April 2024

The Gate Trail

In last week’s post we told you about our lovely stay at Trennerys Hotel (read here). While we were there we heard about Trevor’s Trails and booked two spots for the Saturday morning.

Trevor’s Trails offers several guided tours: The Gate Trail, a visit to a traditional Xhosa house, 4×4 trail to Gxara Falls and a sundowner cruise along the Qolora River. Quite a few members of the German tour group wanted to do The Gate Trail and Berto and I (and a few more South Africans) joined them on the 3-hour trail.

Trevor and one of his guides, Carlos picked us up from the hotel in a jeep and dropped us off about 1km from the bank of the river. Carlos then led us through one of the villages and green fields to the boat waiting for us at the Qolora River.

Walking on a jeep track to the river

Lovely tree and aloe on route

Who needs to stop in the middle of the field?

The boat was not big enough for everybody and we split into two groups. The German tour group got on the boat first while the rest of us stood on the shore getting to know each other better. We had a good laugh with two women in our group – they wore makeup and were beautifully dressed with lovely handbags. The one woman said her husband booked them for a boat cruise, but mentioned nothing about a hike through bushes and over rocks (imagine that conversation between them later on)!

German tour group on the boat

After Carlos dropped the Germans off at rocks overlooking a deep pool, he turned around and came to get us. He took the boat through a spectacular gorge – it was amazing to be surrounded by these huge rocks while looking at the lovely reflections in the water.

On the Qolora River

Moving towards the gorge

Inside the gorge

Stunning rock formations

When we arrived at the deep pool, there were a few people swimming in the cold water. After heavy rain, there is usually a big waterfall too. But today there were only small waterfalls that brought a blissful tranquility to us as we sat on the rocks and looked out over the river.

Brave swimmers in the cold water

Small waterfalls

Japie and Waldie, our new friends, exploring the area

Two helpers who accompanied Carlos were even brave enough to jump from a high rock into the pool. One of the South African men in our group also did it under loud applause from everyone.

Brave men jumping from a high rock into the pool

After we stayed there for a while and explored the area, Carlos took us by boat back through the gorge to the bank of the river.

The gorge in front of us

Looking back

Beautiful nature at the Qolora River

Back on dry land, the two ladies who were dressed so beautifully walked back to the waiting jeep while the rest of us hiked with Carlos for about 5km through the most beautiful landscape to the beach.

A slight uphill on the hiking trail

Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise flower) growing wild in nature

Mouth of Qolora River and dense vegetation along the route

Another view of the mouth of the Qolora River

Walking through tall grass with villages in the distance

Rolling hills

The night before we saw a lovely (shy) dog on the hotel grounds. She probably belongs to someone in one of the villages. We noticed her again on our hike where she watched us from a distance. The next morning, we saw her again at the hotel before we left … we almost took her home with us!

Lovely dog on our hiking trail

Pretty little flowers

Following the hiking trail

Large MSC container ship on the horizon

The Wild Coast (and old Transkei) are very famous for their cattle that sometimes walk on the beach. We didn’t see them on the beach, but we did on our hiking route. They were in no way disturbed by us and we got the opportunity to take pictures of them up close.

Cattle in the field

Herd of cattle

Hikers walking past the cattle

Cattle watching us

Look at those horns

Cattle with the sea in the background

We were now almost at the river mouth. There was a steep descent to the beach after which we could take off our shoes and walk back to the hotel on the soft sand.

Almost at the mouth of the Qolora River

Wild dates

Steep descent to the beach

Qolora River running into the Indian Ocean

Hikers on the beach

Under the guidance of Trevor and Carlos from Trevor’s Trails, we did one of the most beautiful hikes on the Wild Coast of South Africa. We ended the hike by enjoying something cold to drink with Japie and Waldie at the hotel – not only did we do an awesome hiking trail, but we also made new friends. We love hiking!

The end of a beautiful hike