Impala Ranch MTB Trails

About Impala Ranch MTB Trails

Where: 7 km outside Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape
Level: moderate to difficult (some sections are rather technical; lots of pedalling)
Type of route: focus is on long flowing single track descents
Best: any time of year

A fairly new bike park, Impala Ranch is 1 000 hectares of incredible scenery that lives up to its name – there are plenty of impala, red hartebeest, bontebok, zebra, kudu, Nguni cattle, sheep a couple of ostriches, and the largest known cycad cluster in the Eastern Cape.

Don't go expecting tame gravel roads or jeep track, this is custom designed (by Russell Egan) single track (built to IMBA standards) through fynbos, old forest, alongside weathered rocks and boulders, up and down steep valley sides with plenty of jumps, hops and ramps to add excitement.

The experience is all about vivid blue skies, green veld, and bridges over rivers.

You'll even ride fairly close to Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm, one of the first, and largest wind farms in the country, their huge white turbines (there are 60 of them, but the trail only skirts the wind farm's periphery) calmly turning in the wind (riders need to stay 200 metres away from the turbines; there are cameras).

Some of the forest paths are rather technical, the path only just wide enough to get through on single track. The uphills feel negligible, whilst the free-flowing downhills are fantastic.

A fast 18 km loop takes you around the farm, graded blue for most of the route but with some red technical sections (you can download the trail map on the Impala Ranch website). The farm offers annual membership for the trail, with a coded lock on the gate.

The aptly named Windmill Café is open over weekends.

The Impala Ranch Facebook page is very active – for up-to-date news about the trails. The farm constantly update parts of the trail.

No helmet, no ride. Make sure the farm gate is locked and secure before leaving the farm.