Hikers enjoy a popular and picturesque trail

The Jack and Jill Hiking club had an enjoyable hike at the Royal Natal National Park Mahai Campsite on the weekend of February 16-18.
The Royal Natal National Park is situated 44km from Bergville and approximately 180km from Dundee.
The work “Mahai” is Sesotho for “Rocky Krantz”. The Mahai campsite is well maintained and offers kitchen facilities with hydro boil for hot water. There are a number of ablution blocks which are well maintained and are kept neat and clean.
The hikers arrived at Mahai campsite on Friday afternoon where tents were set up and the camp arranged.
The Hikers were wary about the weather for the weekend as rain had been forecast. Saturday morning saw the hikers rising early to an overcast sky and it was decided that it did not look like rain so the hikers decided to take a chance and do the Gorge Hike. The hikers made their way to the entrance for Thendele, where the Gorge Car Park is situated and the Gorge hike begins.
The Gorge trail is a popular and picturesque trail; at a distance of 17km. Thanks to modern day tech gadgets the hikers lowest level was 1 100m above sea level and the highest level was 1 943m above sea level. Saturday was hot even though it was overcast and the hikers welcomed the slightest of breezes that were found.

A picnic lunch was enjoyed at the sides of the pools. After a good rest, the return hike was started, but for the weary hikers, it seemed to take forever to reach the Gorge car park.

The trail led through a number of indigenous forests. Along the trail, fresh spoor prints were seen and the hikers had a healthy debate on whether it was an Eland or cow hoof print. The droppings eventually had all the hikers convinced that it must be a cow even though there should not be any cattle in the Royal National park.

Eventually going through the one indigenous forest the lead hiker stopped and informed the group that we had finally found the culprit and we all eagerly looked around the corner to see, at first only seeing the hind quarter we were all still convinced it was a cow but on a better look the hikers startled three beautiful majestic Eland who scrambled into the bush for cover from the hikers who intruded on their peaceful morning feed. At one point a waterfall was found just off the trail path but as the waterfall is so high the water running over the top is barely a mist when it reaches the bottom.

The hike continued till the Gorge was reached where the Tugela river had to be crossed in a number of spots and boulder hopping done. As the river was flowing quick fast and deeper than normal it was difficult to boulder hop to cross the river so shoes were taken off and the hikers tried to find their way through the river rock to rock in the ice cold water.

The tunnel was reached and it was amazing to see.
A picnic lunch was enjoyed at the sides of the pools. After a good rest, the return hike was started, but for the weary hikers, it seemed to take forever to reach the Gorge car park.
On Sunday morning, the hikers enjoyed one last walk to the Queen’s Causeway and the Cascades. From there a pathway was followed to the McKinley’s pool and on returning to camp the hikers had something to eat and then leisurely packed up.
Next month’s hike on the weekend of March 16-18 will be to Three Provinces. For further details, Christine can be contacted on 078 576 3204.