Kaapschehoop Trail

About Kaapschehoop Trail

Start: Kaapschehoop, just outside Nelspruit
Finish: Kaapschehoop
Duration: 3-days
Fitness: moderate to difficult
Our tip: head for the Koek a Pan pancake house in Kaapschehoop afterwards

Kaapschehoop is a little village set on a plateau above Nelspruit in amongst huge sandstone rocks. It has a number of hiking trails in the north-eastern escarpment of the Drakensberg with incredible views over the lowveld. The hike is a three-day self-guided, self-catering circular trail in the area around Kaapsche Hoop.

In essence the map you receive outlines eight different trails that can be combined together to form anything from three to five days worth of walking. There are four trail huts.

Komati Ecotourism has a series of trails that range from two-night to five night trails. Two-night options are anything from 23.5 km to 43 km, depending on which trail you choose, whilst the two five-night options – Barretts Coaches and Kaapschehoop trails – are 60 km a piece. Each of the trails varies in terms of difficulty, so it is wise to ask advice before setting out.

The trails are beautiful. Set in misty hills that used to be gold fields, hikers can expect valleys, gorges, yellowwood trees, aloes, endangered cycads, tree ferns and streams with names like Starvation Creek, and Fools Rush.

Sightings of the extremely rare blue swallow, and the wild horses of Kaapschehoop – a group of horses often sighted in and around the former mining town – are an added bonus.

They are popular trails, and the huts are often shared between parties.

Pack clothing for every season. This is the Drakensberg and hikers are 1628 metres above sea level. As a result, evenings can get fairly chilly and the chance of both mist and rainfall is high.