Find Freedom In The Great Karoo

Remember Sylvester – the lion that escaped twice from the Karoo National Park? On the four-day Heuningland Slackpacking Trail near Beaufort West, you can retrace Sylvester’s steps and catch a whiff of freedom yourself.

- Erns Grundling

The silence sings in my ears. Ssssh. I’m on a plateau in the Nuweveld Mountains on day three of the Heuning land Slackpacking Trail. So far, I’ve walked more than 60 km. That’s a lot of time on your feet! My calf muscles are sore and I have aches and pains all over. I haven’t had cellphone reception for ages and I’m not even sure what day of the week it is. Is it Monday?

I hear a distant droning noise: Probably an aeroplane tracking north over Sutherland, full of people on their way to boardrooms in Joburg where time is measured in money.

Not here. I have one task for the day: to hike 18 km to a farm called Kareebos. Along the way, I ponder the words of American author and illustrator Maira Kalman: “Go out and walk. That is the glory of life.”

Three days ago, a yellow Kellogg’s box with a red arrow on it pointed me to the farm Rietfontein, where I met my fellow hikers, among others an IT expert, a pharmacy assistant, a farmer, an entrepreneur, a retired scientist, a former elevator technician and a digital marketer. Rietfontein is 72 km from Beaufort West, bordering the Karoo National Park. Douwe Vlok grew up here and he and his wife Liezl manage the four-day Heuningland Slackpacking Trail.

“Welcome to the foyer of Heaven,” said Liezl that first afternoon.

Later, around the campfire, Douwe explained how things would work over the next few days. We would walk 100 km in total, but we’d only need to carry a daypack. The rest of our stuff would be transported to each overnight stop. We’d be walking along gravel roads and jeep tracks in a deserted landscape, far from the N1. The trail wouldn’t be marked, but we’d each get a set of flash cards with directions to water points, farm­ steads and the like. Each person would set his or her own pace.