Garden Route Trail

29/06/2025

Have you been trying to book a slackpacking trail and unable to do so?
Why not consider the Karoo Stone Folk Trail.
The trail is ideal for those seeking a digital detox, a creative recharge, a meaningful adventure & challenge, solitude, reflection, and reconnection.
Contact us now to book.

06/06/2025

For mid winter, our first day on the Karoo Stone Folk Trail has been a sublime sunny day, mildly warm and most importantly, expansive as we hiked across the Nama Karoo plateau surrounding by mountain tops.

05/06/2025

One of many magical hiking locations in the Karoo.

The ancient landscape of the Karoo is perfect for wild hiking. In the Nieu Bethesda region, the mountains are divided by rivers and canyons, eroded through t...

24/05/2025

Karoo hiking around Nieu Bethesda is simply magnificent.
If you are adventurous enough for some wild hiking, the options are endless.

In collaboration with WO Spaces, Garden Route Trail offers a range of nature hiking and slackpacking tour in the Nieu Bethesda region.

Traversing Karoo landscapes of plateaus, canyons flat top mountains, we explore the Karoo flora and micro fauna along jeep tracks, sheep tracks and wild hiking for a truly immersive experience through this unique landscape.

The Karoo offers a diverse landscape for hiking, with grassland plateaus, canyons, spring fed streams and wide open spaces. The geology spans over 460 millio...

14/05/2025

Today we had some incredible sightings on the first day of the Garden Route Coastal Meander.
First up, while canoeing we saw a young Bushbuck ram sunning himself in the dappled light on the river bank. His horns weren't more than 5cm long, small spikes erupting from his head.
Next, a female Narina Trogon, resting on the boardwalk railing, scanning for prey while we watched.
The highlight was the Blue Duiker, an adult female, feeding 8m from the boardwalk. Undeterred by our presence, she nibbled at the undergrowth till a group of day walkers passed us, then she slunk effortlessly into the undergrowth and vanished from sight.
In all, the lighting, the reflective tones on the still water and the range of colours in the forest were sublime. A perfect day out.

11/05/2025

Hiking for conservation on the Garden Route Coastal Meander.

Hiking is the perfect way to escape urban routines and declutter daily schedules.With little more than a pack on your back, refreshments and a lunch pack and some suitable clothing, there is little to distract hikers, whether it be in the mountains, fynbos, forest or along the coast.

On guided trails it is an ideal opportunity to collect data. Guides leading the trails can observe seasonal and long term changes, and record them.

The Garden Route Coastal Meander is a trail that uses each trail as a coastal survey, recording African Black Oystercatcher sightings and behaviour, as well as marine mammal sightings.

Collaborating with Strandloper Project and a paleoscience group, the trail collects information on migrating whales, Indo-Pacific and Bottlenose Dolphins and Cape Fur Seals, as well as rescue of stranded sea turtle hatchlings.

From the Oystercatcher data, the Strandloper Project has been able to gleam insights into factors, both environmental and human impacts, that influence the density and distribution of this species.

Stranded turtle hatchlings are rescued, and through the regional Turtle Rescue Network, are sent to the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation in Cape Town for rehab before being released.

Of the marine mammals, recorded sightings of Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins, are shared with a national data base for a better understanding of this species movements and behavior. As the rarest dolphin species in South Africa, with less than 500 Dolphins in South African waters, the trail is privileged to hike past two bays that are frequented by this species.

The trail also explores for pleistocene fossil trackways in the fossil dunes on the three beach stages of the five day trail, providing hikers with a unique opportunity to view a collection of mammal and human footprints along the hike.

Sharing these diverse findings with guests on the hike, offers a experiential insights into the diverse ecology of the region, as well as the satisfaction that by participating on the hike, guests are contributing towards some valuable research and citizen science.

The Garden Route Coastal Meander is a five day guided slackpacking trail between Wilderness and Brenton on Sea. For the full trail itineray and how to make a reservation, visit the Garden Route Trail website.

07/05/2025

Fossil Find.

We had an exciting find of the fossilized lower jaw bone of a Gorgonopsidae on the Karoo Stone Folk Trail over the weekend. This group of predators roamed the region approximately 250 million years ago.

Thank you to Dr Rubige from the Karoo Origins Fossil Collection Museum in Graaff Reinet for taking the time to review photos and provide an identification of the find.

In the image, you can clearly see the long canine tooth and the shorter incisors to the left.

The Karoo Stone Folk Trail is a guided three day slackpacking hike with farmstays on three private farms, hiking across plateaus, through deep gorges and around amazing boulder mounds. Finding fossils along the way is possible, and we were amazed to find this one with such exquisite detail.

01/05/2025

Super excited to be starting the inaugural Karoo Stone Folk Trail tomorrow morning.

The Karoo Stone Folk Trail is a 3 day, 4 night slackpacking trail in the Nieu Bethesda region. Traversing Nama Karoo grassland, the trail offers a mix of pla...

24/04/2025

𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 - are you wired to keep the wildlife safe in the Garden Route?

Wildlife Crime Information Network will be collaborating with CapeNature, SANParks and other important role players to host a series of Anti-Snare Awareness Workshops in the Garden Route to unravel the threads of snaring.

This is an invitation to landowners, farm managers, conservancies, wildlife experts and the community to join and support our Anti-Snare Awareness Workshops and learn more about the issue of illegal snaring, a common poaching tool and something people don’t hear of every day or pay much attention to, but that are probably amongst the highest killers of our wildlife in the Western Cape.

Participants will learn how to identify, remove, reduce, and prevent snares in and around the valuable wildlife habitat.

For more information see flyer and follow the link to the event ▶ https://facebook.com/events/s/anti-snare-awareness-workshop/710181461393232/

08/04/2025

Mountain High