DATE: 6 – 9 AUGUST 2010
TYPE: BACK PACKING
AREA: WITBANK
I wanted to make use of the long weekend and so we decided to revisit this hike, as we have very fond memories (this is the hike we met Nick and the gang on!), it is not too far to travel, and the area is lovely as you meander along the banks of the Wilge and Olifants Rivers.
As we knew what the terrain was like, I phoned beforehand to check on the level of the rivers and the state of the farm road. I was told the rivers were easily crossable, and the road was better suited to a 4 x 4, but if taken very slowly an ordinary car would be ok. Well we ended up having to swim and wade through chest high very strong flowing water. And this is most definitely not what we would all call easy. Years ago there were cables at the river crossings but these have either been washed away with the floods or just rusted through. The farm road was doable in an ordinary car, travelling almost the whole way in first gear!!
There has been almost no maintenance done on the trail as well as the camps. We periodically had to wander around looking for trail / foot prints, and the state of the hut at Grootdraai is horrendous. The gutters are all falling down, and they are supposed to be the water supply, as the rain water runs into a large tank for use. The reed walls around the toilet have all fallen over, and the toilet hasn’t been cleaned in forever. The braai area is exactly as it was years ago, except now there is no wood. A very sad looking overnight hut indeed.
This was a hike we readily recommended to other hikers / clubs, but we would rather tell them to ignore this one from now on. The whole farm actually looks in a bad state of repair.