Starting and ending in the village of Haenertsburg, this very popular trail meanders through the Haenertsburg Grassland Nature Reserve with its rare afro-montane Woodbush Granite Grasslands, one of South Africa’s most threatened vegetation types.
Starting and ending in the village of Haenertsburg, this very popular trail meanders through the Haenertsburg Grassland Nature Reserve with its rare afro-montane Woodbush Granite Grasslands, one of South Africa’s most threatened vegetation types.
The trail is well marked and features both, a shorter walk of about 5 km (follow white foot print signs) as well as a 10 km hike (follow yellow footprints). Apart from beautiful grasslands with sweeping views, both routes also take you through patches of indigenous forest. En route, hikers will enjoy seeing rare flora and fauna, walk along beautiful small streams and pass by what is said to be a rhino rubbing rock. Here, one can “hug” one of the oldest rock formations in the world, known as greenstone, dating back 3 200 million years.
Ensure to take drinking water. There are idyllic resting spots along the trail and hikers who enjoy to observe details of the great diversity of this pristine Nature Reserve often take 4 to 5 hours to leisurely complete the 10 km loop. Note that smoking and the lighting of fires are strictly prohibited.
The volunteer organisation Friends of the Haenertsburg Grasslands (FroHG) maintains this hiking trail and also has an informative webpage www.frohg.co.za with a range of relevant environmental facts. FroHG is a registered NPO and entirely dependent on donations. FroHG donation boxes are at The Tin Roof and the Foodzone and hikers are kindly requested to make use thereof. All proceeds are used to clear thehiking trail, remove alien invasive plants and improve the awareness of the grassland.
