TANKWA CAMINO – Introduction

CALVINIA → CERES (259km)

August – September 2019

South African Camino (10 Days)

After our 4-month visit to New Zealand, we returned to South Africa in June 2019. We longed for the open plains and dirt roads of South Africa, and we knew exactly where to find this place. The beautiful Tankwa Karoo! And, we thought, the best way to experience this place’s beauty is on foot.

The Tankwa Camino is coordinated by Danie & Rhina Pieterse and their team. It’s usually scheduled three or four times a year and we were just in time (and probably lucky) to get a spot on the Tankwa Camino that would start on 23 August in Calvinia and end ten days later on 1 September in Ceres.

Before we tell all about this amazing experience, we just want to mention that we were very lucky to have a photographer on the Tankwa Camino – Diana Pieterse, who is part of the supporting Tankwa Camino team. She took amazing photos over the 10 days while we hiked and gave permission for us to use some of her photos on our blog. Where applicable, her name will be mentioned with the photos.

Tankwa Camino (a hiking route in the Western Cape that starts in Calvinia, 380km from Cape Town)

What is the Tankwa Camino?

• It’s a hike of 259km however, some say it’s 256km. But when you complete the hike, you receive a Tankwa Camino batch and the distance on that is indicated as 259km. We’ll take that.
• The distance is walked over 10 days.
• About 90% is on dirt roads, while at the beginning and at the end you only walk (partially) on tarmac.
• The hiking group usually consists of about 60 people (but it can also be a bit smaller).
• Your luggage (tent, camping chairs, clothes, etc.) is transported daily to the next campsite with trucks organised by the Tankwa Camino team. It is important that each hiker’s luggage fits in 2 x 50-liter boxes in order to make it easy for the team to fit all the hikers’ luggage on the truck.
• Although there are no shops or cafes on this route (except for two farm stalls, called ‘padstalle’ in Afrikaans), you don’t need to bring any food. If you want, you can bring snacks to eat during the day while walking. The Tankwa Camino team provides hot drinks and fresh fruit in the morning and in the evenings delicious South African meals are prepared by the team which can be enjoyed around the fire. After each day’s walk, freshly baked South African treats are prepared by the team – a welcome snack after each day’s walk.
• There is no need to carry extra water. A support vehicle sets up water points every 5km where you can refill your bottles.
• There were severe droughts during the time we walked. Each hiker gets 5 liters of water at the end of each day. With this you can shower and/or wash clothes. It’s quite a challenge, but not impossible.
• At the end of each day you have to set up your own tent and take it down again every morning.

After doing the Camino Frances (2017) and Portuguese Camino (2018), it was now surprisingly difficult to decide what to pack. We had to keep in mind that we’re going on a long-distance hike, but we’re also camping.

Here are some pictures of how we did with the packing list:

In addition to the 4 x 50-liter plastic boxes (2 each), we also took our backpacks that we used on our Portuguese Camino. We used this to carry essential items on each day’s walk – like snacks, sun block, water bottles and medicine bag (with plenty of band-aids).

In the end, it was pretty easy to pack – especially considering you don’t have to carry everything yourself.

After much consideration, our 50-liter boxes were filling up with camping gear and snacks

20 x Packets of trail mix for the road (and something sweet for bedtime)

Epsom salt diluted in a little warm water can provide comfort to hikers’ tired feet

With no bars for 10 days, we had to pack our own drinks (we did share with our fellow hikers)

Our clothes were almost identical to the those on the Camino Frances & Camino Portuguese (plus extra for the cold Karoo nights)

My Injinji toe socks arrived by courier at the last minute before we were due to leave on the Tankwa Camino. After I washed it, it had to dry in front of the heater

Tomorrow starts our South African Tankwa Camino experience and we can’t wait.

Click here for our arrival in Calvinia, the start of the Tankwa Camino