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(another Kruger safari) Olifants Wilderness Trail, Kruger National Park The African bush has been calling for a while, so we packed up and headed 2000 km north-east for Kruger and our favourite means of really experiencing the bush: wilderness walking trails. Our first trail was the Olifants Wilderness Trail, one of Kruger’s seven and one [...]

Here are the photos from the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail. It was an epic.

Tomorrow I leave on what I expect will be one great adventure – the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail. This will be Stage 1 from the Northern Cederberg to the mountains somewhere around Ceres – 11 days of wilderness walking. As the blurb says – “a walk of no ordinary proportion”. The vision of [...]

Eastern Kruger Park: 13 to 16 July 2003 The Sweni is one of the most sought-after wilderness trails in Kruger, primarily because of the likelihood of running into the Sweni lions. According to James, the trails ranger, Sweni has the highest concentration of lion per sq km in Africa (i.e. the world). So when I [...]

Eastern Kruger Park: 3 to 6 July 2002 Metsi-Metsi trails camp – it apparently means “water water” in Sotho – is located 6 km from the Mozambique border in rhyolite bushveld on the eastern aspect of N’wamuriwa mountain.

“To Hell and back”: 12 to 13 May 2001 Well, not really. It was more like paradise. A perfect autumn weekend in the Cape mountains above Tulbagh and Porterville.

Southern Kruger Park: 25 to 28 March 2001 Once again Marion and I were privileged to participate in a wilderness trail (FAQ), this time the Napi Trail midway between Pretoriuskop and Skukuza. Napi was the newest of Kruger’s seven wilderness trails and its location at the confluence of the Napi and Mbiyamiti rivers was surely [...]

Many people from all over the globe email me about what to expect on a “wilderness trail” in the context of Kruger National Park (note that in this context I am not referring to a wilderness hike in a wilderness area such as Cederberg). So here’s a collection of responses to these questions. I am [...]

Southern Kruger Park: 1 to 4 March 2000 The “wilderness trail” is a concept unique to Africa in that it has evolved to imply a walk in the company of a game ranger or conservation officer, usually armed, through big game country. Aspects of the ecology of the area, environmental management and ethics are also [...]

11-12 December 1999 Our judgement impaired by a few beers and a bottle of red wine over dinner one night in the Strand, Ron, Peter and I resolved to try the Cederberg Traverse from Wuppertal to Algeria again – in the heat of December (a previous attempt was curtailed).

November 1999 This trail represented a reunion of sorts for those who had walked the Tsitsikamma Trail. Unfortunately, the whole group couldn’t make it, but Watty, Peter, Big Ron, Charlotte, Lorette and Nico did.

Northern Kruger Park: July 1999 The Nyalaland was our first Kruger wilderness trail (FAQ). It’s one of the less popular trails in Kruger, but it has a special place in our hearts. Some low-res photos follow…