Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Free State Province

Welcome to our road trip of December 2021. We are travelling by car across South Africa (from the west coast → north coast → KZN south coast → back to the west coast). The distance we will cover, will be around 5,000km (3,106 miles).

Our main purpose for this trip, besides seeing places we have not seen before, is for Berto to scuba dive in Sodwana Bay and then to be a little more adventurous … diving with sharks in the ocean in Umkomaas on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal. We hope to share lots of pictures to show you our beautiful country.

Accommodation – Day 2 & 3:

Golden Gate Highlands National Park – Glen Reenen Rest Camp (outside Clarens, Free State Province)

We were awakened in the early morning hours by continuous thunder and lightning, followed by heavy rain for several hours. I guess the hike in the Maluti Mountains is not going to happen today.

Big puddles of water outside our hut
Nature was crisp and green
Small waterfalls made their appearance in the mountains after heavy rain

So what would be our plan of action on such a stormy day? Well, exploring the nearby town sounded like a good option. We decided to drive back to Clarens (the nearest town and 17km from our rest camp).

A proper rain storm on our way to Clarens

History on Clarens:

Clarens is a small town situated at the foothills of the Maluti Mountains and nicknamed the “Jewel of the Eastern Free State”. It was established in 1912 and named after the town of Clarens in Switzerland where exiled Paul Kruger spent his last days. (Paul Kruger was the president of the Transvaal Republic from 1880 to 1900, now in present-day South Africa.)

Even on a rainy day this little town was beautiful. We found parking in what looked like the center of town and ran in the rain to the nearest coffee shop, which turned out to be a great choice.

The Courtyard Café in Clarens:

This coffee shop/bakery is a real gem in Clarens. The service was friendly and the food looked delicious. We bought takeaway coffee and sat down at one of the inside tables while the rain fell hard and continuously.

Take away coffee in the Courtyard Cafe
Berto ordered fresh bread rolls
Milk tarts (my favourite) and Strawberry custard tarts
More sweet treats
Koeksisters (traditional South African confectionary made of fried dough infused in syrup) and Kumquat Gin

We waited for the heavy rain to subside, before quickly walking to the next few shops. But despite this we got soaked.

An old rusty car in the main square
Heavy rain continued as we had to run for shelter

However, we realised that exploring more in the rain wasn’t such a good idea as our shoes turned into swimming pools. We found a small grocery store where we bought a few items before returning to our rondavel at Golden Gate.

On our way back to Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Berto prepared a delicious lunch. He took the leftover steak from last night, cut it into strips and then pan fried it with garlic along with one of our favourite sauces, Nando’s Bushveld Braai Sauce. We then added these on top of the freshly baked buns we bought earlier in Clarens. It was the perfect meal for a cold and rainy day.

Lunch time

For the rest of the afternoon (while the rain continued to fall), I read a book and Berto studied a map to find various options of how we should plan the rest of our road trip to Sodwana Bay.

It was only after 4 o’clock in the afternoon that the rain gave us a break and we quickly went out with our car to see more of the Maluti Mountains.

Time to see the beautiful Maluti Mountains
Stunning scenery on our way to a lookout point
Low mist was still covering some of the higher mountain peaks
The road was WET and slippery

Eventually we came to the well-known ‘Brandwag Buttress’. This sandstone cliff adorns all the postcard of the park as it has a golden glow at sunrise and sunset, hence the name Golden Gate.

The magnificent Brandwag Buttress
It’s a beautiful sight

There is a back-and-forth route from our camp to the top of the Brandwag Buttress, but in the rainy weather, it was not possible to hike to the top of this cliff. We therefor walked over to the lookout point and took a couple of pictures (before it started to rain again).

This is the closest we’ll get to the Brandwag Buttress today
The Golden Gate Hotel with another magnificent mountain as a backdrop

We then needed to hurry back to our hut as the thunderstorms were back, followed by heavy rain. When we got out of our car in front of our hut, we heard the roar of water. We got back in the car and drove on the road to the back of our hut. Here we saw a waterfall running into a natural rock pool – which I doubt anyone will enjoy today.

Water roaring over the cliffs
The natural rock pool is in such a beautiful area

It was time to get back to the hut again – the only dry place at the moment. Berto prepared a tasty chicken pasta dish while we enjoyed a bottle of red wine.

Chicken pasta on a rainy night

Tomorrow, we will continue on our journey to reach Sodwana Bay. We will spend a week there – for Berto to explore stunning dive sights, while I will be enjoying long walks on the beach.

If you want to see more of the road to Sodwana Bay (and a lovely waterfall on the way), you can click here.