The Natural Way To Explore Wilderness
South Africa has the most walking safaris in Africa. It also has the widest range, offering everything from backpacking sleep-outs to super-luxury bespoke trails camps. As the country has a wide climatic variation, there is always somewhere to walk year-round.
The best selection of walks is in the low-lying savannah to the east of the country. The Kruger National Park has dozens of venues for guided walks ranging from short morning outings to dedicated wilderness trails camps to multi-day backpacking trails. Adjacent to the park, the Greater Kruger reserves have numerous lodge-based walks, multi-day slackpacking and backpacking sleep-out trails.
The other area with a great range of walks is northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, where both state-owned and private reserves have both lodge-based and multi-day walks.
In summer months, the reserves of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces offer perfect walking conditions, and there are a handful of multi-day options.
For a comprehensive guide, get the book Walking Safaris of South Africa.
A new year-round walking base in the wilds of the Eastern Cape, Plains Camp is a luxury low-footprint camp that is ideal for slow exploration of a diversity of wilderness.
Sleep out under the stars in Kwa-Zulu Natal’s greatest wilderness.
Explore the White Umfolozi River valley from a rustic seasonal trails camp.
The Makuleke concession in the far north of Kruger National Park is one of the finest walking safari destinations in Africa. Its rich subtropical biodiversity, dramatic sandstone gorges and forests of fever trees are a unique combination.
You don’t need to see an animal to gather information about it. If you know how to read animal tracks and other bush information, you can gain valuable insight into what, when, maybe even how and why an event took place in the wild. The EcoTraining 7 or 14-day EcoTracker course will turn you into a budding bush detective.
Hike and sleep-out in the most biodiverse hot-spot in the Kruger National Park on a week-long training adventure with EcoTraining.
Makumu Private Game Lodge is in the heart of some of the best walking habitat in the Greater Kruger.
This intensive 4-week field training is designed for career Trails Guides, but open to all. It’s a chance to learn navigation, tracking, rifle skills and more – and simply to enjoy being on foot every day in some of Southern Africa’s best wilderness.
Get an up-close insight into Trails Guide field training with an Observer spot on a Lowveld Trails Company Mentorship Trail.
Enjoy daily guided walking safaris from a private summer-time trails camp in the Eastern Cape.