September 2023

Hiking to the arch at Uitspan Guest Farm

As promised in our last post, where we introduced you to Uitspan Guest Farm (you can read about it here), in today’s post we take you on a hike to a beautiful rock arch and cave.

Start of our hike

We drove in light rain to Uitspan Guest Farm, but when we started our hike it was only cloudy. We crossed our fingers that it would stay that way for the entire duration of our hike.

Pass a pond on our way up the mountain

The ascent began very soon and a path took us up and up the mountain.

Uphill at the start of the hike

Pretty little flowers

Not even halfway up the mountain, we stopped to look back and were amazed at how far we could see over the farm and beyond. From here it was clear that Uitspan Guest Farm is literally hiding at the foot of the mountains. We could also see the rock arch we were heading towards.

View of Uitspan Guest Farm

Rock arch

Panoramic view

View of another mountain on route

Lovely pathway between rocks, plants and wildflowers

Halfway up the mountain we turned around again and could now see even further than the farthest mountains.

View from halfway up the mountain

The rock arch getting closer

Hardy mountain plants

Colour in the mountains

Then we had a good laugh! Some of you may remember that our friend Anita had trouble with her hiking boot the previous day and her husband ‘fixed’ it with cable ties. Today it was the other foot’s hiking boot – this time the sole came completely off. Eugene made a quick fix with good old trusty duct tape. However, we believe this is now the end of Anita’s hiking boots.

Hiking boot problems (and a quick fix)

It was great that Eugene was able to fix Anita’s hiking boot, because we had to climb a little further to get to the top of the mountain to the arch and cave, over big rocks and on narrow paths.

Colourful rocks

View over the Baviaanskloof

Follow the hiking sign

Almost at the top with views over the surrounding farms

The last section was quite steep

Interesting rock formations

Eventually we reached the lovely rock arch. It was stunning to see this arch from close up and to also appreciate the amazing views we had of the valley down below.

Rock arch

Rock arch with mountains in the distance

Berto and Eugene at the arch

Looking down on the main road going through the Baviaanskloof

We each found a rock in the cave above the arch where we sat down to rest for a while. While enjoying some fruits and nuts, we admired the breathtaking view.

Take a break in the cave above the arch

After half an hour it was time to slowly find our way back down the mountain. We wanted to go hiking in another canyon before the end of the day.

Pretty pink geranium

We also had to watch the weather because we could see the rain approaching and didn’t want to be trapped inside the canyon when it started raining. But more about this in our next post (read here).