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Hiking Groendal Wilderness – Lower Blindekloof Trail (in photos)

January 22, 2019 by Chasing the Rainbow in Eastern Cape, Locations, Port Elizabeth 1 Comment

Groendal Wilderness is a verdant, craggy little piece of pristine paradise, just North of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. We had been longing to head out there and take a look and explore some if its hiking trails. The area is known for its rugged beauty and boasts a few multi-day hiking trails and one day trail – the Lower Blindekloof. With just one sunny Sunday free, we packed our bags and headed out early to explore the crags and mountain pools.

The entrance to Groendal lies about 12km North of Uitenhage

A very rudimentary welcome and guide as to where to go

We took a photo of the map to avoid getting lost. Not very detailed at all!

The trail starts a kilometer or so up the Jeep Track. Lower Blindekloof is the day hike.

A 5 toed paw print pointed us in the right direction

The narrow path lead up to another very steep Jeep track and a brutally hot uphill climb

The spekboom was in full bloom in the summer heat

Eventually, the path split towards the elusive monument which was supposed to be the start of the hike. We felt like we had trekked for kilometers already!

A sublime patch of shade – it was stinking hot (around 36 degrees celcius)

We had reached the monument and enjoyed a water break

The monument. This is where the path splits into the lower (day) and upper (multi day) trails.

From the monument, we headed down into the river valley

The trail led into the forest and the shade cooled the heat right down

We reached Pool 1 and were amazed by its crystal clear water

The boys were delighted to spot lots of rare fish species, including Cape Climbing Perch, Redfin Minnows and Vlei Kurper

The water was so clear, we could see a few pairs of Kurper protecting their eggs

Ralph cooled off his feet while the fish nibbled his toes

Jacob jumped in for a swim with the fish

We seem to have missed Pool 3 as we arrived at Pool 4 next

Bright coloured Dragonflies played in the reeds in front of us

The trail is single track, not a loop, so we turned back and retraced our steps. We could have walked further than Pool 4, but we had enjoyed our day enough

The climb back up the river valley was brutal

Exhausted and relieved to reach the shady tree again

We could appreciate the views properly as we headed downhill back towards base.

For every uphill, there is a downhill and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk back to the car

The Lower Blindekloof trail is apparently 16km long and should take around 4 hours to complete. We couldn’t find a lot of information on the trail so it was a voyage of discovery. The trail is supposed to lead to Crystal Cavern Pool, which is the 8th pool. We turned back at Pool 4 as we had enjoyed our time already and didn’t feel the need to push on further.

The best information we could find on the trail is at Voetsac Hiking Club. The entrance fee was R56 per person to enter Groendal Wilderness.