One Step at a Time

Hiking Trails

There are a number of good hikes indicated by different coloured cement footprint markers. One of the best options is a five-kilometre circular trail (which combines three routes) down to the Kowie River.

The trail starts at the View Point about 250 metres from the entrance gate, where there is safe parking, initially following the red route on a moderately steep descent down to the Kowie River. Make sure to find the markers on your left, which lead off the track after you pass through a  gate. Along the way, you’ll see typical valley bushveld trees and shrubs, euphorbias, cabbage trees and schotia species in particular, and you’ll spot well-known flowering plants such plumbago, aloes and monocotyledons as you make the 450-metre descent to the river. Fish eagles and pied crows are often seen, or heard, along the river system. Bushbuck and common duiker droppings are frequent and if you go quietly, you may also see these shy mammals.

Once you reach the valley floor (now following the green trail markers) the forest canopy creates a wonderful glade. Keep the river on your right and proceed to a trail hut, where you pick up the orange route and follow the markers to a point about 850 metres further on, where the trail begins to contour left and back up and around to the picnic site. The other trails in the reserve are illustrated on a sign at the entrance gate.