Xolani Tembu and Rea Ntshabele
Located near Barberton, Mpumalanga, the beautiful Nelshoogte Nature Reserve is a provincial park but also home to the privately run Queen’s River Adventure Camp and the brilliant Queen Rose Hiking Trail. The Adventure Camp principally hosts schoolchildren for character-building experiences, but they also offer day hikes and multi-day backpacking trips. Their facilities are the best we’ve encountered on our travels in South Africa thus far (followed closely by those on the Cape of
Good Hope Hiking Trail).
We spent our time swimming in natural pools and enjoying the waterfalls on the Queen Rose Hiking Trail. Rea even saw a leopard on day one of the hike!
Midmar Nature Reserve near Howick in KZN on the other hand embodies tranquillity – we enjoyed watching the sun rise over the dam. We camped here for four days, and it was clear that a lot of effort is made by staff to ensure a good visitor experience. Though we had arrived at night, check-in at the gate was quick and painless. The ablutions were serviced daily without fail and at no point did we run out of hot water.
Oribi Gorge is about 35 km from Port Shepstone on the South Coast of KZN; you first see the gorge when you reach the Mac Valley Farm Stall. We stopped here for drinks and home-made goodies. Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve is home to giraffe, zebra, and small antelope species like oribi and duiker. We just visited for the day, so didn’t make use of the campsites or the picnic spots on the banks of the river. Instead, we made an adventure day of it with Wild5adventures. We did their Wild Swing – you jump off the top of Lehr’s Waterfall and swing your way to happiness!
Pretoria, Gauteng
IG: @exenahr @misfit_rea
• Nelshoogte Nature Reserve
mpumalanga.com
• Queen Rose Hiking Trail
queensriver.co.za
• Midmar Nature Reserve & Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve kznwildlife.com • Wild5adventures
wild5adventures.co.za