Find your balance again, at the pace of Namaqualand.
Slow-living partnership
Digital detox
Six days. Five nights under canvas in the Schaap River Canyon. This is a fully catered slack-pack hike into the heartland of Namaqualand, run in partnership with Nigramoep Slowliving Guest Farm. You carry a daypack. We carry the rest.
Namaqualand is dry and hard for most of the year. Then, for a few weeks between August and September, the winter rains do their work, and the desert breaks into wildflowers of every colour you can name, and a few you can’t. It is one of the great natural spectacles on the planet, and it only happens here, for a short window. That is why we run this hike once or twice a year, no more.
Don’t be fooled by the name. This hike is as much about the Schaap River Canyon as it is about flowers. Ochre rock faces that have stood since long before anyone thought to name them. A mini amphitheatre carved by water. Quiver trees leaning into the wind. Klipspringer picking their way across scree, black eagles overhead. Your guides were born in this landscape. They know its geography, its plants, and its stories, and they’ll tell you all three around the fire at night.
“Adopt the pace of Mother Nature. Her secret is patience.”Ralph Emerson
One thing to say plainly: this is not a casual walk through the wildflowers. The terrain runs from easy gravel roads to steep, rocky descents, and the hike is rated 5 to 8 depending on the day, over roughly 60 km across four days of hiking. You’ll want a reasonable level of fitness and a good pair of boots. What you get in return: nights quiet enough to hear the fire crackle, skies thick with stars, and a hot shower and a proper dinner waiting at the end of every day.
Highlights
- Wild camping deep in the Schaap River Canyon
- Guided by Namaqualand-born local guides
- Quiver trees, klipspringer, and black eagles along the trail
- Casnou se Kloof and Myn se Kloof, two ravines few hikers ever see
- The Nabap ravine, with champagne to mark the final hiking day
- Fully catered, daypack only, luggage and gear transported for you
- A genuine digital detox. There’s no cellphone signal out here
Six days at the pace of the canyon.
Arrival at Nigramoep
Arrive at Nigramoep. After a welcome and a briefing, we drive out to base camp in the Schaap River Canyon to settle in and have dinner.
Into the canyon
Breakfast, then pack your own lunch and set out. The canyon draws you in early: ochre rock faces, a mini amphitheatre, rock pools catching the light. Watch for klipspringer on the slopes and black eagles overhead. Back at camp, a warm shower and a hearty dinner are waiting.
Casnou se Kloof
From base camp, follow an old gravel road between rocky hills, past quiver trees waiting for the first light. An old jeep track leads into Casnou se Kloof, a ravine that descends gradually between rock walls, rock pools, and flora found nowhere else. Casnou se Kloof exits back into the main canyon, and you hike home to camp.
Myn se Kloof
Today starts with a steeper climb up the old gravel road, and the views back over the canyon are worth every step of it. The route turns onto a jeep track lined with flowers before descending into Myn se Kloof, a second ravine with more rock pools and ochre walls. You hike out of Myn se Kloof and back into the Schaap River Canyon to camp.
The Nabap ravine
The longest and hardest day. The higher rating comes from the terrain and the descent, not the distance. You head southeast on a gradual incline toward Nabap, through open vistas and Richtersveld-type flora, past babianas, freesias, and other species that grow in this stretch of desert and nowhere else. A viewpoint above the Nabap ravine gives you the whole picture before you climb down into it, past rock pools, ficus cordata, and old namaqua trees, through a narrow portal of high ochre rock, and back into the Schaap River Canyon. Champagne is served at camp to mark the end of the trail, followed by a warm shower and dinner.
Departure
Breakfast, then book out of the canyon. End of tour.
Note: hike days may be switched around, or the route changed, depending on conditions. Use the above as a guide, not a fixed schedule.
Everything you need. Nothing you don’t.
Included
- 5 nights’ camping, in a shared tent fitted with stretchers and mattresses
- Local Namaqualand-born guides and a full support team
- All meals, from the arrival dinner on day 1 through breakfast on day 6, plus daily lunch-pack ingredients
- Coffee and tea with meals, and limited wine each evening at dinner
- An honesty bar for beer, cider, and soft drinks
- Showers and chemical toilets at camp
- A camping chair
- A proper digital detox
Not included
- Travel to and from Nigramoep, and any accommodation there before or after the hike (ask us, we can help arrange this)
- Sleeping bag and pillow
- Daypack and hiking gear: walking sticks (compulsory), water bottles, lunch box, blister kit, personal medication
- Extra snacks, and any drinks beyond what’s listed above
- Comprehensive medical and travel insurance, including the compulsory emergency evacuation cover
Dates for the next season are being confirmed.
Rates are subject to change. Contact us to confirm current availability, or visit livethejourney.co.za for updated departure dates.
Emergency medical evacuation insurance is compulsory, whether through your medical aid or travel insurance, and proof is required before the hike. An indemnity form must be completed by all hikers.
We cater for vegetarian, pescatarian, and gluten-free diets. Given how remote this hike is and how limited local supplies are, other dietary requirements are best discussed with us directly, and you may need to bring supplementary food of your own.
Use a currency converter for an approximate figure in your local currency, noting that the final cost is determined by the exchange rate at the time of confirmation and payment.