June 2023

Part 1

Ever since we arrived in East London a year ago, we wanted to visit Hogsback. Being located in the Amathole Mountains, Hogsback turns into a snow wonderland during winter.

We would love to visit Hogsback during one of those snowy weekends, but we were in two minds. If it snowed, it meant we wouldn’t be able to explore the beautiful hiking trails. We therefore decided to visit Hogsback during a sunny long weekend in the middle of June.

Although it was sunny most of the weekend, it was COLD. On our arrival, it was raining and the temperature dropped to 0° Celsius in the evening.

Melody Cottage and view towards the garden

We booked three nights at Swallowtail Country Estate in the Melody Cottage. The cottage has a lovely view of the estate’s garden as well as the beautiful Hogsback mountains. And a great fireplace! On our arrival, Ansie, the owner, took us to our cottage where a welcome sherry (and plenty of firewood) awaited us.

A very comfortable bed (with electric blankets)

To keep us warm on a cold winter night

Since we decided to do some hiking in the area, we got up early the next morning. To our delight, the rain was gone, but it was still very cold outside. We had a few cups of tea and coffee before we were brave enough to step out of the cottage.

Swallowtail’s chickens greeted us when we walked out into the garden

We first walked across the main road to Woltree, a coffee shop opposite Swallowtail. The friendly owners showed us a map of Hogsback and informed us where to find all the hiking trails. We bought a map and after a friendly chat we walked down the main road of Hogsback.

Main road of Hogsback

Hogsback – the name:

There are two (or maybe more) theories as how the village received its name. Some think it was named for Captain Hogg, Commander of Fort Michell. Others think it is because one of the three peaks that overlook the village, when seen from a certain angle, resembles a Hog’s Back. (A hog’s back is a geological term describing this particular rock formation). Source: Wikipedia

After the heavy rain of the previous few days, it was quite wet and muddy to walk along the main road (which is a dirt road with many potholes). As a result, we decided to keep the forest walks for the next day and instead explore the town and the Arboretum. The Arboretum is a lush forest with quaint streams, a wonderful collection of redwood trees and waterfalls.

Restaurant and dogs along the main road

Signs to accommodation and restaurants

Although East London (where we currently live) is only 150km (93 miles) from Hogsback, it is nowhere near as cold on the coast as it is here in the mountains. The bare trees were a clear sign that we were in the middle of winter – a beautiful sight.

Winter trees

After walking about 1.5km down the main road, we reached the turnoff to the Arboretum. It was a lovely path through the tall pine trees and we saw quite a few people who were also on their way to the Arboretum.

The Arboretum:

Avenue to the Arboretum

Surrounded by tall pine trees

The three Hogs mountain peaks

The walk in the Arboretum is an easy loop trail through beautiful trees from around the world, especially the Californian Redwood. It is easy to get lost in this little garden because the signage is no longer clear. However, it does not matter because you are constantly surrounded by the beauty of nature.

Entrance to the Arboretum

Bridge over the river

Dahurian (left) and bright bead cotoneaster (right)

Trail along a small river stream

Tall trees

Different coloured trees

Crossing a stream

39 Steps Waterfall:

We were now on our way to the 39 Steps waterfall. We first reached the lower bench of the fall and then walked up some rocky steps to reach the upper part of the waterfall.

Lower bench of the falls

Walking to the upper part of the 39 Steps waterfall

39 Steps waterfall

On our way out of the Arboretum, we came to some slippery spots and had to be careful not to slip and fall. Because we walked a little slower, we had a chance to look more around us. There were beautiful raindrops on the plants along the trail and moss on the ground … it’s good to walk a little slower sometimes, because you notice things you don’t usually see when you’re in a hurry.

Beautiful nature

When we got back to the main road, we saw one of the local people selling different clay animals. We always try to support the local community when we visit small towns and I couldn’t resist the funny looking warthog.

Warthog and Guineafowl

We quickly stopped for a coffee at one of the small shops along the main road. I also noticed a chocolate shop on the other side of this shop and promised myself that I would not leave Hogsback without visiting them.

Coffee shop

Back at our cottage, the chickens were waiting for us on our front porch. We also had other visitors at the back of our cottage – a large family of baboons! But when they saw us, they quickly ran away. We decided to enjoy a ‘braai’ outside (while the sun was still shining).

Swallowtail’s chickens

Baboons running in all directions

‘Braai’ time

After lunch we went for a stroll through the lovely gardens of Swallowtail. It was great to see so much colour, even in the middle of winter. We also walked over to the famous Hogsback Weather Stone.

A splash of pink

The Weather Stone (and maybe evidence of a baboon?)

Colourful Hydrangeas

Winter garden at Swallowtail

Colourful Daisies

Pink Azalea

We ended a chilly day with a bowl of pasta and red wine in front of the fireplace. It was lovely to spend time in nature … even though it was so cold.

Winter evening

In our next post we will take you deep into a forest to visit a very BIG tree and another beautiful waterfall in Hogsback.

You can read the next post of our hiking in the forest here.