Cedars, rock art, and the slow Cederberg.
Family-friendly from age 6
Shortest days of the three Cederberg hikes
This is the one for people who want the Cederberg without the mileage. Four nights, five days, and daily distances of 8 to 15 km rather than the 18 to 20 km stretches on the Wupperthal66 and Wupperthal100. You’ll still sleep under the same dragon-shaped rock at Drakie Camp on night one. Same crew, same veld dinners. You just get more time to sit still in between.
The trail’s real subject is the cedar tree. These forests once covered much of the Cederberg. Centuries of harvesting and fire nearly finished them off, and the species has been clawing its way back ever since the region became a protected wilderness in 1973. At the Heuningvlei nursery, your guide will show you how they judge which seeds are worth planting, and you’ll plant one yourself. A small, physical stake in a restoration project that’s taken decades. Along the way: a Buchu oil demonstration, natural swimming pools fed by mountain streams, and rock paintings tucked into overhangs that few outside the local communities have seen.
Nights two and three are both spent at Heuningvlei, where you can pitch a tent among the cedar saplings or take a room at the backpackers with proper showers (subject to availability). Day three’s hike out to Middel Krakedouw covers under 10 km but takes most of the day. It climbs gently. It just doesn’t hurry.
Fair warning: this is still hiking in rugged mountain terrain, on everything from single track to loose gravel and gravel road. You need to be reasonably fit and steady on your feet for four days running. It’s the gentlest of our three Cederberg trails. It isn’t a stroll.
Highlights
- Heuningvlei nursery restoration project
- Buchu oil distillation demonstration
- Rock paintings along the route
- Natural swimming pools
- Shortest daily distances of LTJ’s three Cederberg hikes (8–15 km)
- Same guides, crew and catering as Wupperthal66/100
- Two nights at Heuningvlei – camp, or a dorm-style backpacker room
- Ends at the historic Wupperthal mission church
Five days at an easier pace.
Arrival at Drakie Camp
Arrive for the first night of wild camping. The site sits between rock formations bordered by rooibos tea plantations, on a spot the crew named after the dragon shape in the rock. Briefing, dinner, and a drink around the fire.
Into the Cederberg
Today you will be greeted by unbelievably beautiful rock formations, and it will continue for the rest of the day. Later in the day you reach lovely swimming pools next to a perennial river. Camp at Heuningvlei Backpackers, in among the cedar plantation if you feel like it.
The nursery and Middel Krakedouw
Morning visit to the Heuningvlei Cedar Seedling Nursery, where your guide explains how they judge which seeds are viable, followed by a Buchu oil distilling demonstration. Then a circular hike out to Middel Krakedouw. It’s an easy climb, but don’t be fooled by the short distance, it can take up to six hours. Second night at Heuningvlei, with time to swim, wander the village, or do nothing at all.
Back through the true Cederberg
A different route back to Drakie Camp, deeper into the Cederberg itself. Rock overhangs hide paintings few visitors ever see, and you’ll stop at the spot where cedar saplings raised in the nursery have been replanted. After lunch you encounter more level terrain, cross rocky formations and sometimes hike through thick brush, eventually crossing tea plantations to get to the last pit-stop before reaching the camp.
Kleinvlei, the Tratra gorge, and Wupperthal
Down through the Speelkloof valley to Kleinvlei, with roosterkoek from the local community over lunch, donkeys and chickens for company. The final stretch follows the Tratra River through a deep gorge, its potholes forming swimming pools known mostly to Wupperthallers themselves, before ending at the historic church in Wupperthal.
Everything you need. Nothing you don’t.
Included
- 4 nights’ camping (bring your own gear, or rent ours)
- Local guides and full support crew
- Luggage and camping gear transported to every overnight stop
- All meals, from arrival dinner on day 1 to breakfast on departure morning, plus lunch-pack ingredients each day
- Coffee and tea with meals, and limited wine each evening
- Drinking and shower water
- Hot showers, toilets and a camping chair, set up each night
Not included
- Travel to and from Wupperthal
- Tent, mattress, sleeping bag and pillow (tents and mattresses available to rent, see above)
- Hiking cutlery, crockery set and lunch box
- Daypack, walking sticks, water bottles, first aid/blister kit and personal medication
- Drinks beyond what’s listed above (Honesty bar available)
- Comprehensive medical and travel insurance
- Voluntary R380 pp community fee
R12,900 per person · annual October departure
One annual departure.
Price is per person, single or sharing. Add R2,000 per person sharing to rent an LTJ dome tent and mattress, which the crew pitches and packs away for you each night (children/teen rental on request). Children 6–11: R2,900. Teens 12–17: R4,900.
A voluntary R380 per person community fee supports the Wupperthal Riel dancers and brass band and isn’t included in the price above.
Family-friendly. Children from age 6 welcome with an accompanying adult. Emergency medical evacuation insurance is compulsory.
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.