High Altitude, High Energy Fun

Exploring the “Wild Side of the Drakensberg” by foot, pedal, hoof and paddle — Are you look­ing for adven­ture, exhil­ar­a­tion and vari­ety from your next hol­i­day? Wild Mountain Adventures based in the stun­ning Eastern Cape Highlands has the per­fect answer. Their ‘High 5’ adven­ture trail offers you the chance to explore “The Wild Side of the Drakensberg” using a dif­fer­ent mode of trans­port each day: hik­ing, moun­tain bik­ing, horse rid­ing and river rafting ...

This is your chance to get away from it all in a pristine moun­tain envir­on­ment. No work, no cell­phones, no traffic. Just clean air, great food and the chance to have an adven­ture you will never forget ...

Arrival Day:
‘Base Camp’ for Wild Mountain Adventures is the beau­ti­fully pre­served Victorian farm­house, Rosstrevor and on arrival you will be warmly greeted by your guides and hosts for the trail Kate and Phil. I should also men­tion the enthu­si­astic wel­come you will be given by Tinker the lov­ing col­lie cross who has learned to herd people rather than sheep and prides her­self in her role as lead guide and Head of Customer Hospitality!

After a chance to refresh and relax din­ner is served in The Old Dairy Restaurant which is housed in a won­der­ful 1890s sand­stone barn recently con­ver­ted using nat­ural mater­i­als found on the farm. A word of warn­ing about Phil’s cook­ing: the food is deli­cious and the por­tion sizes are hearty, so don’t arrive expect­ing to lose weight on this adven­ture hol­i­day! The good news is that through­out the trail all lug­gage is trans­por­ted by the back up team, so you only need to carry your day bags, a cam­era and a sense of adven­ture After din­ner there is a full brief­ing on the days to fol­low and a chance to get to know your guides over a relax­ing drink in the bar.

Day One — Mountain Biking to Avoca
After a farm­house break­fast the adven­ture begins with a moun­tain bike route to Avoca Cottage, home for the second night. The trail can be adjus­ted to accom­mod­ate vary­ing levels of fit­ness and cyc­ling exper­i­ence. Entry level moun­tain bikes are provided for those want­ing to gently pedal the quiet gravel roads whilst adren­aline junkies can bring their own bikes and ‘put the moun­tain into moun­tain bik­ing’ by test­ing their skills on single track farm paths and rocky des­cents. A pic­nic lunch is provided at a river­side swim­ming spot, giv­ing the chance for every­one to cool off in a nat­ural moun­tain ‘jac­uzzi’ that will leave you feel­ing clean and invig­or­ated. Dinner will be served at Avoca and there is ample time to relax and enjoy the views of Snowdon peak – tomorrow’s hik­ing des­tin­a­tion.

Day Two — Hiking to Snowdown Falls
The hike to Snowdon fol­lows a trail through an exquis­itely beau­ti­ful val­ley, with tower­ing moun­tains on all sides. First impres­sions are of the quiet, until your ears adapt their volume con­trols to the peace­ful sur­round­ings; then you real­ise that there is the con­stant music of bird­song and bub­bling streams to accom­pany the rhythm of your steady foot­steps. This ‘walk on the wild side’ fol­lows the mean­der­ing route of the river till you reach Snowdon Falls that plum­met down from the craggy peaks above. If the high alti­tude hike doesn’t take your breath away, then the views will. A well-deserved swim in the pools below the falls pre­cedes a pic­nic lunch and the down­stream jour­ney back to Rosstrevor where your lug­gage has arrived as if by magic!

Day Three — Horse Riding
After a day cyc­ling and a day hik­ing it’s time to rest those legs and be intro­duced to some lovely  horses who will will­ingly do the climb­ing for you. All of the horses are born and bred in these moun­tains so are sure­footed and know the ter­rain like the back of their hoof. Kate and Phil will match riders to the most suit­able mount and help novice riders with some basic instruc­tion. The trail is adjus­ted accord­ing to the group’s level of exper­i­ence, but includes gor­geous views, river cross­ings, and for the more exper­i­enced riders the oppor­tun­ity to pick up the pace and enjoy a faster canter through the farm­lands. Lunch is served by the river with plenty of time to relax and swim whilst horses and riders can enjoy a snooze in a huge shady sand­stone cave.

Day Four — Mountain Biking and River Rafting
An early start is needed for the busiest day of the trail as boats, bikes and camp­ing gear are loaded in read­i­ness for a big adven­ture. Thank heav­ens Phil and Kate take most of the climb­ing out of the moun­tain bik­ing by driv­ing every­one to the pic­tur­esque Wartrail dis­trict. At this point the cyc­lists are dropped off to enjoy a twist­ing des­cent with dra­matic views down to the his­toric Jochim river famed for cattle raid­ing skir­mishes between the Basothos and Xhosas. At Mosheshesford three small spruits con­vene to form the source of the Kraai River, itself a moun­tain trib­u­tary of the mighty Orange.

This is our launch­ing point for the river raft­ing trip and you can enjoy a relax­ing lunch break whilst the back up crew gets busy unpack­ing the two man inflat­able rafts. After a brief­ing and steer­ing les­son we get pad­dling. The Kraai is a beau­ti­fully scenic river that flows gently through sand­stone gorges The banks are draped with emer­ald wil­low branches weighed down with weaver nests that bob in the breeze. There are no hec­tic sec­tions of white water, so don’t book expect­ing the Zambezei, but there are a few small rap­ids to keep every­one awake and hav­ing fun. By late after­noon we arrive at our overnight camp – a huge sand­stone Halkrans next to the river. Tents are optional, but most choose to sleep around the camp fire whilst sheltered by the cave. After a hearty bush-braai, a few tots of OBS and maybe a ghost story or two, it’s time to lie back and enjoy the stars overhead.

Day Five — River Rafting and Hiking to Rock Art Cave
The dawn morn­ing chorus stirs camp awake and after break­fast the rafts are back on the Kraai. After an hour’s pad­dling we pull the boats out and take a hike to an incred­ible San rock art site that has over 95 paint­ings in pristine con­di­tion. Back on the river we enjoy a few more small rap­ids includ­ing ‘Kate’s Corner’ and ‘Phil’s Flip’. The sec­tion before our lunch stop has out­stand­ing bird­ing includ­ing a Black Eagle nest­ing site. Returning back to Rosstrevor, a late after­noon sun­downer on the rocky out­crops above the farm provides a fit­ting end to a true Wild Mountain Adventure.

View pho­to­graphs of pre­vi­ous High 5 Adventure Trail Trips:

What is the deal?
• 5 day activ­ity hol­i­day in the Eastern Cape Drakensberg
• Hiking, moun­tain bik­ing, horse rid­ing and river raft­ing
• Beautiful scenery includes moun­tain peaks, river gorges, water­falls, sand­stone form­a­tions and caves
• Fully catered and all equipment/guiding included
• Overnight accom­mod­a­tion in tran­quil Guest Farm B&Bs

Where is it?
• Between Barkly East and Rhodes, Eastern Cape

When is the best time to do it?
• Set depar­ture dates for 2009/2010 sum­mer sea­son are:
– 29^th November
– 17^th January
– 14^th March
• For lar­ger groups (6–8) we can arrange a private trail any time between mid-November and mid-April.

What do we need to bring?
• Outdoor cloth­ing, cam­eras, day­bag. Discount avail­able for those bring­ing their own moun­tain bikes.

Any Limitations?
• Minimum group 4 per­sons (but we may be able to put together singles to make up lar­ger group)
• Maximum group 8 per­sons
• Max Weight 120 kgs
• No preg­nant moth­ers
• Aged 12 to 70 years
• Booking essential

What is provided?
• Breakfast, lunch and din­ner
• Comfortable farm­stay accom­mod­a­tion (approx 3 Star)
• Guiding and landowner fees
• All equip­ment (dis­counts avail­able for those bring­ing their own MTB)
• Transportation of lug­gage between overnight stops

Who to Contact?
• Contact Kate on +27 (0)45 971‑9064