Recently, back in July 2023, my mates and I were itching for a multi-day hike, even if its just for two days. Needed to get out of the normal rush of life and work and get some mother nature into us. As I told my manager, I needed some time with the bush doctor to get some things into perspective and think other things through with good company.
The bush or nature does that for me. It re-aligns, repurposes, gives my some breathing space, and that is some of the reasons why I hike.
We decided on a reasonably “easy” hike, since the company I had wanted to go easy on their knees and we chose the Cannibal hiking trail. See the map below.
It is a two day hike, of about 9/10km per day through the Maluti mountains near a little, quaint town called Clarence, in a province called Freestate within South Africa. We booked our hike using a hikers site called Fagalavoet.
In my opinion the cost is not your normal hikers cost per night for accommodation, it is a tad higher, but the experience was great. The first night we slept on the farmers old stables and / or out houses, which was comfortable. We had warm water and electricity.
The second day was a beautiful walk starting with a little climb and then a meander through valleys and “koppies” / ridges, through a small water fall and some rivers. The first day ends at a cave which has some bushman paintings in it. Using cave is a very loose term as its more of a rocky overhang than a cave.
It was near the end of winter, so it was reasonably cold and we had some cloudy weather, temperatures of close to freezing point with a dash of wind, to cool it down further. Fortunately for us, there was two trestle tables and two plastic sheets which the owner left, which we made a make-shift tent with to keep in some heat. None the less, it was a great experience and the nature and wild animals around us made it a memorable night. Nature at its best!
The last day we opted for a shorter return route as some of our company’s knees were acting up and we had a slow, short meander through farm lands. All in all a great/short hiking weekend. We finished early the Sunday morning and decided to enjoy an early lunch and Weiss beer at the German restaurant in Clarence. Highly recommended, especially in the summer!
Below are some photos of the hike.