Kloof To Cliff!

It’s easy to forget that the Drakensberg isn’t just a KZN thing. Hike up high and down low on the High Five Trail in Mpumalanga.

- Mia Louw

Have you heard about the network of hiking trails and base camps between eNtokozweni (Machadodorp) and eManzana (Badplaas)? There’s Mount Komati, Oom Paul, Bloutrein, Bermanzi… and the most diverse of them all, the High Five Trail, previously known as the Num-Num Trail.

My husband Hancu and I hiked this four-day trail twice in one year and we’ve done a few of the nearby day hikes, too. On all the trails, you feel the wind on the Highveld plateau, scramble down the escarpment and rest in the shade of forest giants. The kor-kor of a purple-crested turaco will follow you through the forest as you sidestep tree roots. Look up and you might glimpse the red flash of the bird’s underwing. Cape vultures ride the thermals high above the mountain slopes while a brown-hooded kingfisher goes ki-titi-ti from its perch overlooking the babbling waters of the Komati River…

DAY 1 8,6 km (+/- 4,5 hours) King’s Highway

Mount Komati to Candlewood

We’re already running late. Despite the fact that Pieta Wessels from Escarp Hiking Trails warned us that we’d have to hike about six or seven hours on the first day, we only manage to leave Mbombela (Nelspruit) late in the morning and arrive at the Mount Komati base camp around noon. We hit the trail right away.

We should really have come a day earlier – more time at this scenic camp next to the Komati River would have been nice.

We set off on the so-called King’s Highway next to the river, hopping over rocks and strolling through grassland and pockets of forest. After about 45 minutes, we walk through a stone kraal hidden among the trees, then the trail gradually makes its way to the top of the mountain.