Thank you for such a well organised hike. The staff were amazing and everything was perfectly set out – from the boxes to the kitchen, the campfire and the neat tent spots at each site. I loved the showers, which were most welcome at the end of each day. The water at each campsite was so sweet and refreshing (no problems with my tummy and certainly didn’t need tablets). I also drank water straight from the stream on the second day. The loos were clean and the mirror above the basin most welcome to sort out our disheveled hair.

The scenery was so beautiful – expansive and extensive! I loved that we were camping! I have just been given a MSR one person tent so it was great fun to be able to use it. Sadly we had heavy rain on the second last day, that included some thunder and lightening! The kitchen tent held out until the morning when the weight of the water caused some seepage.

I am not a strong walker, but each year take to the hills and valleys somewhere in South Africa. I have walked the Whale Trail a number of times, the Fish River and Oorlogskloof once and some other shorter local hikes. The Leopard Trail was a real treat, but I have to say it was a lot tougher than I had expected – the second day in particular – with a lot of up and down and up and down the hills and saddles. I focused mainly on my feet so missed a lot of what was around me! What was suggested as a 4 – 6 hour day took those of us at the back a good 8 hours. It would have been lovely if the detours, which were indicated as water and swimming spots, were included in the hike as part of the main trail. I kept hoping to find a rest spot, a pool or some sort of a shady reprieve every so often. I also would have liked to have been taken past Koi–San paintings (I understand there are some in the area), a cave or some other geographic feature.

I also loved your map and guide book, and of course the quirky signage! Very philosophical and a great touch. I am a bit worried though that your signs attached to rocks will not stand the test of time or souvenir collecting travellers. Perhaps you could paint your paws on rocks sometime in the future. Also how about adding some ‘milestones’, like one each kilometre, a rest spot, a lunch spot. Knowing that you are nearly there, or at least how far you still have to go at various points would have been helpful.

The history boards at the info centre were very interesting. Maybe include that info about in the booklet at some stage or on your website.

Thank you again for a fabulous four days. Unfortunately due to the rain we didn’t do the Cedar Falls walk – perhaps next time if I am lucky enough to return and try out the cottage stay.

All the best and good luck with the building!

PS I bought some jam from the shop, which I am looking forward to sharing with family and friends and I will upload some photos to your Facebook page.

PPS The boxes were large and encouraged me to bring much more than I needed to. I worry that the porterage is open to abuse and that the guys might be unnecessarily exploited – the option to bring cooler boxes encourages excessive meat and alcohol! I know that the Whale Trail had big issues with this and now limits the number of boxes per group and will not carry anything that is not secured inside the box. Just saying! Not everyone is nice and the porters are open to being taken advantage of.

WE loved the weekend. The hike is magnificent. The hike is challenging. Great memories. We will give you more feedback when we can walk again(joke).

CONGRATULATIONS ON AN AMAZING HIKE. We know it will be a TOP hike in SA soon and are proud to have done it during its trial period.

Thank you for all your assistance  in organising this hike for us.

We found it a tough trail with lots of ups and downs and up again but thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the magnificent views from the top and the valley walks and surviving a walk in a thunder and lightning storm.

The camp sites are beautiful and so well equipped.  We were very thankful for the kitchen tent at the end of day 3 when we were all drenched.  The rain did abate to get our tents up and we slept well.

The extra day that we were going to stay broke to rain and we were all a bit concerned about getting out of the Cedar Falls valley as none of us have 4x4s, so we left early on Easter Sunday.  I did explain this to Willem.  The staff were very helpful and we were very glad to have our kit portered and the generous box space.

The Hiker’s house  was perfect for our needs.

Although we were stiff and sore at the end we all agree we would like to come again.

A big thanks to you and your team for the creation of the trail – I thoroughly enjoyed it!  Positives for me were:

• The pristine surroundings and clean camp sites.  The layout at Camp 1 is great with wonderful views of the surrounding hills
• Great showers
• The pool at Camp 3
• Fully equipped kitchen tents – we did not need for anything
• The boxes arrived on time
• The trail team were friendly and efficient
• Base camp is a wonderful mix of traditional and “new age”
• And the labyrinth adds that extra dimension

I will certainly recommend this trail to fellow hikers.

Thanks to you and The Another Way team.  We had a truly memorable hike and loved every minute of the Leopard Trail.  We were quite an age-diverse group from Gauteng, Cape Town and the Eastern Cape – a group that is a very loose collective of hiking friends.  We had an immense amount of fun, talking, debating, reminiscing, following histories, trying to make sense of our world, identifying plants and birds….. We saw a pair of beautiful black eagles.

The mountains were splendid and magnificent, and delivered generously in every respect.  I loved the camping sites each evening.  Day One was delightful.  We were most appreciative of the big tent as it got quite chilly but we all cosied up inside for supper and thoroughly loved it.  The Day Two camp was chilly again but the tent again provided respite from the cold.  The sites were a little small for the three and four person tents with guy ropes but did not in any way hamper us.  Day Three trail was just my best.  I loved the three saddles and their vegetation. The proteas were in blooming beautifully.  Day Three camp site was quite the most exquisite.  We all loved walking Casey’s Kloof to reach our overnight spot and found loads of leopard spoor.  We swam in the reservoir and enjoyed the sun.  I loved Fond Farewell best of all.  It provided some good exercise and exquisite views along the way and at the top.

The weather was fine, a little cold at night but nothing we found uncomfortable.  We had some rain and mostly it was cool until the last day when it was quite a scorcher.

I wish I had known about the Waterfall Hike because I think I would have stayed an extra day to explore this trail.  I found that four days was probably just a day too short and would love to have had the extra day of hiking.  I have just bought the Getaway magazine for its story of the trail.  Sonya Schoeman wrote so well.  It must have been scorchingly hot because she seemed to have suffered the distances.  None of us found the trail tough.

The only thing I personally wasn’t wild about was the motivational / meditation signs.  I prefer my own revery and meditation.  There were many jokes about “we’re not talking about the hike”.  But that was minor.

Your kitchens were excellent and were well received by all.  Thanks especially for the Victorinox knives.  They are quite the best knives.  We have a fantastic tradition that includes exceptional cuisine on our hikes.  We ate the most exquisite foods prepared each evening by different groups amongst us.  We had black rice salad inspired by the Cape Town restauranteur Karen Dudley, a winter-slaw inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi, mango salads, delicious dahl curries, a green Thai vegetable curry amongst a range of other delights.

Many, many thanks for a splendid time in those magnificent mountains.  We feel so privileged to have had the leopard trail experience.

We had a great time. We saw a cape cobra and another unidentified nocturnal snake. All very exciting and beautiful. I am grateful we did it now because the weather was great. I can however imagine that during summer it must be very hard. Especially the last day when there is no water on the way. And very little shade. I would also suggest you go ahead and build huts because it was very cold in the tents at night and its not even winter yet. Cutting the 3rd day a bit shorter might also be a good idea. Walking 16km (especially the last 2 hills when you can actually see the jeep track would be easier) one day followed by 18 the next day takes some doing. But all in all very lovely and Willem and Martha and Ricardo were most helpful.