Setting off with a group of eight friends and family members on a crisp Thursday morning, I wasn't sure what I'd let myself in for.
Setting off with a group of eight friends and family members on a crisp Thursday morning, I wasn't sure what I'd let myself in for.
Four days and 40 kilometres hiking on the Swartberg pass didn't sound so bad – I had covered more distance on the Amatola trail in Hogsback, and I had faced tougher terrains than this.
Although the trail can be approached from different sides and tackled in different combinations of loops, the De Hoek resort just outside Oudtshoorn is a good place to start. Vehicles can be parked here until you return.
Piling out of our cars and strapping up our impossibly heavy backpacks, we set out on Day 1.
Crude survival instincts took over as we trudged through 8km of unrelenting uphill to the top of our first mountain.
When my heaving finally gave way to a sort of relieved panting at the day's summit, I looked up and remembered why I love to hike.
The exertion of scrambling up the side of a rocky cliff finally makes way for exhausted elation as I breathe in the spectacular view that being on top of the world affords me.
Surrounded by the panoramas of the Cape Fold Mountain range and its stark, rocky bushveld, I allowed myself to breathe it all in.
The sweet honey smell of hundreds of different species of the fynbos family Ericaceae, or Erica, filled the air. There were even some Protea nerifolia that hadn't realised that it was so late in Spring already!
The Swartberg pass falls in the Cape floral kingdom, so you can expect to see hundreds of different fynbos species.
If you start early enough in the morning, most of your afternoon will be freed up to explore or take a nap on one of the bunk beds provided at the first hut, Bothashoek.
The second day of the trail takes you to the Ou Tol overnight hut along 12km of old Jeep track.
On the third day you can take a more strenuous mountain ridge trail back to Bothashoek for the third and final night.
After this, you can look forward to a downhill stumble back to De Hoek.
A word of warning: the trail is not easy, and hikers have frozen to death after getting lost in the cold, stormy weather that grips the area in winter.
The mountain peaks will often be covered in a bit of snow (even in late September we enjoyed a few minutes of light snowfall on Day 3) but hikers are advised to stick to the Jeep track in bad weather.
You will need all the camping basics: From tents, sleeping bags, warm clothing, sunblock and first-aid kits, to your food and cooking implements.
Bring everything you need to survive.
The huts have cookers and geysers that work on gel fuel, which can be bought from some camping stores – but bring your own gas stoves to be safe.
Hikers need to obtain a permit to do the hike and arrange to pick up the hut keys in Oudtshoorn.
Contact CapeNature for booking queries at 0861 227 362 or 021 483 0190.
