Well, as for plans to hike, those change. We wanted to hike the Suikerbosrand Hike, but typically any government managed institute, things don’t work, huts are damaged and not repaired timeously, and getting these chaps on a call or email is near impossible.
So, all that ranting, just to say we never did the Suikerbosrand hike, but we went to Kranskloof.
We booked Kranskloof a month in advance and was looking forward hiking it. We hiked this trail about 3 years ago and it was in mint condition. Great accommodation/digs, trails were “manicured” and the manager very helpful.
Come 2025, well, things change. We got to the parking lot, just above the hut, which you have to wait for the manager to take you down to the hut since its 4×4 territory, but he let me know he can;t take us. We stupidly assumed he arranged with someone to take us down to the ht, but noooo, that didn’t happen. Being hikers, we walked down about 1km, easy-peasy, but with one of our guys that still learning the definition of packing light, he brought his cooler box and we got that down with a bit of effort.
Needless to say, we didn’t die 🙂 Got to the hut, put our things down and hit the hiking trail. The first kilometer was ok, and then the trail got from decent, to bad, to worse. One of our team members is nearly 2m tall, but the grass was taller. Thus, we got lost a few times since we couldn’t see the trail or most of the markers.
To add to our growing unhappiness, we had to stop every 10 minutes or so to brush a myriad of bush ticks off each other. Which is generally normal for the South African bush and its hiking trails, but when its that excessive, normally the trail owner will let you know about ti so that you can add some tick repellent to your kit.
Needless to say, we got back tot he hut, and still enjoyed some fo the views we could manage. To add insult to injury, the kitchen was neglected and very little was cleaned before, and rats have been living in one of the cupboards.
We tried to make the most of it and enjoyed a shower at a waterfall nearby and a typical South African tradition, we had a braai and beer. Which soothed the bad weekend, and subsequently decided not to do the remainder of trail the next day in fear that we might disappear under a swarm, if that is correct, of ticks.
Although I would still recommend this hiking trail, I would warn any hiking group to speak to the owner before going to the trail and bypass the manager. It still has some jaw dropping views. See some of our photos below.
Until the next trail….see you then….
