OUR EXPERT
Esma Marnewick
“There aren’t many places where you can sleep in the veld with the Big
Five for a few nights at a relatively affordable price. In fact, it’s so rare that my husband Tobie and I cancelled our overseas trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary when we got the opportunity to walk one of the legs of The Kruger Trail. This epic 650 km hike covers the entire length of the park, from Pafuri in the north to Malelane in the south, and it’s completed in six sections, or legs, over three years. Each leg is about 100 km in distance, hiked over six days.
“After a few days in the veld it’s as if something in your DNA is reactivated – you feel at home in nature, and at peace knowing that all you really need is the stuff you can carry with you. You quickly fall into a rhythm. You’re woken by the call of spurfowl and emerald-spotted wood-doves. By day you walk along dry riverbeds, over koppies and through grassland. You’re accompanied by two guides, who teach you that the fork-tailed drongo is the bravest bird, that a leadwood tree can grow to be thousands of years old, and that animals like elephants, wild dogs and spotted hyenas live in matriarchal groups. If you’re lucky, you might see a rhino cow and her calf, or a leopard leaping from a tree right in front of you.
“When the sun sets, the day ends with the good-lord-deliver-us call of the fiery-necked nightjar, and the prrrup of an African scops-owl.
“On the last day, you realise that you’d rather continue walking than go home. Luckily you have the next leg to look forward to!”
More info: thekrugertrail.com; leg fee for 2022 is R57 500 for a group of eight; the annual auction for a spot on the trail takes place in October 2022.