EXPERIENCES / INTERNATIONAL
South Africa
Overview
This page is a work in progress.
Some
of the things we want to include are listed below.
- The Harkerville Trail. Spectacular coastal scenery on an overnight hike.
- The Arangieskop Trail. A steep climb to one of the most scenic huts in the country.
- Kruger. One guided hiking trail and a night in Russell's favourite small camp.
- Even on the overnight walks, we will have beds and shelters.
- Amazing wildlife.
- A wonderful variety of landscapes: pools, gorges, spectacular cliff top views and more.
Guide:
Russell Willis
Although we've been running trips to southern Africa for 25 years, there is still no one else who offers trips like ours.
Here are some links to videos about some of the walks we plan to do.
- Harkerville Trail
- Arangieskop Trail
- Tierkloof Hiking Trail
- Maltese Cross
- Wolfberg Cracks and Arch
- Kogelberg
- Drakensberg -- a good overview. We'll concentrate on the south and central areas.
- Kruger Wilderness Trails -- a collection of short videos from the different trails. We're not yet sure which one we'll do.
INTERNATIONAL 6 April - ?? May 2026
This page is a work in progress.
Latest update 7 Feb 2026. New video links in the black box above. More details to follow.
The trip will be a combination of day and overnight hikes. Two of the hikes will require carrying full packs but not tents.
We'll begin with Table Mountain and the Cape of Good Hope, then the Kogelbeerg Biosphere Reserve.
From there it's north to the Cedarberg for some longer walks.
Video links above.
Next is the Arangieskop Trail. It's two very long days, lots of climbing, but you get to spend a night in a 'hut' (hot showers & weatherproof) with one of the most spectacular views from any mountain hut in South Africa.
Click here
for a link to a newer South African page describing the walk.
Next we go to the Gamka Mountain Nature Reserve where we hope to do the overnight Tierkloof trail without needing to carry full packs.
The Harkerville Trail was the first overnight walk I did in South Africa back in 1999. It's an overnight walk with hut accom so you don't need to carry a tent or sleeping mat.
Click here
to see an album of Harkerville photos from our Facebook page.
Click here
to see a link to a South African description of the trail.
We then head north toward the Drakensberg, probably stopping for a walk somewhere on the way.
We hope to do the Sani Pass tour into Lesotho as well as a number of other walks in the area.
From the Drakensberg, we make our way north and east toward Kruger, stopping for another walk somewhere along the way.
We haven't yet decided which. The trip notes, link below, list some of the possibilities.
Kruger and Kakadu, two huge parks of similar size. Willis's Walkabouts is the only tour operator offering walks in both.
Kruger is far and away the largest park in South Africa. We plan to spend 4-5 nights in the park, doing one of their
Wilderness Trails. The box in the first section of this page has a link to a collection of short videos from these trails. We can't be sure which one we'll do until closer to departure.
In addition to the Wilderness Trail, we'll do our own game drives, staying in one of the main rest camps as well as one of the smaller ones.
After Kruger, we work our way back to Johannesburg, stopping for a final walk or two along the way.
Additional Information
This trip begins in Cape Town and ends in Johannesburg. We will collect one or two 4WD vehicles in Cape Town and drop them off at the Johannesburg airport.
During the trip we will use a mix of camping, self-catering and non self-catering accom. Everyone will be responsible for their share of the trip expenses.
Those who ae willing to assist with the cooking in self-catering accom will be encouraged to do so.
Details
DATES
March April
Approximately 4-5 weeks. We can't finalise the dates until we have confirmed some of the bookings
GROUP SIZE
5-10 including our guide
CAMPSITES & ACCOMMODATION
One or two upmarket stays, mostly mid range. Camp sites in parks or on trails.
SWIMMING
There should be excellent swimming on some of the walks.
WILDLIFE
African wildlife at its best. Big game in Kruger and some other places. Small animals and birds everywhere.
CLIMATE
A mix of weather can be expected.
COOKING
Where we cook on overnight walks, your guide will do the meals. When we stay somewhere with a kitchen, you are welcome to assist. Where we eat in restaurants, you need to be prepared to pay for your own meals.
WALK RATING - EASY TO MODERATE
Terrain
Almost everything from flat and easy to sand dunes to steep climbs.
Huge variety, al;most anything you can think of.
Distance
4-8 hours per day of walking on the longest days.
Pack Weight
Overnight packs, but tents will not be needed.
Driving
We will hire two 4WD vehicles, probably twin cab utes. Most of the driving will be on gravel roads but there will be some long sections of bitumen and some shorter sections of rough 4WD tracks. We expect the total distance to be something like 3000 km.
Itinerary
*This itinerary is subject to change.
The pink line on the map shows our approximate
route.
