It was a very freezing 🥶 Saturday morning in Johannesburg and North West. I kept on saying it’s nippy, chilly, and my friend kept on saying, “Moira stop saying it’s nippy or chilly, it’s freezing”. Normally when it’s cold and we are hiking, we warm up within a kilometer, not this time, it took us almost 5km before we can start warming up. Despite the cold, it was truly a beautiful morning for a catch and release moment.

We hiked at a property called Africaland, tucked away nicely next the iconic NECSA(Necleur Energy Corporation). I have been here too many times I couldn’t be bothered to count. The hosts are very welcoming and friendly, and the place has restaurant situated around well-kept garden. The hiking trail has amazing views, pleasant and testing hills here and there, the hike is 7.4km loop trail. I consider it moderate; the trail is well marked, need proper hiking shoes as there is lot of slate stone and it is very slippery. I must say it was very unpleasant to see lots of rubbish along the river. I hope the owners do something about it. It is a shame to see so much plastic along our riverbanks. I do not know why people litter, its mind blowing.

After 5km hike; we found the best spot to seat and have a snack. We were seating on the edge of the rocks overlooking the best spot of the river. I imagined seating there with my book and drink during summertime, if that’s not peace I don’t know what is. While we were seating there listening to the sound of the river (the best sound), we were having conversation about birds 🦅. We were talking about how nice it must be to be a bird, they can fly to as many destinations as their hearts desire😀.How they don’t need a visa or airplane tickets. We tried to imagine how nice their life must be. Lol. It was fun and silly however it just makes my point that when we are in those mountains, “real life” doesn’t exist hence we always feel light afterwards.

It’s a quick hike and we had time to go discover haarties. We went to a place called little Paris for their amazing coffee, then off to my favorite place to pass time in haarties; the Jasymn farmer’s market. It was my friend’s first time at the market, and it is safe to say I created a monster. 🤣🤣

Let me tell you a bit about little Paris. It is located in the heart of Hartebeespoort. Known for the cute little Eiffel Tower replica as well as the love lock bridge. There is also few little cute shops to get some souvenirs and of course food. There is a popular cafe that we got good coffee from; called The French toast coffee cafe.

I have said many times, hiking has opened my eyes in many ways than one. I am learning a lot about myself through hiking. I always come back knowing something new about myself. I have the best sessions with my therapist, nature. It cost me less than R100, 00 per session but get a million-dollar therapy. I have found a coping mechanism in hiking; it brings me peace.

Every morning when we wake up; we are given two things; A choice and A chance. I try to get through my day remembering that.

Until next time Fabtastic people.🤩 Moira

Short left

Fabtastic people, it is that time of the year, not “you get a car season”, sorry… LOL

It’s winter in South Africa, which means eating fat cakes for breakfast on our way to our hiking spot/s in the North West. If you read my previous blog posts, you know myself and Pumza love those fat cakes from the specific gas station. Shout out to the ladies at the gas station who make those amazing fat cakes. Off the topic for a moment, my colleague from Kenya was laughing at the fact that we call a gas station a garage in South Africa. LOL. She asked me why we call it a garage and I had no answer for her. It’s one of those things that make us stand out from the crowd.

It was a chilly Saturday morning and off we went to the hiking spot called Blue Groove Adventure. What is interesting about this property is where it is situated. It is in the heart of beautiful Hartbeespoort, you get to see the full view of the dam. Look I have seen this dam from many sides; however, this side is spectacular. As soon as you start hiking, you start seeing the full view, the higher up you go the more spectacular the view gets.

Going to Hartbeespoort is a short-left treat. (Definition of short left in South African lingo: it is a phrase derived from everyday South African “taxi lingo”, used by commuters to tell the driver when one wants to get off the taxi). We now loosely use the word when we travel within South Africa; for example, I will say I am taking a short left to Mpumalanga. South Africa, my beautiful country, *sigh*.

Blue Groove Adventure is just over 6km long and moderate, also rocky in some areas. It was great catching up and having great conversations as usual. The property has a strong focus on things with engines and wheels; offers trails for off-road biking and 4×4. The restaurant has a huge fire pit and faces a great view of the dam. We didn’t get to eat there as we had other plans after the hike, but we will try it next time. After we finished hiking, we decided to run on the sand hills that are meant for bikes. Yes, I know, there was a no-entry sign if not on the bike; but our inner children in us wanted to test our boundaries and strength. It is safe to say, I paid the price because the following day my thighs were on fire. Lol. After the hike we went to our favourite farm market to have our favourite waffles and bacon breakfast, I know, we ate breakfast twice 😀. Those waffles are always worth it, after eating we walk around the beautiful garden.

Check out the link below! It was an honor to be interviewed by Lifestyle&Tech, an online publication, to talk about love for hiking and my bucket list of hiking places I would like to visit.👇

Finding adventure through words and trails-Moira Molefe

On to finding the next adventure Fabtastic People!

Moira