Welcome to RalphPina.com

Thank you for visiting my outdoor blog. RalphPina.com documents my experiences over many years of appreciating, and adventuring in, Nature. It celebrates visual beauty, advocates minimal impact, reflects on humans’ relationship with our ecosphere, spans the planet but focuses on the wild diversity of southern Africa. Photos, videos and GPS maps of hiking, cycling, kayaking, abseiling, canoeing and windsurfing..

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Square Tower Peak: where nobody goes

by Ralph Pina | Jan 2, 2013 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

Square Tower Peak has attained a degree of notoriety in the Stellenbosch Section of the Mountain Club. When a club trail leader from Cape Town called Stellenbosch's Paul Verhoeven asking for directions down from the peak, the helpful reply went something like this:...

Adventures at the end of the world

by Ralph Pina | Nov 28, 2012 | Beagle Channel, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego

After Torres del Paine the mission was to sea kayak in the Chilean fjords. We (there were now only four) hadn't done our homework very well, but had a vague plan to hook up with a kayak outfitter in Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city on Tierra del Fuego. Shaun...

Scrambling up the Cathedral

by Ralph Pina | Oct 23, 2012 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

Katedraal is the Afrikaans name for the Second Ridge Peak, one of the thin, serrated ridges that line the eastern rim of the Jonkershoek valley south of the Pieke(Twin Peaks). The Mountain Club's Stellenbosch section tackled it as yet another cold front made ready to...

Solitary walk on Stellenbosch Mountain

by Ralph Pina | Sep 23, 2012 | hiking, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

When Paul bailed from our planned hike I was so desperate to get into the mountains again that I did something that is not recommended and is potentially stupid: I went hiking alone. It was the first hot day of spring, 34°C or so, and crystal clear. Cape Point was...