Addo Elephant National Park recently relaunched its Zuurberg Doringnek hiking trail and we were itching to give it a try. So, we packed a picnic lunch, donned our backpacks and ushered the boys into the car, giving them no option of staying on the couch despite their vehement protests that there is no point to hiking, especially on a Sunday.

We love everything about Addo, and one of all of our absolute favourite spots is Narina Bush Camp in the Zuurberg section. There is a really steep hike up a near vertical valley to a place where you feel on top of the world, and if this was anything to go by, we knew we were in for a treat at Doringnek.

The start of the trail, at the top of the Zuurberg pass

We chose to do the 3 hour trail, short-cutting off the tip of the Doringnek route – there are 1, 3 and 5 hour options

The route is really well signposted

The trail starts at the top of the Zuurberg mountains

Signs of life along the way

What a view!

Spring flowers were blooming

Photographing a Yellowwood

Working our way down into the valley

Cian practiced his bouldering along the way

Such a beautiful forest stream in the valley below

No chance of getting lost along the way – the route is really well marked

Walking into a magical forest tunnel

We stopped for lunch at Blougat Pool, about half way

What a stunning spot!

Perfect place to climb (with a soft landing spot in case of errors)

Truly a heavenly picnic, with just the sound of gurgling water breaking the silence

Every downhill is followed by an uphill and from Blougat pool it was all the way back up to the top

We zigzagged up the mountain in a series of never-ending S bends

It was a hectic heart-poundingly steep incline

We climbed out of the forest onto the open hill above, and kept trudging upwards

We had climbed from deep in the valley at the base of those mountains

Everything was blooming after the recent spring rains

We reached the top, and saw our first rare Zuurberg cycads

Such a wild and beautiful place

The boys kept walking ahead, but Cian waited for us to catch up

The last section of the trail is along a dirt track on top of the rolling hills – all the way back to base camp

What an incredible experience! We were quite shocked that we live so close to this paradise but had never done this trail before. All in all, we walked about 13,5km – 1/3 downhill, 1/3 flat and 1/3 uphill. It took us around 4.5 hours including the lovely long lunch break at Blougat Pool. The boys said they enjoyed the first half but that they did not see the point of spending hours walking up a mountain. We whole-heartedly disagreed – the combination of clean air, pure silence, breathtaking views and some healthy cardio had left us with very big smiles on our faces and happiness in our hearts.

Fact Sheet

Access to the hiking trails is included in the daily conservation fee paid to SanParks for entry to Addo National Park. The Zuurberg offices are located 16 km from the main park entrance along a gravel road (directly opposite the Zuurberg Mountain Village). No bookings are necessary.

There is a 1 hour Cycad trail and the longer 4-5 hour Doringnek Trail.

The routes are clearly signposted and a map is available at the Zuurberg offices.

We used our Wild Card to access the trails.

Yours in travel