Chokka Lekker

DALE MORRIS decides that his children need a looong hike. Sixty-five kilometres, in fact, on the Eastern Cape Chokka Trail, the perfect choice for the family's first multi-day slackpacking adventure.

As I remember it, when we adults of today were young we could fight lions and sharks and mastodons before breakfast, and go on to win rugby matches against the armies of the Hun. We were amazing, certainly compared to our kids, who seem to see physical exercise as something to be accomplished on a Playstation.

And so, one fateful day, halfway through the school holidays, I announced to my torpid brood that they needed to put down their iPads, switch off their smartphones, pack their bags and prepare themselves for a very long walk.

“How long?” gasped Sam (12) and Mia (9) in unison.

“Sixty-five kays… without Netflix,” I replied, and their jaws went slack.

Now, my wife Sasha and I are not as fit as we used to be, but love taking long walks from time to time. Especially slackpack trails. We’ve just never taken along the kids for fear their incessant complaints would spoil things to such a degree we might feel compelled to hurl them over a picturesque precipice along the route.

But for a family getaway, which trail would suit our needs? Some hikes are challenging and certainly not for smallish children. You know those ones where you have to carry your own gear, sleep on yoga mats and eat earthworms and lichen to survive.

Others are more luxurious, providing comfortable or opulent lodgings. Meals are cooked for you, grapes are lowered into your mouth, feet are massaged and minions are on hand to carry your packs. Obviously, my kids would cope better on the latter.

But regardless of comfort or a lack thereof, pretty much all multi-day trails have inflexible routes of predetermined daily distance, with no option for escape (except by emergency rescue helicopter). We needed something that would cater to our children’s inferior resolve and stamina. A trail that on any particular day could be shortened, chopped up or withdrawn from in total, if needs be.