August 2024

In last week’s post we told you more about Outspan Safaris and Lodge where we enjoyed a lovely weekend getaway (read here).

During our first evening at the lodge, Stuart, the lodge manager, encouraged us to go for a walk on the farm. He promised that we would have a beautiful view of the rolling hills and Kei River.

So, the next morning after breakfast we packed our backpacks with fruit and water, put on our hiking shoes and walked in the direction Stuart showed us.

On our way

This is not an official hiking trail and is therefore not marked, but Stuart told us about a few landmarks to look out for and after we reached the jeep track we knew we were walking in the right direction.

Following the jeep track

After about 2km we could see the rolling hills for the first time. It was a slightly hazy view – although we are still in our winter season, we had a warm day and the temperature hovered near 30°C/86°F around lunchtime.

First view of the rolling hills

As we walked through an open gate, we suddenly came to a very steep descent.

Start of steep descent

We could now see the rolling hills stretched out in front of us, but not yet the Kei River and kept walking.

Rolling hills

Going down

Great view

At one point I turned around and realised we had to walk up this steep road again. But we still couldn’t see the river and decided to walk a little further.

View on the way back

Around the next bend we could see the Kei River in the distance. Earlier this morning we thought of walking to the river, but could now see that it was a very long way to get there.

If you squint your eyes, you’ll see the Kei River at the bottom

Pretty flowers along the road

Still going down

The rolling hills are now closer

We could see the road stretching far ahead into a valley, before going over the next hill again.

The road going down into a valley

Open field in the valley

We could see the small villages of the local people everywhere on the hills – a very familiar sight in this part of the country.

Villages on the hills

Another familiar sight in the Eastern Cape Province is the Aloe ferox – also known as the red aloe or the bitter aloe. The best time to see this colourful plant in bloom is from May to August. Unfortunately, we are now at the end of the flowering season of the aloe and mostly only saw dry aloes – which was still a beautiful sight.

The red heads of the Aloe ferox

Aloe ferox against the blue sky

While admiring the aloes, we heard the sound of an approaching quad bike. The man looked quite surprised to see us (probably thinking who are these two crazy people walking in the heat). He drove slowly past us, greeted us friendly and then pointed back to the steep hill we had to walk up again.

The stretch of road where we saw the man on his quad bike

We looked at the winding road going down to the river and decided it might be better to turn back. It would become a very long day if we were to walk to the river and besides, we promised the chef we would be back by one o’clock for lunch.

A view through the bushes towards the river

As we turned around, Berto called me over to look at a particular plant. “Old man’s beard” (*) is a plant, well-known as an antiseptic wound healer that helps prevent infection and stop bleeding. Another plant nearby looked like the Pig’s Ear, a native South African succulent. This plant can also be used to treat skin rashes and abscesses. It is amazing how nature provides traditional medicine.

(*) Our blogger friend from Cornwall, (Jude from Cornwall in Colours) mentioned that this type of Old man’s beard looks like some kind of lichen like Usnea. According to Jude, Beard lichens are known as fruticose lichens, which grow like mini shrubs or tassels anchored onto the bark of tree trunks and branches. Thank you for the explanation Jude!

Old man’s beard (Usnea)

Cotyledon orbiculate (Pig’s Ear)

Another aloe

We soon realised that the ascent was going to require all our energy. It was steep! Halfway up the hill, Berto pointed to a shady spot where we could sit on a rock and rest.

Up and up and up

We enjoyed our fruit and cool water from our backpacks. The silence around us was incredible. It’s moments like these that one should cherish and remember, especially when you get entangled in your everyday life.

Enjoying fruit in nature

A last look at the aloes and rolling hills

After resting for a while, we tackled the final stretch of the steep hill. The last few kilometers were again on a more level road which made the walk quite easy. We saw so many different birds and can only imagine how much a bird watcher would enjoy this area.

Birds high in a tree

We also saw a bunch of bushes together with the strangest round balls hanging on them. After consulting the internet, it looks like the Balloon Cotton Bush (with the unpronounceable scientific name of Gomphocarpus physocarpus). I think we’ll stick with Balloon Cotton Bush.

Balloon Cotton Bush

Lantana – apparently a weed, but oh so pretty

After walking almost 8km, we arrived back at Outspan again. Near the main building are lovely succulents – the most popular water wise plants you will find in South Africa.

Succulents

Now it was time for an ice-cold beer and the chef’s delicious beef and chicken wraps – the perfect way to end our hike.

Beer and lunch

Although a small section of this hike was quite challenging, it was very scenic. Stuart was very surprised to hear that we didn’t see any wild animals and we regretted not being able to walk down to the river. However, we will see both – the river and wild animals – very soon.

You can read about our sighting of wild animals here.

(In a next post, we will share photos of the Kei River, an old bridge as well as a beautiful old church in a very small town. You can read about that visit here).