Entabeni Hiking Trail

About Entabeni Hiking Trail

Start: Entabeni Hut, 40 km east of Louis Trichardt in the Soutpansberg
Finish: Entabeni Hut
Duration: 2 days, 32 km
Fitness: moderate to difficult
Our tip: bring your own water particularly during the dry season; hikers are advised not to drink from the streams

This overnight, figure-eight hiking trail starts and ends each day at Entabeni Hut. Each trail is roughly 16 km and there are shorter loop options (within these loops) that vary between 8 and 12km. You can decide whilst hiking whether or not to take these.

For those hikers who have traversed the southern Soutpansberg for years these trails, re-established by Komatiland Forestry, replace former well known trails. The overnight hiking hut, despite having the same name, is not the old Ou Entabeni hut.

Highlights of the trail include: Klein Australia Peak, Ebbe Dam, Vera's Peak, Vera's Tears waterfall and the funghi and incredible indigenous forests.

The Redwood Trail heads south of the hut through pine plantations and indigenous forest filled with huge redwoods and if you are quiet the calls and rustles of samango monkeys. You can take this trail a lot slower than the Phadzima View Trail. It is easier, and Vera's Tears waterfall adds a great stopping spot for hot days. The longer loop continues south up to Klein Australia View with views of the Levubu tropical farms.

The Phadzima View Trail heads north of the hut passing through incredible indigenous forest via the Ebbe dam. Views out over the Phadzima valley are said to be worth it, and some of the biggest tree ferns imaginable make the trail seem otherworldly. A loop up to the Thate-Vondo view and Mathiva Peak is optional. It adds an extra three odd hours, for those intent on the longer version of the hike.