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Cederberg - Wuppertal to Algeria The Wolhuter Trail - again (by Peter Groves) Self-drive, overland safari to Namibia Botswana - Zimbabwe lodge and canoe safari
Recommended hiking sites: Ian Webb's Great Hikes in the Western Cape Footprint Hiking Club - many trail reports |
Whale Trail, De Hoop17 ...err... 18 - 21 July, 2002 |
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 Booking the
Whale Trail is hard to do - it has become massively popular. So when I got a booking for
the 17th, it looked perfect for the last 5 days of the school holidays. The dates would
enable my daughters, wife, friends who are schoolteachers, etc. to go. It was not to be.
Firstly, all hiking buddies dipped out, leaving me with potentially the most expensive
hike of my life, and secondly, nobody told me the start date isn't the first day of
walking. So we rocked up at Potberg hut, late at night, with the rain bucketing down after
a hairy drive on muddy roads, to find all mattresses taken and a full party of hikers
wondering why their first night's rest was being disturbed. My mistake. Luckily my pals
hadn't come - I would never have lived that down. So we spent an uncomfortable night in a
cold bakkie. |
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But it was prescient perhaps, because it
rained the next day, and climbing Potberg in mist and rain would have been less than
pleasant. We resolved to hike the last two days in one - they looked short enough - so
that I could get the girls back for the start of school. Day 2 - I mean Day 1 - dawns pristine, crisp and clear. The Potberg climb rewards us with spectacular views of the Breede River valley as it emerged from the morning mist. The walk along the watershed alternatively reveals the Breede and Grootkloof, agriculture and fynbos. |
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After Melkhout River (study the photo of the
rockpool on the foldout map, else you'll pick the wrong stream to lunch at), the second
climb to cross the hills to Cupidoskraal is a bit of a slog, making sight of the hut
welcome. Like all the others, it's a great hut - luxurious by hiking trail standards. Day 2: A short, sharp ascent is followed by a scenic cruise along the watershed down to the limestone hills verging the coast.
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The day is windless and cloudless. The
Klipdrifsfonteinspruit in the valley is but a memory of a spruit. The valley is
infested with Port Jackson (Acacia saligna), rooikrans (Acacia cyclops)
and black wattle (Acacia mearnsii), a bit of Oz in Africa. It's a lesson in
environmental degradation. Where the rooikrans has been cleared, A. saligna is
rising like hairs on a dog. The approach to Noetsie is spectacular (see photo below left). Two whales are performing only 100m from our lapa. At dusk they disappear - run silent, run deep. The plastic flotsam washed up from the sea is awful. John Dunn and his family of 1915, would have seen a more pristine Noetsie. |
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Day 3: The cliff-top walk to Hamerkop is reminiscent of the Otter Trail, but arguably even better. Caves, cathedrals and cliffs. And whales. One breaches continuously below us, only about 150m away. A languid half-twist, a crooked smile, one eye, white belly...smack! They seem to be heading for Noetsie. Heather and friends claim a klipspringer sighting. I wonder at what malcontents see fit to shatter the glazed, clay trail markers. |
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Hamerkop hut is different again, with its
"wolweneus" gable and an upstairs verandah. The accompanying party of 5 (later 6) is excellent company. Gawie has everybody in stitches at will. |
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| The huts are outstanding, even luxurious. Renewable resource and energy use is a feature. Solar power, wastewater and sewerage recycling, rooikrans firewood, separation of waste, etc. Hamerkop attic ->
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Days 4 & 5: We leave before dawn, having to do two days in one, and finish early enough. It's beautiful, walking on a deserted beach at first light. We reach Vaalkrans in the late morning. |
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Vaalkrans is a stone and thatch fishing cottage, located atop a cliff and cave, and opposite a cormorant breeding colony. | |
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It would be a great place to spend a stormy night. It
reminds me of those boys adventure books I read once, of smugglers' caves along the
Cornwall coast, the Olde Sea Dog Inn, pints of ale and long yarns.
[Three years later I do spend that night] Unfortunately, we have to press on for Koppie Alleen. As we get closer, the whale density increases. You can hear them blow, a sound like failed whistles. |
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At 1 o'clock we're at the vehicle. A truly magnificent trail it was. I will be back, even if it is only to spend a night at Vaalkrans. | |
