Pretoria - Think Adventure

Rosewood Trails: The Golfers Had the Fairways, We Had the Trails

25 of us in hiking boots, making our way around the golf course. Rosewood Trails sits inside Kimiad Golf Course in Moreleta Park — a 20-minute drive from Centurion, all tar, no drama getting there. I pulled in just after 07:00 to a parking lot with plenty of room. ... Continue Reading

Entrance to the larger Nan Hua Temple complex

Nan Hua Temple Bronkhorstspruit: This Shouldn’t Be in Bronkhorstspruit — But It Is

Bronkhorstspruit isn't where I expect to find the largest Buddhist temple in Africa. I turn off the N4, past a stretch of dry highveld grass, and there it is — an ornate Chinese gate rising out of the veld, orange and green tiles catching the midday sun, stone lions standing guard on either side. ... Continue Reading

Two hikers and an Ostrich on the Yellow Trail at the Groenkloof Nature Reserve

Groenkloof Nature Reserve: Two Ostriches and a Trail I Thought I Knew

The trail is barely wide enough for one person, and two ostriches are standing in the middle of it. Neither looks in any hurry to move. I'm most of the way through a hike I've done a dozen times, and for the first time all morning I have no idea what happens next. ... Continue Reading

A hiker at a High Point of View on the Red Trail at the Klapperkop Nature Reserve

Klapperkop Nature Reserve: The Red Trail I Almost Skipped

The sound stopped me. Low, nasal, somewhere between a grunt and a complaint — and close. I stood still on the gravel and turned my head, trying to put a name to it. Nothing came. I've walked enough of these trails to know most of what lives out here by ear, and this wasn't on the list. Then I looked up at the koppie, and there they were. ... Continue Reading

The Oubaas Trail sign at Smuts House Museum

The Oubaas Trail: The Short Hike at Smuts House Museum That Clears Your Head

It was a Saturday afternoon when I switched off the computer. The walls were pressing up against me tight by now — it had been building all week. That's when I knew it was time to step out and reboot. I needed a way to clear my head. The Oubaas Trail at the Smuts House Museum. ... Continue Reading

Looking towards the mist in the valley on the Hoogland Hiking Tails

Hoogland Cave Trail: A Hole in the Mountain on the Edge of Centurion

I got to the parking lot before anyone else, which was the whole point. Winter mornings up here, the mist pools in the valleys overnight and sits there on the lower slopes, thick and white, while the ridgelines lift clear out of it into a hard blue sky. I'd seen it before. I came early anyway, to have it to myself for a few minutes before 15 fellow hikers arrived and turned it back into a hike. ... Continue Reading