Solo Hikes I Am Willing To Risk List - A Totally Unqualified Catalogue of Things I Walked (Part 3)

So, hi - me again.

I brought a list.

Again.

People might be expecting this to contain some cinematic expedition where you scale a cliff face with one granola bar, while a drone shot pans dramatically over the mountains.

This is not that list - these are the trails I would personally solo hike.

Which means that, because I am approximately 147 years old, held together largely by caffeine and a rotating schedule of mysterious body pains, nowhere near peak agility, and deeply committed to tripping over invisible objects (and occasionally my words,) these trails are safe, fairly populated, mostly flat, and ideally located somewhere with cellphone signal and a contact number I can phone before I end up stranded on my back like a dehydrated tortoise waiting for death and/or a trail runner named Gareth.

My Entirely Unqualified Opinion on Solo Hiking

One of my more polarizing opinions - yes, I have many - is that people wildly exaggerate how dangerous hiking is “IN THIS COUNTRY”.

If I had listened to every dramatic warning, hysterical Facebook comment, and “my cousin’s friend heard about a guy” story, I would have spent the last two years sitting indoors developing an emotional support relationship with Netflix instead of hiking well over 100 different trails.

That doesn’t mean incidents never happen. Of course they do.

Some people have had genuinely bad experiences, and I’m not dismissing that.

But I also think some people talk about hiking in South Africa like every trail contains a gang of armed criminals hiding behind a rock formation, waiting specifically for Karen from Bedfordview and her Fitbit.

I also think hiking in nature is statistically less threatening than driving in the suburbs or existing in shopping centre parking lots.

You do not have to agree with me - I have accepted that many people never will, and that’s fine.

Easy Solo Trails for the Mildly Cautious

This list is for people who don’t believe there’s a thug hiding behind every protea bush, but also aren’t emotionally prepared to summit a mountain alone while dangling from a chain ladder.

Could I probably do harder hikes solo? Not without getting lost.

Do I currently prefer flat trails with other humans nearby and enough cellphone reception to avoid embarrassing my children by being airlifted off a hill on a Monday morning after an early hiker finds me folded over an obscure rock like abandoned camping equipment? Absolutely.

I’ve done a couple of these solo already.

The others I’ve hiked with people and earmarked as backup options for when a treacherous child or hiking buddy cancels on me at the last minute - again.

Usually via WhatsApp.

Thirty minutes before departure.

Done & Dusted

Hazeldean Valley (done and dusted)

Modderfontein (done and dusted)

Big Red Barn (done and dusted)

Hiked But Not Yet Solo 

Avianto (in their grounds)

Danielsrust Game Farm

Delta Park

Faerie Glen (easier route)

Harties is Africa

Horwoods Farm

Huddle Park

Hunter's Rest

Hurlyvale Park

Modderfontein Bird and Sculpture Park

Mushroom Farm Park

Norscot Koppies

James & Ethel Gray Park

Jodev Farms Kingfisher Nature Reserve

Johannesburg Botanical Gardens

Kingfisher Park

Kloofendal Nature Reserve

Lonehill Park and Dam

Prime View Adventure Trail

Rosemary Hill Farm

Rosewood Trails

Rietfontein Nature Reserve

Sibani Lodge

Stone Hill Hiking Trail

Ubali Pomegranate Farm

Van Gaalen Cheese Farm (the shaded route)

Willow Park

Wolwespruit