Up(s) and down(s) and into the water at the InniKloof Waterfall hike

Everybody has their travel bucket lists.  I'm no different but because I would still like to do a lot of travelling I have divided mine into International, African, South African and Eastern Cape.  One of the things that has been on my Eastern Cape travel bucket list for a while now is doing the Innikloof Waterfall hike.  Innikloof is situated near the Gamtoos Valley town of Hankey and the hike is done once a month as a guided hike as it crosses private land and a conservation area.  The return walk is about 14 km long and well worth the effort, but don't kid yourself, it's not a walk in the park, like we found out. 

Innikloof was the location of the annual Port Elizabeth Geocaching camping weekend this year and the Saturday was set aside to do the Waterfall Hike.  We could not spend the weekend so rushed out from Port Elizabeth  early morning to join our fellow cachers and InniKloof owner John Wait on the hike.  The first kilometer is an easy stroll down the road to warm up those calves and then the climbing started.  To get to the kloof the waterfall is in you have to literally go over the mountain.  Not around it, not through it, not underneath it, but over it.  The climb from the start wasn't too bad as it was a gradual one and by the time we arrived huffing and puffing at the top we enjoyed fantastic views back the way we came.  After a short walk along the top of the mountain I realised that we had lost Chaos Boy.  He walked ahead of the group when we stopped to take a breather and seemingly took a wrong turnoff.  I seemed to be the only one really worried and after about a frantic 30 minutes the message came along that he had found his way back just in time to link up with the back markers.  Hope he learned his lesson.  

The view down towards where we were going was stunning.  You can see the river as well as a number of waterfalls and cascades below but this was also where the big challenge of the Waterfall Hike started.  Getting down the steep side of the mountain.  It is a descent of engaging one's diff lock, keeping the air brakes engaged and making sure you don't pick up speed too quickly.  Going down here you quickly realise that you will have to come back up and it won't be easy, but that was a hurdle to overcome later cause we started to hear the waterfall below us. 

Once down at the bottom it's like a different world.  The waterfall flows into the dark pool below and being hot and sweaty after the walk there is only one thing to do...

Clothes off, costume on and into the refreshing water.  Always refreshing to be able to swim in a mountain pool like this. 

The Damselfly chose not to swim, but did fill her bottle from the waterfall. 

Nice cold water for the journey back.

Before starting back though John took us a little further down the river to see the falls and cascades we noticed from the top.  Although the stream is a bit low due to the drought it was still a great sight.

A girl and her dog.  Well, actually John's dog but hey, a picture tells a 1000 words. 

Fellow Geocacher Spiesie enjoying the view

As we started our journey back up the mountain side we found the dried out feces containing a lot of bones and fur.  My guess is leopard with the Cape Leopard still found in these mountains.

Just in conclusion.  As I said at the start, the InnKloof Waterfall hike isn't an easy one and not one to just pitch up for in slops and with a towel around the neck.  It's also not just a stroll down to the stream and you need to at least be used to walking a longer distance than just over to the corner shop.  We had a number of non-regular hikers in the group and they all completed it so don't let me scare you off.  I just want anybody considering doing this to be aware of the difficulty.  The views from the top as well as the end destination makes it all absolutely worth it so keep an eye on the InniKloof Facebook Page for more information about their monthly escorted Waterfall Hikes.  Another good suggestion.  Don't just go out for the hike like we had to do, but rather spend the weekend either camping or in a self catering chalet in this beautiful spot outside Hankey.  You won't be sorry.

Disclosure: We went on the hike as part of the Geocaching group and paid our own way.  

Sunday Falls Trail - Royal Natal National Park

How can one visit the Drakesnberg and not do some of the amazing hiking trails the Berg has to offer to take in the magnificent mountain views, streams and waterfalls around?  Over the ten days we spent camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park in the Northern Drakensberg we split our time between doing some of the day walks around the park and just chilling in the campsite.  Over the first few days we took the walk up to the Cascades a couple of times and did the Tiger Falls hike, but with Christmas the next day we decided to do the Sunday Falls hike on Christmas eve.  The hike is a nice and easy, mostly flat, 6km hike out to the Sunday Falls (3km) and straight back to camp or via a slightly longer detour through Fairy Glen.  The nice bit of this hike is that the trail cross over a couple of streams along the way and take in some stunning views of the surrounding mountains and is quite doable if you have kids.  Even if they are as big as mine already.  

The trail takes you to the top of the Sunday Falls from where you make your way down into the little valley the waterfall flows into

Relaxing below the falls (while I was searching for the Geocache located there)

Some of the little gems I noticed on our way

The Drakensberg Amphitheatre is set as backdrop for the hike

Hiking to Tiger Falls - Royal Natal National Park

The Drakensberg is famous for the trails that crisscross her spine, meanders across her back, explore her valleys, marvel at her fabulous buttresses, enter her wooded vales, wade through her streams and end up at waterfalls flowing over her.  It's enough to want to throw your head back and shout in ecstasy.  Yes I know what that all sounded like, but heck, that mountain truly is sexy.  For our ten days of camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park in the Northern Drakensberg we planned to split our time there between relaxing at the campsite, swimming at Cascades and doing three or four short morning or day hikes.  The first one we did was the Tiger Falls Trail.  The trail is an easy 6 km circular hike that starts right outside the campsite and heads uphill and on towards the mountain.  Along the way you get a great view of the Amphitheatre and Dooley mountain, stop for a break at Tiger Falls and enjoy the view from Lookout Rock before descending back into the Mahai Valley and back to the campsite via the Cascades. 

The view of Mahai campsite from the Tiger Falls Trail

Flowering Proteas along the trail 

The Damselfly approaching Tiger Falls

Tiger Falls is a great spot to take a break along the trail, fill your water bottle and kick off your shoes to cool down your feet.  Its even possible to climb up and in behind the waterfall, something the KidZ just loved doing.

The view down the Mahai Valley from Lookout Rock.  The campsite is in the centre of the picture

Heading down the path back into the valley and ready to go and take a swim at Cascades on our way back to camp

Swimming at Cascades - Royal Natal National Park

When you arrive at Mahai campsite in the Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg, one of the first things you notice is that there is no swimming pool.  "What! No swimming pool? How is one supposed to cool down on those hot barmy summers days while camping?" you ask.  Mahai doesn't have a swimming pool for a purpose.  The campsite sits on the banks of the Mahai River and 15 minutes upstream along the Queen's Causeway is where you head to the Cascades if you want to cool down.  The Cascades is a series of cascading waterfalls and shallow areas offering bathers a safe spot to enjoy the crisp clean mountain water that flows out of the Berg.  You may not be able to dive into deep pools or swim lengths but I didn't hear one person complain during the ten days we were there.  How often do us city folk get to swim in a mountain stream? 

The little bridge at the end of the Queen's Causeway.  The Queen's Causeway was built to allow the Royal family to comfortably walk up along the Mahai River during their visit in 1947.  The visit is also the reason why the park is allowed to be called the Royal Natal National Park.

The last stretch to the Cascades 

Campers and day visitors enjoying the Cascades

Yours truly playing ball with Miggie in the bottom pool

The Cascading waterfalls above the swimming area

Miggie having a waterfall shower

Chaos Boy warming up after a swim in the fresh mountain water

Miggie enjoying the view of the Cascades looking downstream 

Hogsback - a fairy wonderland of forests and waterfalls

Hogsback must be one of the most beautiful areas in the Eastern Cape and one of my favorite destinations in the province yet it's been a good decade and a half since I've last been there.  Every year the Damselfly and I threaten to go for a weekend but every time we end up going somewhere else.  Not that difficult with all the travel options the Eastern Cape has to offer.  But this time the decision would be carried through though.  It was time to show the KidZ what Hogsback looked like.

Arriving in Hogsback late on the Friday afternoon there were clouds over all the mountain tops but otherwise the weather was cool and nice.  Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of rain and opened the curtains to a sheet of white.  Not snow, if only, but rather a thick fog hanging on and around everything. We weren't going to allow a sheet of white and a constant drizzle to put us off  though so after breakfast it was exploring time with the Arboretum being first on the itinerary. 

The Arboretum is a garden, or rather more a park, of trees from all over the world, each marked showing their botanical and common names.  Probably one of the biggest, literally and figuratively, features of the garden is several Californian Redwood trees of well over 100 years old.  We parked at the Village Green and took a nice easy stroll through the garden but I kept on falling behind as I was taking way too many photos of drops on flowers, ferns and spider webs.  

Following the right paths and signs brought us to the first of our waterfalls for the weekend.  39 Steps is probably the easiest waterfall to get to in Hogsback and cascades down a series of steps at the top of the garden.  The area hasn't had the most rain lately so the waterfall isn't anywhere as spectacular as usual, but still beautiful.

The next stop wasn't one of Hogsback's conventional attractions but rather one we wanted to show the KidZ.  The village library.  Hogsback's library is housed in a rondavel on Redcoat Lane and must be one of the smallest libraries in the country.  

I'm sure my bookworm son would easily rather have stayed here than venture around to waterfalls in the rain, but all we allowed him was a quick look around.  According to the librarian the building was originally used as a butchery but I think the location and setting lends itself a lot more to a library than butchery. 

With the raining weather we could easily have opted to rather work our way around the village with all its artist studios and galleries but how can one visit Hogsback and not visit the Madonna and Child Waterfall in the forest.  With a warning of a steep and slippery path from the lady in the tourism info office, we took the drive down Wolfridge Road and parked at the start of the trail.  From here we followed Hogsback's famous piggy trail markers down into the forest and even though it was wet and slippery, nobody landed on their b-hinds.

Madonna and Child may be one of many waterfalls in Hogsback, but it's definitely the most iconic of the lot.  A beautiful setting right in the forest, the water falls down the sheer cliffs into the pool below before rushing off into the forest again.   Looking around one can easily see why it is claimed that part of JRR Tolkien's inspiration to write The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings came from Hogsback.  It feels like there could easily be fairies hiding under the ferns, a hobbit waiting to jump out from behind a rock or a dragon somewhere down the gorge. While the KidZ explored a bit I went in search of the Geocache hidden at the falls, but then it was time to head back to the trees as the rain started coming down again. 

We did have a chance to mount the camera on a rock and grab a family picture before making our way back up the path to the car.

Although I really wanted us to at least visit the Kettlespout Waterfall as well, the weather had the final say on the day and we decided to throw in the towel as far as waterfalls go.  The Kidz got excited because they though it meant we would head back to our self-catering unit with its fireplace and Dstv. Wrooongggg...  Our next stop was St Patrick's on the Hill church with its beautiful colourful gardens.  

Although the church is Anglican, services are shared by the Presbyterians, Methodists and N.G. Kerk every Sunday morning at 10am.  It's also a very popular wedding venue and can one ask for a more beautiful place to get married in than Hogsback.  The one thing that I found very interesting is that the church is open 24 hours a day and everybody is welcome to come and spend some time here in prayer or meditation. 

Talking of meditation.  Our last stop for the day was at the Labyrinth at The Edge.  Unfortunately we could not see the actual edge nor the stunning view from here but the KidZ did take on the labyrinth. What is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth.  Although the two terms are basically synonymous, there is a difference.  In this case a maze refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of path and direction, while a unicursal labyrinth has only a single path to the center. A labyrinth in this sense has an unambiguous route to the center and back and is not difficult to navigate.  So with this mouth full I watched the KidZ try and cover the distance to the middle as quickly as possible although generally a labyrinth is supposed to be covered slowly and in a state of meditation, prayer or deep thought. 

We returned to our abode, dried off, warmed up and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon in the hope of perhaps getting in some more walking and waterfalls the next morning.  The last picture in the post... was taken that next morning.  Needless to say, we stayed in and got up later before the drive back home to Port Elizabeth.  It does mean though that we seriously want to get back to Hogsback for the chance to explore a bit more in drier conditions.  Doesn't mean though that we didn't have a great time cause who can't when they get to visit a fairy wonderland of forests and waterfalls, even if it rains all weekend.

Disclosure - The weekend spent in Hogsback was a family weekend done so at our own cost.  Our accommodation at the Arminel Hotel was covered by a voucher I won in a lucky draw at a tourism trade workshop but otherwise nobody invited us nor influenced where we went of what went into this post. 

Shefetswe goes crawling for a cache

I love to road trip, doesn't matter if it is for work or pleasure, solo, with friends or family.  Road tripping takes me to places, allows me to sightsee, discover things, give me photo opportunities and... Geocache.  It's amazing how one can actually plan your whole road trip and all your stops around Geocaching.  It was no different on a recent Cape Town road trip with friends and fellow travel peeps and Geocachers Erenei and Shefetswe.  On the way back we stopped at a picnic spot next to a little waterfall outside Caledon in the Overberg to stretch our legs a bit and to allow Shefetswe to find a cache Erenei and I had done on a previous trip.

While I was having something to snack on and taking a few photos, Erenei and Shefetswe did a bit of mountain climbing towards ground zero. 

Size wasn't on the big guy's side as you have to get right down low to find this container and it was quite funny watching him crawl around.  Yeah, yeah, it's always funny if somebody other than yourself is doing it.  He did come up with the cache successfully shortly after I snapped this last pic. Log signed and it was time for us to hit the road again.

Takazi Waterfall - hidden on the Wild Coast

One of the first things I did when I knew I was getting to explore the Wild Coast a little bit was to check if there will be any Geocaches on the route I was going to follow.  Although there weren't a whole lot I made sure I saved those I would be able to do on my phone before hitting the road.  Driving along the gravel road to Wavecrest Hotel I had a look to see where the closest cache was and to my surprise it showed about 3 km down the road.  A short while later I turned off the main road to my right and followed that road for a kilometer.  I parked next to a stream flowing over the road and hopped out.  From here a path took me around the small gorge that opened up in front of me to a view point from where the Takazi Waterfall was visible.   

The Takazi Waterfall may not be one of the Eastern Cape's big and well known waterfalls, but it still was a sight to behold.  I could also imagine what it must look like after good rains.  My point though is that I would never have known about this waterfall if I wasn't a Geocacher.  There was no sign at the turnoff nor where I parked.  The waterfall isn't even marked on a map.  I would have driven past it barely a kilometer away if there wasn't a Geocache placed there.  A Geocache which, I have to add, I unfortunately couldn't find. But that could be a very good excuse to return some time in the future for another look.  A would love to revisit Wavecrest again anyways.

Our own secluded Baviaans valley

One of the best parts of exploring while traveling is discovering hidden gems.  Some of these hides are figuratively, as in somewhere (either a place or establishment) off the beaten track that the hordes haven't discovered yet.  Sometimes you find places that are literally hidden though.  One of these I found on our weekend at Baviaans Lodge recently.  A walk along a stream up one of the valleys near the lodge brought us to a breathtaking spot with a river pool, sheer cliffs on both sides and a small waterfall cascade.  This is my kind of place.  Somewhere to go and plug in your soul for some recharging.  Do click through and read the whole post as Baviaans Lodge is the ideal recharging spot even if you don't walk up that valley. 

Waterfall reflection

The Tsitsikamma is a world of indigenous forests bordered by mountains and a rugged coastline.  One of the most beautiful places there is.  At the heart of it lies the Tsitsikamma National Park.  The Mouth Trail takes visitors from the park's restaurant area to the Storms River Mouth with its three suspension bridges.  Just after you start off on the trail there is a little waterfall on the left hand side flowing into a pool.  A tranquil spot even with tourists walking past every few seconds.