The Strandloper Trail in South Africa's Eastern Cape

There’s a lot to be said for hik­ing. It’s a good way to exer­cise whilst sav­ing you from the exotic body odours and dubi­ous clean­li­ness of gym chan­ging rooms. It forces you from out behind the latest Youtube video of a cat fall­ing off a TV and into the great out­doors where our ancest­ors once roamed freely without the help of GPS.

And roam they did, par­tic­u­larly in Southern Africa where being a nomadic tribes­man was the “in” thing for thou­sands of years. Maybe, as a South African, I’ve never really lost the desire to walk long dis­tances for no real reason and reg­u­larly under­take to explore the out­doors on foot. Whilst for most the word ‘hik­ing’ con­jures up images of high moun­tain passes, there sev­eral trails in South Africa that have a more coastal fla­vour. One such is the Strandloper Trail in South Africa’s Eastern Cape ...

The Strandloper Trail stretches from Cape Morgan in Kei Mouth to Gonubie for about 60km. “Strandloper” lit­er­ally means “beach­walker” and although this coastal trail def­in­itely takes in some real beach action, it also goes through forest and some steep cliffs mak­ing it per­fect for hikers who like a little vari­ety.  The full trail is a 5 day adven­ture split up into 5 dis­tinct sec­tions.  The trail can be tra­versed at any time of year, although the beaches do tend to get a bit crowded over the hol­i­day sea­son and some swear that the best time to do it is off-season.

Huts provide overnight stop­ping places and have adequate ablu­tion facil­it­ies and braai facil­it­ies, except Cape Henderson which is situ­ated in the forest and as such not con­du­cive to fire-making. Hotels and pubs along the route also provide many inter­est­ing and tasty options for meals should the pres­sures of walk­ing all day call for a hearty pub meal and drink.

The Pumphouse is the first overnight stop and is a strange indus­trial look­ing build­ing that used to be, wait for it, the pump house for a nearby mine. This is a really great place to stay and it’s almost worth doing the trail just for this. The Cape Henderson log cabin is another rus­tic overnight high­light. The rest of the hike takes you over beaches, across estu­ar­ies and through forests. If you’re doing the trail dur­ing sum­mer the oppor­tun­it­ies to swim are end­less and appar­ently there are even some spec­tac­u­lar snorkel­ing spots for those with a more adven­tur­ous attitude.

Remember to check the times of tides on a tide table so that you can plan your hik­ing times. There are also plenty of oppor­tun­it­ies for bird watch­ing and so remem­ber to take along a pair of bin­ocu­lars (as you should on any hike) to get a bet­ter view of the avian eye-candy.

This is a five day hike so come pre­pared, but it’s not as strenu­ous as some of the more moun­tain­ous hikes in South Africa and can done even by rel­at­ively fit begin­ners (like me). The Strandloper is a unique South African hik­ing exper­i­ence and is well worth the effort.

Reservations & Enquiries:
The Reservation Manager
Telephone: +27 (0)43 841‑1046
Mobile: +27 (0)83 285‑4773

Photo Credit:
Photo from www.panoramio.com/photo/12411745

Useful Links:
Eastern Cape Hiking Trails
Eastern Cape Attractions
Things to Do in Eastern Cape
Accommodation in Eastern Cape