go!

South Africa’s number one travel and outdoor lifestyle magazine. We pay our own way and tell it like it is. We drive back roads and speak to real people, giving you practical information about affordable destinations in southern Africa. Each issue is crammed with excellent photography, honest gear reviews and delicious recipes to make at home or in the bundu. Whether you’re looking to escape for a weekend or a month, your journey starts here.

Head for the hills!

Go! Hiking Guide

Our fellow hikers • Here are the contributors to this year’s go! Hiking guide. Thanks for the many steps and stories!

The only way is down • Suicide Gorge is a white-knuckle kloofing route through the Hottentots Holland Mountains. There’s only one way through the gorge – you have to jump from one pool to the next along the course of a fast-flowing river.

HIKE INTO FORBIDDEN LAND • A Sperrgebiet, like the one south of Walvis Bay, is a restricted diamond-mining area, off limits to everyone except certain 4x4 tour operators. This hike gives you special permission to walk along the desolate shoreline and through enormous dunes.

BUY A BACKPACK • How do you decide on the best backpack for you? Backpacks look the same but come with different features and price tags, new brands enter the market every year, and some backpacks are even nice to look at! But a backpack is a workhorse, not a show horse, and should meet certain criteria. Here’s your guide.

DYNAMITE COMES IN SMALL PACKAGES • Many say you should only pack what you need to save your hips and knees the strain of a heavy load. But you can also pack smart with these items that won’t take up space or add too much weight.

A tug of the heartstrings • The Transkaroo hiking trail traverses a mountainous slice of Karoo between Hanover and Middelburg. You’ll overnight in old farmhouses, hike up a kloof or two, cross a plateau and see Verreauxs’ eagles, grey rhebok and maybe even a spectacled dormouse!

High five for the Highveld! • Kingdom Trails is a huge, spectacular nature reserve only 120 km north-east of Gauteng. Our favourite route in the reserve is perfect for a long weekend. You’ll climb through kloofs and hike along ridges with views of the Olifants River where it’s still pristine.

Have fun in the forest • The indigenous forest section of Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve is relatively small (only 2,5 km²) but when you disappear inside, it feels much bigger. Plan a magical weekend away in the foothills of the Langeberg.

Land of the black-and-white bull • In a natural basin surrounded by dome-shaped peaks reminiscent of Zimbabwe’s Matobo Hills, the Thabaphaswa Mountain Sanctuary offers a range of well-marked hiking trails and pocket-friendly accommodation just three hours from Gauteng.

Hike a Berg classic! • The Bell-Twins Traverse takes you up to the edge of the escarpment and deep into the wilderness of the Didima section of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. It’s a tough challenge but it’s one of the most spectacular and pristine mountain hikes in the world.

Test yourself in a mountainous desert • The Naukluft Trail in Namibia, considered one of the most challenging wilderness hikes in southern Africa, winds through pristine mountains and makes you feel like an exile from the Old Testament. And just like someone wandering the desert for long periods of time, you’ll start to look at things differently.

Explore the Kruger on foot • The Kruger Park is one of only a few places in the world where you can share a hiking trail with the Big Five. You can either do day hikes from a base camp, which has hot showers and a cook, or you can do a backpacking trail where you carry everything you’ll need.

Find freedom in the Free State • Are you training to hike a bucket list pilgrimage in Spain, Italy or Peru? Or...