HIKE: AMATOLA
DATE: 24 – 29 APRIL 2011
TYPE: BACKPACKING – 6 DAYS
AREA: KING WILLIAMS TOWN – HOGSBACK : EASTERN CAPE
After many months of planning we were finally faced with doing this BIG hike. And although it is not an easy hike, not a hike one does purely for enjoyment, it has to still be one – if not THE top hike – in South Africa. There are a lot of problems that need to be addressed, but to my mind even taking that all into account – this is still THE hike to put on your to do list.
It is a very difficult hike and one does need to be extremely fit to make this an enjoyable experience . After careful planning we used only 2 vehicles thereby hopefully keeping the travelling cost to a minimum. We again decided to overnight in the little town of Rouxville ,where we stayed at Tinkerbell, and once again I have to highly recommend it. We had a wonderful evening playing pool, with much laughter and after travelling together arrived safely at the Amatola Mountain View Guest House in King Williams Town. The accommodation was great we had such fun playing pool, but were very disappointed in the breakfast the next morning. Booking here to do the Amatola Trail the owners must surely be aware that hikers are going to want an early start and should maybe mention that if a breakfast is requested, they are not too keen on rising so very early.
I am not going to go into the problems day by day but do more of a generalisation of what needs to be addressed. No maintenance has been done on the actual trail since whenever, resulting in major erosion, with problems also arising as a result of the vegetation not being cut back. The foot prints serving as markers are reasonably spaced, but in a few places more are needed. The new wooden huts are a pleasure, but the ablutions at all of the camps are absolutely shocking – the showers at most don’t work, the toilets are either leaking or have no seats, attempts have been made to pull the hand basins out of the walls, and the long drop at the last nights camp – Zingcuka – appears to almost be falling over. All the huts now have donkeys for hot water, but except for the first hut – Gwili Gwili – and the last one – Zingcuka – the donkeys have been built too close to the ground and one cannot make a suitable fire to heat the water.
One has to be very fit for this gruelling hike, the distances are far and the days are long. When I did this hike the first time only on day one was there the option of doing a short cut, which we ended up doing purely out of ignorance, so this time round had to make sure we did the longer route. Well into the first days walk, I asked Maryke, who had done Kilimanjaro with her son last September, how she was doing, and her reply that Kili was a walk in the park compared to The Amatola . I think truly sums up what you let yourself in for on this rather gruelling hike. With the shuttle being almost an hour late, we walked into camp in the dark – not something we recommend. All the days are long, one does have to plan well, get up early, have enough short rests, and get into camp early enough to all have a decent shower and a bit of a rest before supper. And this we were careful to do for the rest of the days. In trying to keep the back pack as light as possible I think there were quite a few of us who under catered a bit on the food side, as that is your only option when trying to lighten the pack.
The ups and downs are nearly all extreme, but then most of the views also fall into the extreme category. Spending most of the day ascending up the one side of a mountain, getting caught in a snow storm as one crests over the top to boulder hop over this vast mass of rocks, seeing the “I thought these were only in fairy tales” red toadstools (Amanita Muscaria) to then descend down though the forest to eventually catch sight of the hut as it suddenly appears in front of you out of nowhere, is par for the course on this hike. And then on the following day standing on a contour path looking back over the valley one gets to see the previous day’s mountain, gorge, waterfalls, and it is almost enough to take ones breath away – when you realise the absolute extremes on this most beautiful Amatola trail.
In conclusion – while walking the trail I said that it was not a hike I would ever return to (especially having done it once before) but looking at all the photographs (it is just such a pity that the mud sliding, scrambling up over the rocks, hanging on the trees going down, ending up flat on ones backside moments, are not all captured), I am sure that in a few year time it is a hike one could and would more than likely do again.
You need to do a hike of this calibre with people you know well. I need to thank most of our little group of 7 that walked together, but there are some that need to be mentioned by name – Carol who so gallantly led us most of the way . You set a very pleasant pace, and then Albert who offered to be our brake lights and make sure that those lagging behind were ok . Thank you one and all, you were all stars!!