Entabeni hiking trail Aug 2008

After work, I picked up first Liza and then Gordon and Nicola. We left Pretoria at about 16:30 and drove without incident. My petrol was running a little thin as we approached Pietersburg and we decided to drive through Potgietersrus to put in there, rather than risk standing next to the road. Eventually we reached the turn-off to Entabeni and after about 15km on the plantation roads, we reached the hut. We were a little annoyed to find the hut locked, but just as we thought about phoning Tinus, who was still on his way, the caretaker showed up and unlocked the hut for us. We started a fire and it wasn’t long before Tinus also showed up and we had some very late dinner before hitting the bed after 23:00.

Day 1 (16 Aug): We got up early, had breakfast and were on our way before 07:30. The birding was fantastic and we had to stop every few minutes to look for something. We racked up a number of birds and heard both Purple-crested as well as Knysna turacos. We walked past the Ebbe dam and took nice pictures. The path went through pine and gum plantations and lots of indigenous forest. We didn’t rush at all but still made good progress. We stopped next to a little stream for lunch and after that it was 4km or so before we were back at the hut. We decided the map was completely wrong but the written description of the trails were not that bad. At the hut we started the fire for the scones we intended to make. Soon Fossie and Emelia arrived and we spent the afternoon chatting outside and looking for birds. Nicola prepared the scone dough and did a great job baking these on the fire – a little burnt on the outside but with lots of cream and strawberry jam, we didn’t really care! Later we built up the fire again for dinner and had lots to eat before eventually heading for bed at around 20:30. During the night it started to rain and when we woke up, it was still raining.

Day 2 (17 Aug): The area was heavily misted and everything was sopping wet outside. It didn’t take much convincing that we shouldn’t hike anywhere. We decided to see if we could drive to some of the places on the map and packed up. We left by about 8am and first tried to drive to the Vera lookout. However, the road looked a little bad and we turned around. Next we aimed for the Redwood forest but missed the turnoff. At a road junction we heard some Samango monkeys and got out to spot them in the trees. We took some photographs through the haunting pine plantations further down the road and then split up to find our ways home. On the way back we went to Albasini dam and spotted a few birds there as well.

Rooi Ivoor hiking trail Aug 2008

I had a half day off and drove to George’s at around 13:00. Shortly after arriving Pam showed up and we were off. We drove through to Middelburg, then onto Stoffberg and Steelpoort before arriving just before 19:00. Shirley and Eddy were already there as well as two members of another group. The fire had already produced coals so I could throw my boerewors on immediately. After dinner I showed some videos and pictures of previous trips on the laptop before we all headed for bed.

Day 1 (02 Aug): We woke up slowly but by 08:00 we were packed and ready to go. We struggled a little initially finding the way – the markings weren’t particularly clear. We wound up on the 4x4 track and followed this right down into a stream bed from where we started seeing signs that must have resembled a tree at some point. We were reasonably sure we were not on the right track but also confident that we’ll find it at some point. Not much further we came to a crossing of paths with a decent signpost that indicated right for the Moepel trail. We got onto this and sped up the hill. Birding was really good, seeing Grey-headed and Orange-breasted bush-shrikes, Southern boubou, Woodpeckers and many other birds. The path steadily wound up the hill and when we reached the top it started skirting along the side of the ridge with nice views down to the valley about 500m below. I was in the lead at this point and I kept a steady pace on the easy path, going past a radio mast and then reaching the point where we were told a new fence has cut off part of the trail. From this point we could clearly see the overnight hut in the distance on the opposite ridge. The path dropped down before climbing a last time up to the hut. It was a fantastic hut with a great location: wonderful views of the valley far below, perched almost on the summit. We rested for the rest of the afternoon and Shirley and I went off to find some birds. It seemed that most birds were having a siesta and we came back without anything new. After 14:00 we saw the other group summitting the ridge in the distance and not long after they also reached the hut. At 4.30pm we started the fire and we all finished dinner before 6pm. It was a beautiful evening so Shirley, Eddy and I all slept outside on the stoep. We heard a Fiery-necked nightjar calling for some time but I fell asleep quickly.

Day 2 (03 Aug): After breakfast we were on our way. The path wound through a few nice patches of bushveld and a small ravine before we reached the turn-off point for the longer trail we wanted to do. Taking the kudu trail we climbed up a pretty ravine with a few wooden ladders before reaching another split in the path. The way we were going was very poorly marked and the path almost non-existent. However, with all five of us looking out for it, we kept on the path and eventually made it to the flats where George and I streaked ahead and reached the hut at about 11:30. After a shower the rest arrived and by 12:00 we were on our way.