewels hiding among Golden Gate’s flowing green grasslands and gawk at the amazing scenery without using it as an excuse to catch your breath 😉 . The only challenging section of the trail is the crossing over the Little Caledon River, especially in summer when the Park experiences most of its rainfall and even more so when lugging a couple of cameras, binoculars and water bottles along…

Which way to go?

Looking back at Glen Reenen

Looking up at the Mushroom Rocks

Dwarfed by the massive cliffs

Heading straight into a wall of rock?

Looking up

Water dripping from above

Dwarfed by the massive cliffs

Looking back at Glen Reenen

Moss growing where water drips from above

The trail

Looking up at the Mushroom Rocks

Drakensberg Crag Lizard

The Mushroom Rocks towering over Glen Reenen

The Little Caledon far below

Heading into the mountains

Scenery along the Mushroom Rock trail

Crossing the Little Caledon requires a steady foot

The Mushroom Rocks towering over Glen Reenen

Glen Reenen camping grounds in the foreground

The valley Glen Reenen is located in

Up and into the Echo Ravine

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What better way could there be to ring in the first day of a new year than exploring new places? Especially after ending 2014 on a literal high atop the Brandwag Buttress? That’s why Marilize and I decided to undertake the Echo Ravine trail at Golden Gate Highlands National Park that day (Joubert was out exploring other pastures in Golden Gate with his grandpa), a walk we’ve not done before. We were not disappointed that we did, the scenery on the way to, and inside, the ravine is simply awe-inspiring and in our view this is one of the best short (taking an hour or two to complete) walks in the Park. It’s not an easy walk, requiring you to clamber over boulders at several stages, especially as you near the head of the ravine, but the rewards are entirely worth the effort.