South Africa Wilderness Trails

South Africa Wilderness Trails - Spectacular and diverse

Umfolozi Traditional Trail 4 Nights

On the Traditional Umfolozi Trail you get three meals per day, starting with the supper on day of arrival and concludes after breakfast on the day of departure. The meals are simple and nutritious and should satisfy most appetites. They are unable to cater for specific diets. If you are vegetarian etc you will have to bring your own food. Fruit and nuts are provided as snacks between meals. You may bring your own between meal snacks. All are carried in packs so breakables should be protected. You are permitted to bring your own alcoholic drinks and mixers but this should be kept to reasonable limits due to the logistics. Fridges available at base camp. you may leave drinks there for your last night party, where you have a super braai (barbecue). In order to maintain the Wilderness ethic and character the Conservation Services facilities on trail are restricted to the minimum of sophistication. There are no fridges in the wilderness area. Canvass water coolers are provided for the water. No flush toilets or hot showers for the days away from base camp. The temperatures could range from the mid 50s through to the upper 70s with the Summer trails experiencing temperatures in the 80s.

Umfolozi Base Trails Duration: 3 Nights

Mndindini Camp- 2 beds per (3mx3m) tent; shower & toilet with piped water; fridge for drinks. Staff: Trails Officer; Field Ranger; Cook After booking in at Mpila camp the visitors are sent to Mndindini Trails Camp where they settle into their tents. The visitors may begin arriving at Mndindini at 15:00 where they are greeted by a Field Ranger and Cook. At approximately 17:00 the Trails Officer arrives to meet the guests and do a trails briefing. On the following 2 days the visitors leave the camp in the morning after breakfast and spend the entire day in the wilderness area. Trailists carry only daypacks with their personal affects, water and lunch. On the final day the group goes on a morning walk and returns to Mndindini for lunch. The guests then pack and leave- departure time is 15:00.

Umfolozi Primitive Trails Duration: 4 nights

No set camp- the Trails Officer chooses a site for the trail to camp for the night. The guests sleep under the stars. Light weight tents are provided for bad weather. Staff: Trails Officer; Field Ranger This trail is fully catered (all equipment; bedding; food), the guests are required to assist with food preparation, camp setup and take turns to keep watch at night. After booking in at Mpila Camp by 10:30 the group is met by the trails staff and trailists pack their backpacks. Trailists then receive a light lunch and briefing before setting off. The trail spends 4 nights and 3 full days in the wilderness area. On the last day the trail finishes by 10:30

Umfolozi Short Trail Duration: 2 nights

Both nights are spent at a satellite camp within the Umfolozi wilderness area. The toilet consists of a spade; toilet paper and matches and there is a bucket shower in a tree with warm water. Bedding consists of 2 mattresses in a 3mX3m dome tent. This trail is fully catered- bedding, food, backpack and water bottle are provided. Staff: Trails Officer; Field Ranger; Cook. Visitors book in at Mpila Camp by 12:00. (No Lunch is provided on the day of booking in)and are then met by the trails staff and receive a trails briefing. The group then packs their bags and carries them approximately 7km to the satellite camp. (Guests who overnight at Mpila before the trail can organize to have the bulk of their personal affects carried in to the satellite camp by donkey in donkey bags which will be made available on request. These bags must be packed and ready at Mpila camp by 16:00 the day before the trail. The group walks out on the third day carrying only their personal affects and lunch. The trail finishes after lunch on the third day.

Umfolzi Extenden Short Trail Duration: 3 nights

All three nights are spent at a satellite camp within the Umfolozi wilderness area. The toilet consists of a spade; toilet paper and matches and there is a bucket shower in a tree with warm water. Bedding consists of 2 mattresses per 3mX3m dome tent. This trail is fully catered- bedding, food, backpack and water bottle are provided. Staff: Trails Officer; Field Ranger; Cook. Visitors book in at Mpila Camp by 12:00. (No Lunch is provided on the day of booking in). They are met by the trails staff and receive a trails briefing. The group then packs their bags and carries them approximately 7km to the satellite camp. (Guests who overnight at Mpila before the trail can organize to have the bulk of their personal affects carried in to the satellite camp by donkey in donkey bags which will be made available. These bags must be packed and ready at Mpila camp by 16:00 the day before the trail. The group walks out on the fourth day carrying only their personal affects and lunch. The trail finishes after lunch on the fourth day.

Umfolozi Bushveld Trails Duration: 2 nights

Mndindini- 2 beds per 3mx3m tents; shower & toilet with piped water; fridge for drinks. Staff: Trails Officer; Field Ranger; Cook After booking in at Mpila camp the visitors are sent Mndindini Trails Camp where they settle in to the tents. The visitors begin arriving at Mndindini at 12:00 where they are greeted by a Field Ranger and Cook. At +14:00 the Trails Officer arrives to meet the guests and do a trails briefing. The group then goes out for an afternoon walk. On the following day the visitors leave the camp for a morning walk after a light breakfast. They return to Mndindini for brunch. The group then has the heat of the day to themselves. Trailists carry only daypacks with their personal affects, water and snacks. After an afternoon snack the group goes on an afternoon walk. On the final day they go on a morning walk and return to Mndindini for brunch. The guests then pack and leave- departure time is 11:30 am. The morning and day walk split are due to the intense heat of the summer months. Trailists can arrange to join the Mpila night drive.

St Lucia Wilderness Trail - 4 nights

The area of the Greater St Lucia Wilderness Park extends roughly from Sodwana Bay and the Lower Mkuze Road in the north to Mapelane in the south; and from the seaward edge of the Marine Reserves in the east to the Western Shores. It is a jig-saw puzzle of many pieces, each of which a separately proclaimed conservation area. Following the link with the Mkuzi Game Reserve, these areas have been consolidated into one Park of approximately 254 500 hectares.

The base camp is situated close to Cape Vidal. The Bangazi base camp is used for the first and last nights of the trail. Accommodation consists of three tents each sleeping two people, each containing mattresses, pillows, sheets and blankets. There is a fully equipped camp kitchen and a camp cook as well as limited fridge facilities, a shower with hot and cold running water and a flush toilet. A communal lounge overlooks Lake Bangazi South.

The second and third nights are spent in tents in the Wilderness Area. The tents are equipped with the same facilities as the base camp except that the cooking is done over an open fire. A hot water bucket shower is provided and toilet facilities comprise spade and toilet roll. There are no fridge facilities.

Due to excessively high summer temperatures, coupled with high relative humidity experienced at this time of year, these trails are only offered for six months of the year. The season starts on 1 April and ends at the end of September. Participants must arrive at the entrance gate to the trails camp at 14h00 on the Friday. They will be met by the ranger and taken to the trails base camp.

Trailists set out on Saturday morning and spend the following two nights in tented camps in the wilderness area from which daily walks are undertaken. Trailist return to the base camp on the Monday afternoon.

Canoeing and snorkeling can also be enjoyed on the second and third day respectively.

Kruger National Park - South Africa

Trails in the Kruger National Park are held from a number of base trails camps. Here you remain at the camps overnight for the duration of the trail. Your trails officer will take you to various areas for the trail during the day.

The Kruger Park trails are very difficult to secure with reservations often needed one year in advance! Cancellations do sometimes become available.