6-Day Hike- Silver Sands Trail
The Silver Sands Trail is a 5-night 6-day slack-packing trail along the Northern Cape west coast of South Africa in the Namaqua National Park. The beauty of this hike is the Namaqua flower season and also the unspoiled vastness of the Namaqualand it’s wildlife and long outstretched beaches.
The total distance is 48km with a difficult factor of 3 along sandy roads and the beach.
Basecamp is on the beachfront at Bamboescamp and consist of 3x3m Dome tents, fitted with two comfortable stretcher and camping mattress, hot showers, kitchen and communial tents. Toilets are Eco friendly systems supplied by SANParks and maintained by them.
Please take note that:
There is no water or wood along the coast. We need to bring everything in.
No cellphone reception, no development or facilities of any kind.
Please do not waste and use water sparingly.
Groups of Minimum 8 persons and maximum of 16 persons per hike all year round except during the raining season, which is, May to July.
Day 1: Get together in Garies.
The group gets together on Sunday between 12 and 13h00 at the Kaap Agri’s Caltex petrol station in Garies. From here the Silver Sands tour operator will escort the vehicles to Soutrivier where we will leave the vehicles and transfer our luggage onto the vehicles of Silver Sands and commence to our Base Camp at the beach front. On arrival we will settle in, have some welcome drinks and enjoy a warm cooked meal.
Day 2: Spoegriver Caves to the seals.
We start our first day’s hike early. After receiving our day lunch pack we will be transported with a game viewing vehicle through the Namaqua National Park to Spoegriver Caves (This is about 1 hour’s game drive). The group will be guided and we will cover a distance of 15km along the spectacular coast line in the direction of the Base Camp. We will be picked up after the 15km hike and transported back to base camp. Warm showers will be ready, sun-downers and a delicious meal.
Day 3: Silver Sands Dune Trail.
Today we have an amazing hike trough the moving white dunes of the Namaqua National Park. Depends on the weather and tides. After breakfast we will leave camp and start hiking. We will be dropped off 16km North from the base camp. This is a spectacular part of the trail with silver beaches, white granite rock formation, seals and bird life. We arrive at base camp where we will take time to relax and have a sun-downer while dinner is being prepared.
Day 4: Groenriver to Base Camp.
This is our last day of hike and we take on the Southern part of the Namaqua National Park. We will be dropped off 10km from base camp, as we will hike back, depends on the weather. This is also a scenic part of the trail and a lot different from the other day’s trails. This trail has less beach hiking and a little more rock formations. 14km
Day 5: Hondeklipbaai & Aristea Shipwreck.
This morning we take the vehicle and head to the little town Hondeklipbaai. This is a 2 hour drive through the Namaqua National Park. On arrival we will take a leisured walk through the little town visiting all the historical sites and the Aristea Shipwreck. We will have lunch at one of the local restaurants and make our way back to base camp.
Day 6: Tour ends with a cheese and wine taste at Lutzville wine cellar.
After breakfast we pack our stuff and set of to where we left the vehicles and from there we drive all together to Lutzville where we will end the tour with a nice wine taste and some platters.
Important Things to pack!
- Small day back pack
- Sunscreen
- Hat
- Good hiking shoes
- Own toiletries
- Warm wind breaker
- Hiking gear, warm clothes for evenings.
- If preferred, own water bottle
- Own sleeping bag and pillow
- Extra hiking snacks if wanted.
- Camera and binoculars.
It all starts with a unknown trail, with you leaving everything behind and walking off to where your thought are wondering around. Breath let go and remind yourself that this very moment is the only one that you know you have for sure.
