Tag Archives: hiking

The day the Dragon fought back

The story of the day that we had to call for rescue.

Giants and Dragons: The Double Giants Cup

For many years I have had a strange obsession with the Giants Cup Trail. It is a gem that somehow remains largely unknown. It is one of the few hutted trails in South Africa, and yet, unlike the others, you generally don’t have to book it months in advance. In most cases, you could probably […]

Didima mini-traverse: Camels and Elephants

I often say that the most beautiful part of the Drakensberg is the part you are in at the time of answering the question. The logic is simple – anything else is just a photo. Sadly no photo will ever do any justice to a mountain. The Didima region of the Northern KZN Drakensberg has […]

Bannerman Hut trip report

Over the weekend of 21/22 April, I lead an MCSA hike at Giants Castle. The plan was simple – hike to Bannerman Hut, leave our gear at the hut with those that aren’t keen to head up, head up Gypaetus Pass and down Bannerman Pass, spend the night back at the hut and walk out […]

Giants Cup Trail in a day

The Giants Cup Trail is a 60km long trail from the Sani Pass Road to Bushman’s Nek, usually completed over 5 days. Now how about doing it in a day!

Drakensberg Northern High Traverse in a day

The Northern High Traverse is probably the most widely known route in the Drakensberg Mountains. For that matter, it is probably the only multi-day hiking route in South Africa to appear on various lists of the best hikes in the world, with Walkopedia rating it the 7th best globally. I am not a fan of […]

Gear review: Hi-Tec Tunis Shorts

Hi-Tec recently sent me a pair of their new Tunis shorts to test. Before this review continues – it is important to note that these are running shorts, not hiking shorts. The distinction might be subtle, but the difference is huge. My testing of these shorts included a fair amount of hiking and some running, […]

Mnweni Needles Traverse: Threading the Needles

A 3 day epic at Mnweni with a lot of climbing gear and no climbing!

Some tips for climbing Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro is one of the most popular big mountains around, and is one of the most summited 5000m peaks on Earth. It requires little in the way of mountaineering experience, but is one of those mountains that everyone has heard of. Even Toto, in their song “Africa”, said “sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above […]

Climb Every Mountain – Drakensberg Grand Traverse 2015

Bagging 67 different summits on a 2 week hike in the Drakensberg – a sufficiently epic trip!