by Eric McLaren | Apr 2, 2018 | The Dome - Helderberg Nature Reserve
The Helderberg Mountain is found in the Western Cape of South Africa in the town of Somerset West. The mountain stands alone with 3 distinct peaks. There are some wonderful hiking trails with breathtaking 360 views over Somerset West, Strand, Stellenbosch, and the...
by Eric McLaren | Jun 19, 2017 | Cape of Good Hope 2-day Trail
The two-day, one-night Cape of Good Hope Hiking Trail follows a circular route of 39km. The trail took us along cliffs and windswept beaches, past shorelines and shipwrecks, offering incredible views of fynbos reserves and the raging ocean along the way as we...
by Eric McLaren | May 22, 2017 | Hike Fish River Canyon
This 85-km, five-day Fish River Canyon trail is reputed to be one of the toughest hiking trails in southern Africa, and is not suitable for beginners or the unfit. Although the trail is more or less flat, loose sand and large boulders make progress tiring and this,...
by Eric McLaren | Mar 8, 2017 | Hike Cape Town
Robben Island… from tourist guide to tourist! The name Robben Island is Dutch for “seal island.” South Africa celebrated the 2017 International Touist Guides’ Day Celebrations on 2-3 March with the theme being “Peace and Development through Guiding”. Over 200...
by Eric McLaren | Feb 6, 2017 | Hike Cape Town
Celebrating his birthday with a hike up the iconic Lion’s Head. I got an email from Rodrigo on Saturday morning. He found my details on one of the flyers on display at the lodge where he was staying in Cape Town and was keen to do either Platteklip Gorge on...
by Eric McLaren | Jan 15, 2017 | Hike Cape Town
A stunning, yet very challenging, coastal hiking trail This spectacular hiking trail is sometimes called the mini otter trail. It follows the Atlantic coast from Hout Bay to Llandudno. We parked our cars at the Mariners Wharf Restaurant and walked about 2km to the...
by Eric McLaren | Jan 3, 2017 | Hike Cape Town
Vogelgat is situated in the Kleinrivier Mountains. The highest mountain in the range is Maanskynkop (964m) which was our aim to summit the day before but an approaching cold front on the morning meant this was not going to be possible due to low lying cloud, icy winds...
by Eric McLaren | Jan 1, 2017 | Hike Cape Town
Two Capetonians and a Londoner tackle Skeleton Gorge and traverse the Table Top to upper cable station The last hike of 2016 turned out to be one of the nicest of the year. It was a total pleasure guiding locals Lauren, Craig and Tom from London. Three super fit...
by Eric McLaren | Dec 23, 2016 | Hike Cape Town
Expat South African, now living in Toronto Canada, wings his way back to Cape Town for a holiday. The power of social media re-unites two old school friends after 35 years. When Mario saw my Cape Town Hikes page on Facebook he immediately booked me and one of his sons...
by Eric McLaren | Dec 15, 2016 | Hike Cape Town
Myself and Dieter, aka The Bosvark, decided to get an early start on the full moon hikers and agreed on walking up at 1pm so we can get in and out the Cape Town city bowl before the peak traffic. Driving into town the Cape Doctor (SE wind) was howling but by the time...
