Rain closes part of Outeniqua hiking trail

Two sections of the Outeniqua hiking trail near Knysna, Diepwalle and Harkerville, have been temporarily closed due to high rainfall in the area.

These sections form part of the 7-day Outeniqua hiking route and also have their own day-hike routes. They are part of the Garden Route National Park.

‘Although it is great to see rivers overflowing, the trails will be closed temporarily until after the rain. This is done to protect hikers and nature walkers who use trails in Diepwalle and Harkerville forests,’ says the park manager for the Knysna section of the park, Megan Taplin.

The Diepwalle forest has had 30mm of rain over the past two weekends. The Harkerville forest measured over 20mm on Easter Monday night alone.

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The tranquil harmony of a forest stream. #SpiritofKnysna #gardenroute #GardenRouteTrail #hikingculture #suuntohike #gopro #Harkerville #SANParks #ferns #forest #travel #ecoadventure

A post shared by MGD Photography (@photographymgd) on Jun 18, 2018 at 5:13am PDT

These trails are in the Knysna section of the Garden Route National Park. Hiking trails in the other two sections, Wilderness and Tsitsikamma, have also experienced high rainfall but remain open and monitored.

In the Tsitsikamma section, Storms River Village had 40mm of rain over the Easter Weekend. The senior section ranger, Eugenia Mkhatshwa, has said that no trails have been closed in this section but the situation is being monitored.

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Trails in the Wilderness section also remain open. Two of the rivers, Swartvlei and Touw, have preparation channels in place already according to a marine ranger for the section, Jonathan Britton.

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The Outeniqua route starts inland at Beervlei and ends over 100km away at the coast in the Harkerville forest. The trail passes through the Outeniqua mountains, which are overspread with indigenous forest and fynbos. According to SANParks, the hiking terrain ranges from easy to difficult.

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Day 3 of the Outeniqua hiking trail, from Platbos to Millwood. Here we reach the banks of the Homtini river. For the first half of the trail we saw clear and constant signs of an elephant (The Matriarch, believed to be the last). Firstly, the dung was scattered along the trail, and secondly, the footprints in the mud were unmistakable. It is such a privilege to be able to walk in an ancient forest where so many of these giants used to roam. #outdoors #adventure #hiking #outeniqua #outeniquamountains #homtini #knysnaforest #trail #forest #river #sanparks #thisissouthafrica #westerncape #backpacking #gardenroute #sanparks #gardenroute

A post shared by Peter Thompson (@muisvoel) on Apr 29, 2017 at 3:52am PDT

Feature Image: Pixabay.

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