KlipspringHikes

24/09/2024

We’ll be ‘out of/in office’ for the next 2 weeks hiking Traverse 1&2 of the 🥾

14 days of wild camping in the Cape Fold Mountains is one hell of an adventure i.e. the direct opposite of a walk in the park.
(nothing personal against walking in parks, we just prefer mountains)💛🏔️✨

It also means going offline for 2 weeks - we’ll share some of the adventure when we’re back 💫

24/08/2024

Is it a bird?
Is it a plane?
No, it’s Cape Towns (in)famous albino squirrel 🐿️

One of the best things about spending time with people who are not local is seeing the world through their eyes.
For example: one gets reminded that meeting an albino squirrel is usually…unusual (normally the odds are 1 in 100 000 for a female to give birth to an albino offspring).

Not so in Cape Town’s Company Gardens where the albino gang have been running a very successful operation for decades.

It’s simple, but effective.
While one of them poses and looks cute for the camera, its associates sneak up from behind, squeak loudly to give you a fright (fully intending for you to drop your snacks) and then lo and behold run off with their bounty. 🥐🥖🥧🍪🍩

Cute? Sure
Clever? Indeed
Calculated? You have no idea!

30/07/2024

We love pancakes.
We also love mountains.

It is thus no surprise that we thought it would be a good idea to combine these two independently wonderful things.

Hands up if agree!

06/07/2024

The National Geographic must have read our recent post about the side effects (aka benefits) of hiking as they have since written a whole article about it!

You can read the very well written, scientifically researched article here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/benefits-hiking-brain-heart-mental-health

For those of you who don’t yet subscribe and won’t gave access, we’ve cut it out and pasted it here ⬆️

The National Geographic says:
“Hiking provides immense cardiovascular and muscoskeletal benefits, but being in nature while participating in the activity might be the greatest advantage if all.”

We couldn’t agree more 🙌

28/06/2024

28/06/2024

17/06/2024

We’ve just returned from another stunning weekend hiking in the Matroosberg Wilderness. It was led by expert mountaineers and Rim of Africa guides, Llyall Sprong and Jurgen Wohlfarter.

Training for the Rim of Africa is certainly not a walk in the park. In fact it’s more like a walk on the wild side.

Every year a handful of hikers tackle this epic journey following the 760km rugged line of wild peaks and valleys from the Cederberg in the north to the Outeniqua peaks in the east.

The Rim of Africa is divided up into 9 traverses, each varying between 7 – 10 days in duration. Come spring time, we’ll be taking on traverse 1 and 2 which means we’ll be hiking and wild camping in the Cape Mountains for 14 consecutive days.

The training hikes provide fantastic opportunity to test your gear in the tough conditions (hands up, happy campers!) and figure out your food solutions as hangry hikers don’t get far.

But ultimately, the training hikes allow us to get to know our fellow hikers who committed themselves for this incredible adventure.
We’ll be sharing more updates as we continue our preparations...watch this space…

11/06/2024

An important public service announcement about the side effects of hiking :)

09/06/2024

Trevor Noah, one of our national treasures, mentions hiking along with the gazillion other amazing things to see and do in our beautiful country.

If this doesn't inspire you to visit South Africa (if you're not from here) or to make the most of it (if you are!), not sure what will!😆

Trevor Noah answers questions from around the globe about the diverse activities, places to stay, and of course, the wonderful weather found in South Africa....

07/06/2024

Here’s a little Friday Fun Fact to ponder on this weekend...

Did you know that Table Mountain is older than both the Rockies and the Himalayas?

Yup! It has celebrated roughly 540 million birthdays 🎉🎉🎉 (with some early shale rocks deposited already 600 million years ago).

To put that in perspective: that’s roughly 6 times older than the Rockies and about 10 times older than the Himalayas!

Unless you’re a Youth Earth Creationist, you’ll agree that this means Table Mountain has been around way before the dinosaurs appeared +- 230 million years ago 🦕🦖💥

It’s no surprise then that South Africa is home to the ACTUAL oldest mountain in the world.

The Makhonjwa Mountains a.k.a the Barberton Greenstone Belt is formed of rocks dating as far back as 3.6 billion years.

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03/06/2024

Meet Marié, an energetic and passionate mountaineer and the founder of Klipspring Guided Hikes.

With 25+ years experience hiking, camping & climbing in South Africa and beyond she’s got plenty of notches on her (backpack’s) belt.

As a native Capetonian, Marié grew up with the Cape Fold Mountains as her extended back yard and has extensive knowledge of the local terrain, history and heritage.
Her innate curiosity and love for travel have led to a few bold career moves with opportunities to live and work in London, Paris, New York and Amsterdam.
Over the past decade, she’s lived in Europe exploring the majestic mountains of the French and Swiss Alps, the Mediterranean coastlines of Greece, Corsica, and Croatia, and the Scandinavian landscapes of Sweden, Norway, and Iceland.

As a qualified mountain guide, Marié enthusiastically shares her passion for the mountains, complemented by her love for cooking (and eating!) All Klipspring clients enjoy delicious and nutritious homemade mountain meals.

She is an active member of the Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) and a Sanparks Voluntary Ranger in training. Fully trilingual, Marié dreams in English, Afrikaans, and Dutch, with conversational French skills picked up along the way.

Her dog, Otto, occupies half of her sofa, and the whole of her heart…when possible he enthusiastically joins her missions in the mountains.

Marie van Niekerk

03/06/2024

Our Cape Floral Kingdom is one of the world’s richest areas for plant biodiversity 🌿🙌
Table Mountain alone supports 2200 different endemic species...to put that into perspective - that's more than in the entire United Kingdom 🤯

03/06/2024

Table Mountain National Park is spread across 25 000 hectares of pristine, protected wilderness 🤩
These days there's around 350 different trails to get you to the top!

Klipspring offers unique & bootique guided hikes, all geared around your personal fitness levels and appetite for adventure. 🐢🐰

03/06/2024

Flat white, anyone?
Early mornings on the mountain call for coffee, and plenty of it.
☕️

03/06/2024

If you love mountains, you’re at the right place...🏔❤️

We offer guided hikes on Cape Town’s Table Mountain and beyond.

Let’s take a hike! 🥾✨🌿