Walk Free, Sleep Easy – Slackpacking in the Midlands
The KwaZulu-Natal Midlands are considered the foothills of the Drakensberg. So if you’re looking for challenging ascents and dizzying heights-well, this is its antithesis. The midlands are all green and fluffy. A place where long-lashed dairy cows watch you peacefully as you make your way over a style. That kind of place. You can see the Drakensberg ‘peaking’ through clouds in the distance, but you definitely don’t have to climb it.
This is a landscape of farms, forests, rivers, dams, hills and old country roads. Midlands slackpacking is about setting a gentle rhythm, as gentle as the hills you are traversing, and stopping for lunch at some delightful farmstall and then staying in a cottage on a farm where you’ll feel as welcomed as a royalty and get given proper free range eggs for breakfast.
Slackpacking territory par excellence.
Some routes are multi-day adventures, while others work well as day walks with a comfortable base.
The best thing about walking here is the variety. One moment you are crossing open grassland, then you disappear into a patch of mist-belt forest. A café in a picturesque setting serves you coffee worth getting up the hill for and then, you pass an artist’s studio that you just have to pop into. Then fully topped up and inspired you head out along a pretty trail to a plunging waterfall. All in a days work.
Slackpacking itineraries can also include some daredevil adventures. This is another aspect of Midlands slackpacking that is so appealing. It really suits multi-generational groups with different fitness levels. Some can split off to do a high stakes zipline experience while others go and chill at a quirky little art studio. Then meet up and continue walking. And what makes this all possible? The unburdening delight of slackpacking’s best feature; you only carry a few essentials for the day.
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