Our weekend plan was to do Lindenau hiking trail, about 30km west of Nelspruit on the N4. George, Brian, Shirley and Eddie were already at the Lodge when we arrived, and as we haven’t seen them for over 6 months, it was quite a reunion. We chatted away the evening but by 9pm we headed for bed.
It was drizzling and misty when we got up and after breakfast we dressed in rain gear for the day. We were led down a jeep track by the caretaker to where the path starts – straight up the mountain, no concerns for erosion. We climbed steadily, following white footprints painted on rocks and trees. The path curled around a spur of the hill we were on and eventually reached the top where we had a break. After staying flat for a short while, the path first descended, then climbed further onto a spur before descending yet again. By this time, we’ve walked beyond the cleared bits of the path and our shoes were soaked with rain and dew on the grass. I also discovered earlier that I managed to take two different hiking shoes out of the cupboard at home and now sat with an unmatched pair. The old shoe’s sole promptly came off around this point but when Brian found a piece of string on the ground, we were able to tie it up for a while. George, Brian, Nicola and I pulled away from the group and by 11am found ourselves in a little depression on a jeep track in a small patch of forest. The mist and clouds had started lifting and it was getting horrendously hot and humid. Neither Nicola nor I had any sun protection so I wanted to walk to get out of it. The two of us carried on and managed to catch up to the caretaker and two helpers who were busy clearing the path with pangas. At this point the path was completely undistinguishable from the veld and it was by sheer luck that you did see a footprint. The caretaker pointed us in the right direction and off we went.
George and Brian caught up with us at “Tjiekie’s Kaya Accommodation” – a run-down thatched hut that once probably served as a hiking hut. While still approaching this hut, we saw the road we should take to get back to the Lodge. However, at the hut, the surrounding area was so thickly overgrown that we had no idea where the road was or how to get there. However, the path we arrived on, had clearly marked footprints pointing us in the right direction and from the map we deduced that it had to cross the road anyway. So the four of us started on this path, climbing steeply down into the forest to a small waterfall and then steeply back out. We climbed out of the forest and reached a jeep track. Having a fair idea of where we were, I decided to stick to the track until we reached the Lodge, or at least close to it. It was now just past noon and ridiculously hot. After following the track for a while, I stopped under a clump of proteas to rest a bit. George and Brian caught up to Nicola and I and we contemplated going off the track and bundu bash down towards the Lodge. However, we were on a bit of escarpment edge and when George had a look at the bush beyond the track, there were cliffs of about 20m high barring our way. He did however discover trail markers close to the edge, running in the opposite direction. We figured that these were part of the second day’s trail and that they must lead back to the lodge.
Relieved, we got onto this trail and walked almost in the direction from where we came. It wasn’t long before the markers dropped through a break into the rocks down to the lower slopes. We were very glad that the path was going down but immediately got stopped in our tracks by the most vicious brambles and thorns covering the trail. It was as if the trail had never existed. Brian, who was in front, started clearing and bashing through the vegetation. The markers skirted just below the cliffs and now we were walking again in the same direction as we were on the jeep track. We were frustrated, tired and hot but at least there was more shade here. As Nicola and I haven’t had lunch yet, we stopped in a shady spot to eat tomatoes, cucumber and apple. George and Brian carried on but after we had lunch, it was barely 10 minutes before we caught up to them. The bush was now so thick and thorny that we were battling at a monstrously slow pace. The markers stubbornly stuck to the edge of the cliff, going up and down non-stop without showing signs of descending to the Lodge. We were scratched and burned to pieces, thorns, brambles and nettles covering the “path” so well that more often than not, we had two or three people out in front looking for markers.
It was now well past 2pm and we were dead tired. Finally, after what seemed ages, the markers definitely started going down. The fight through the undergrowth was no less fierce but now at least we had hope of reaching a road eventually. Each of us would take a turn out in front, battling thorns, searching for markers – this would usually last about 50m, then someone else would take over. All of a sudden we emerged out of the bush at the Old farm school which would have been our accommodation if half the tin roof hadn’t blown away. It was dilapidated, the ablutions in terrible state, no running water and the grass and bush encroaching so much that we couldn’t see the road 3 meters away until Nicola went looking for it and saw it only when she stood in it. Hugely relieved, we started walking the 1km or so back to the Lodge on the road. We reached the Lodge at 16:30 and were even more relieved to see Shirley, Eddie and Eileen there. We were very worried that they would make the same mistake we did. It turned out that Eileen had turned around on her own much earlier in the day and was back at the Lodge at noon.Shirley and Eddie reached Tjiekie’s place together with the caretaker and helpers who then guided them to the road from where it was an easy walk out. The caretaker then informed us that Day 2 was actually closed. Thanks for telling us that after the fact.
We spent the rest of the afternoon re-hydrating, had a nice braai and went to bed early. We rose around 7am, had breakfast, packed up and left for home about 08:30 as neither of us felt like walking again. Although the area is very nice and has lots of potential, there was absolutely no effort made by the owners to develop a proper trail, protect from erosion or maintain the paths and accommodation. I would not recommend this trail at all.
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