While everyone was busy watching South Africa’s new president’s inauguration on 9 May 2009, we decided to go and take a hike. We haven’t done something like this in quite a while, and for Bernadette to have suggested it was quite surprising, as normally she doesn’t like to go hiking. I took this chance to find out more about The Island, which is run by the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve.
I came to hear about this through a GPS game we play called Geocaching. This was a few months ago, and ever since then I’ve been wondering about the place. It’s right on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, just around the corner from Seaview.
So on Saturday morning we were there at around 08:30, paid the R25 per person fees and started off on the trail. It’s split up into various circular routes ranging from 30 minute walks right up to 6-7 hour walks. We decided to do as much of the trail as possible. As we haven’t done this in quite a while I was wondering how far we would get.
The first section drops about 150m into a value, while you’re walking through the forest that makes a canopy all around you. As it was still early, it was quite damp and we got to see 2 bush bucks. At the end of the first loop, we were met with a choice of going on or going back to the start point. There are boards all around to help with “escape” routes. At this point we realised our legs were covered in ticks. And not just the normal sized ones, but tiny tiny ones that you can hardly see. Luckily this, nor the fact that we’d already walked through a million spider webs put a damper on our spirits and we headed on.
Another 45 minutes of walking and we camp to a tunnel that goes underneath the main road that we came in on. This took as to the other section of the reserve. Even though the sun was out at this point, it was still a bit chilly, and we appreciated the few times we got to be in the sun. We saw so many Knysna Loeries flying around that we lost count. I find the colors on these birds amazing. It’s one of the most beautiful sights looking up and seeing the red on the underneath of their wings as they come over. We also encountered a lot of doves.
On the way to the Beacon, we were startled by the commotion of a monkey close to us. This came as quite a freight as I was wondering the whole way throughout the trail of there are any baboons or monkeys in the area. Cautiously we carried on because I didn’t know whether there would be more. When we reached the Beacon, we decided it was time to sit down to have some lunch. I climbed up on top of the beacon and looked around. It was amazing how far you could see. On the one side was Sardinia Bay, and on the other side you could see as far as Lady Slipper mountains. It was amazing looking down onto the forest canopy, as the beacon was on a slight hill which allowed you to looked down onto the forest.
After a few buns and some cooldrink, I had a look at the map we got from the office when we arrived. It’s not really clear what is going on on the map, but at least you get the general idea of how the area looks. We decided to skip the last 20-30 minute loop and started heading back to our car. This was about another 3km walk, but we did it quite quickly, even though Bernadette’s knee was giving problems by this time.
The Island also has very nice picnic sites, and it’s lovely to see the grass and trees around the picnic sites so nice and green.
0 Comments.