Hike, Kayak and Wild Swim South Africa

I loved this trip. It was my first with MBA and I can’t praise them highly enough. I chose this trip because I was going to be in South Africa and because it looked to offer a lot of variety. It certainly delivered. I walked in mountains, coast, desert and in a nature reserve. The mountain part was my personal favourite. It was outstanding. I also got to abseil and raft. It was adventurous enough to be exciting without feeling that I was risking my life! The accommodation was varied but all fantastic either in terms of luxury or quirkiness. Our host and guide Sophie, was such a positive energy, fun and responsible in equal measure. She consistently went over and above to ensure everyone had a good time. Our local guides were great too, generous in sharing their knowledge and information. The trekking was challenging at times, but so rewarding. I would do it all again but MBA have many other tempting offers. I’m already looking for my next trip.

Fantastic trip in three distinct parts! Incredible mountain hiking with breathtaking views, exhilarating river fun surrounded by wildlife, and spectacular, almost deserted coastlines. The trip was well-organised, well-paced and a perfect opportunity to get away from the tourist trail - all run by wonderful local guides. You’ll come back pleasantly exhausted and inspired. I cannot recommend it enough!

What an amazing experience this was!

I won't lie: the mountains were a rough start. I underestimated how difficult hiking at altitude would be and had a very challenging time while in the Drakensberg. Our host Sophie and our local guides, Mlungisi and Jeff, (as well as 6 strangers I had just met!) were very patient and understanding while I brought up the rear at a considerably slower pace. Jawdropping views, spectacular chain ladders, swimming at the top of a waterfall, skittering lizards, herds of wild horses, and unbothered baboons made every difficult step worth it.

When we transferred next to Zingela, I was flabbergasted. MBA's description of this area doesn't do it justice. It is a HUGE conservation area with a thriving population of giraffes (we saw a tower of 41!), plus wild boar, warthog, kudu, nyala, cape weavers, shongololo :-D, and so much more. The folks who own it run a tourism business which includes rafting, abseiling, and camping, but they also conduct research into the social behavior of giraffes, monitor the movement of marine species in the Tugela River via tagging, host local and foreign students, and aim to be as self-sufficient and carbon neutral as possible. It is a magical place. Our guides Jugs & Mpo were fantastic and made my first ever abseiling experience such a hilarious and fun time. I learned a fair bit about Zulu culture from them, as well. The wonderful ladies who cooked all our meals have my undying gratitude; everything was unfailingly delicious.

Onto the Wild Coast and beautiful beach hikes. If you aren't used to hiking on sand, this can be a bit tough on the feet. I walked most of the beach barefoot during this part of the trip and if my feet hurt, I didn't notice because walking along the Indian Ocean was such an adventure: fossils, petrified wood, a huge diversity of shells, titanium-rich sand, estuary crossings, and archaeological finds such as arrow- and axe-heads & flint knives. Our guide for the Wild Coast, Lonwabo (“Lolo”), shared many interesting stories about Pondo culture, cuisine, plantlife, history, and medicine. However, he also recounted the effect illegal foreign mining efforts have had on the land and how the locals are still fighting to keep these companies out. Lolo’s love and respect for the Pondoland is infectious.

The homestay at Xolobeni is a unique accommodation, and I think it's an important part of the trip for tourists to experience how many South Africans outside of the cities live. The lovely woman who owns it is a generous host and made us feel incredibly welcome.

Finally, Mtentu Lodge: no electricity & no cell signal! It's a perfect way to wrap up the trip, causing you to pause and reflect on everything you've seen and done (and how much you're going to miss SA!). Here we did some kayaking, then rock scrambled up and up to increasingly gorgeous waterfalls, and cliff dove into deep swimming holes. Though the rooms were very comfy, on my last night here I slept outside so I could stargaze: a night I'll never forget. The local folks who run the lodge should be very proud of how they've been able to revive it after a devastating fire and the owners abandoning it.

Everyone along the way (and practically everyone I met in SA) was friendly and welcoming. Such a culture shock coming from the US! Our tour was a small group of 7, and everyone was lovely and got along great. Our hosts, Sophie and Sarah, were wonderful and worked hard to facilitate a great experience for everyone. There was a slight snafu with transportation arrangements on the last day, but they immediately worked out a solution. I highly recommend this trip!

This is such an amazingly varied trip, more than I realized when booking. Sarah, the brains behind the tour, has put together a brilliant mix of high mountain hiking (with some nice swim spots), followed by a really interesting conservation area in the river valley (bush walks, abseiling, white water kayaking), then the lovely Wild Coast (hiking, kayaking & clambering up rocks to waterfalls). Best of all was the quality of the local guides who joined each activity. Furthermore Sophie, the tour leader, was the social glue, she imparted so much local knowledge, and maintained our enthusiasm despite some challenging parts/variable weather.

It is marked as "moderate" which is probably fair across the whole, but at times it definitely felt harder. Don't underestimate the toughness of carrying 3 days of stuff and if you are scared of heights the ladder ascent/descent may give you the jeebies.

But overall this was a really enjoyable and memorable experience, which gave us a unique insight into parts of SA that most tourists would never see.

Overall the trip was fantastic, the food amazing and we had a great group of people that met for the first time at the airport. I loved the variety of the places we stayed from hotels to homestays and despite some being basic they were all comfortable and the people that ran them friendly and accommodating! I noted another review that mentioned the quality of guides had gone down, which I can’t comment on as first time with MBA but they did differ in how informative they were (or weren’t!)

Fabulous trip, three fantastic off the beaten track areas, with some great hiking and kayaking etc. Loved the variety, the accommodation , the plentiful, yummy food , and all topped off with a an awesome, fun group. I just wished it was longer !!!

This experience was hands down one of the best in my life. The whole trip was planned out so well and managed to pack so much more than I could have imagined. If you really want a taste of South Africa then this trip is by far the way to go. I would only love to do it multiple times over. As for our guide, the phenomenal Sophie, I cannot say enough about her. She delivered everything and more. Thanks again to Sarah for organising everything. It could not have been smoother sailing.

This trip is the perfect way to experience a little bit of everything, and most of which is off the well known tourist track! The first part of the trip is a few days in the Drakensberg with the highlight seeing the world’s joint tallest waterfall. You can ascend some ladders to get to the top (which was brilliant fun!) but if you really wanted to avoid this there is a gully route to access the top avoiding the ladders. The accommodation in this leg of the journey is far fancier than I expected for a “mountain” environment. I saw Baboons climbing the rock faces, Cape Vultures swooping overhead, Reedbuck, Elands, Dassies - the list of wildlife goes on. There are also several smaller waterfalls and wild swim spots along the way.

The second part of the trip is a relaxing escape to a wildlife haven further down the Tugela river. On our dawn bush walks the amount of wildlife we saw is too numerous to mention, but being so close to majestic creatures in their natural habitat was a humbling experience. We also kayaked down the river and abseiled off a rock face at sunset. At this site I saw the best nights sky I’ve ever seen. All activities are optional, and even if you do them all there was still plenty of time to relax.

The third part of our trip took us to the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape beside the Indian Ocean. Our guide, Lolo, taught us so much about the nature, geology and community of this environment. The scenery varied from a “tropical” forest type start at Umtavuna, to expansive fossil beaches and onto the grasslands and fruit trees in Xolobeni, past the titanium infused red sand dunes, and across estuaries to our beautiful lodges at Mtentu. In Xolobeni we stayed at a local rondavel (thatched roundhouse) home stay and visited a shebeen (pub/tuck shop), really getting a taste of normal life and enabling sustainable tourism in this quiet corner of South Africa. The last day is one of pure fun and adventure - kayaking up the estuary, and then kloofing (gorge-scrambling) to a impressive wild swim spot beneath a tall waterfall, kloof back down with additional swim and jump spots along the way, then kayak back down the estuary back to our cosy lodges.

Everywhere we stayed there was tasty food, and enough for big eaters like me, but impressively everything was so fresh and healthy despite being at times in quite isolated places. Expect really dark skies, so much wildlife and friendly people along the way. This trip would not have been so much fun without our host Sophie, and our guides and hosts on each part of the trip.

We were a group ranging from 20s to 60s, everyone managed the activities, the “winter” weather meant zero rain and 20-30 Celsius daytime temperatures! My only regret is not taking binoculars. This trip is perfect for anyone wanting a range of African environments, wildlife and activities all packed into one.

What an amazing trip! 10 days of pure adventure surrounded by beautiful landscapes and doing one of the things I love the most, hiking and enjoying nature. The program is so diverse - berg, bush and the wild coast! Everything was so well organized and the accommodation and food were great too. A special thanks to Sarah and Sophie from Active Escapes who looked after us so well and to all the other local guides - LoLo, Stevens and Jacks! And of course, to my travel buddies, Fiona and Mike who made this trip an unforgettable one. Beautiful non touristic areas of South Africa - highly recommended!

A magnificent adventure that takes you through three different regions of South Africa.

All the accommodations were all amazing, even the homestay had more amenities than we expected - hot shower, proper beds and delicious food. Everywhere catered to my odd allergies and my wife’s vegetarianism too. The first place, The Cavern, was stunning, I wish we had booked a day extra here beforehand to just hangout and play pool or ping pong or lawn bowls or swim! We started our tour with an outdoor yoga/pilates session at the cavern which was a nice way to meet the group and a new addition to the tour - the host Sophie.

The first part of the tour in the Drakensberg mountains was epic; full of dramatic landscapes and a personal highlight of mine - climbing the chain ladders. There’s even a couple of nice refreshing natural pools to cool off in at certain points.

The second part of the tour was at Zingela lodge, a truly special place completely off the beaten track where the tour slows down a little and you get to rest your legs and chill. We also did some fun activities like kayaking and abseiling - I’m scared of the latter but the guide was really good and knew how to keep me calm and got me over and down and I’m thankful that he did. But mostly we just relaxed by the river and played with the dogs here.

The last part of the trip was great too, walking along the copper coloured sand dunes, seeing some huge fossils on the beach but my favourite part of this section was the last day when we kayaked up the river and did a short hike/scrambled to some hidden waterfalls where we could literally jump in the water and swim and bask in the sun.

All the local guides were knowledgeable on local flora and fauna and gave us insight into the local communities too.

Highly recommended. An unforgettable experience.

This is a perfect combination of active days exploring off the tourist trail and then ending with cosy, chilled evenings where you can chat, read, and somedays we even did sunset pilates/yoga before drinks and dinner by the fire.

It's three adventures in one tour, giving you a taster of various landscapes. Hiking the Drakensberg Mountains, followed with days by the lake in the bush being as active (rafting, abseiling, swim, hike) or chilled as you want, then ending by the coast hiking and kayaking properly off the beaten path. I loved hiking these routes and dipping into cool pools of water to refresh the feet and legs.

I was blown away each day arriving at our next accommodation. They were all so special and have been hand picked, each one felt like a secret gem on our travels.

Some days we had a local guide with us who gave us a great insight into the area, local communities, the plants and wildlife. Our host Sophie was also with us throughout the tour and provided us with kit bag suggestions, timings, and making the whole thing run smoothly.

A bonus was as we were exploring South Africa we came across plenty of wildlife including baboon, warthog, giraffe, impala, dassie (very cute) and loads of birds.

Definitely book this tour if you want to experience a different side of South Africa that is very much undiscovered.

This trip was spectacular, it was so good I just wished it was longer!

The trip is broken down into 3 parts and each a different landscape and all wonderful. The hiking in the Drakensberg mountains was stunning, the Tugela River section was very different scenery but allowed a couple of days of more chilled activities. And the best bit probably was the Wild Coast and Mtentu Lodge....our guide Siya was also brilliant, the scenery especially on the second day was incredible, some beautiful waterfalls and swimming spots, and the food at the homestay and lodge was great too.

It's rated accurately - we were all fit hikers and no day was too tough hiking wise. You do find you set off early and make it to lodges for early afternoon so make sure to pack a book / kindle.

This was my first MBA trip, so I didn't notice the lack of "host". I found the guides and drivers all showed up where they needed to be and everything was very organised, so no problems doing it without one host all week.

The pack list is pretty accurate - you do have to carry your own stuff for a few days, so you learn to be good at packing / repacking bags!

This was a really fun and varied trip, and I had a fantastic time!

The itinerary is basically split into mountains, river and coast, and I loved all three parts. The Drakensberg mountains were spectacular. The accommodation on the Tugela River was fantastic and the food was amazing there. However, I enjoyed the homestay and Mtentu the most, as I haven’t done much hiking on the beach before. Very tiring on the sand but rewarding! The scenery surrounding the lodge is stunning. We did rafting on the Tugela, which was very fun. Even saw loads of giraffe in the surrounding unfenced reserve, which I wasn’t expecting from the trip!

One thing to be aware of is that unlike some other MBA trips, there is a remote host for the overall trip, and you’re greeted by different onsite guides throughout the experience. This isn’t a problem. They were all lovely, especially Siya at Mtentu. All the transfers ran smoothly, and the trip is very well organised.

A few other things to know beforehand! The transport to Zingela is an open-topped jeep for about a hour and a half in the heat of the day. Also be aware you have to carry a pack for 2 days in the Drakensberg, and another pack for 3 days on the wild coast, otherwise all the luggage is transported. This is outlined in the trip info. In hindsight, I’d have brought a mosquito net for the lodge. And pack plenty of sunscreen if you’re going in summer. More than you think you’ll need!

Overall, a really active and enjoyable trip. Prepare to be exhausted and super fulfilled all at once. Thank you, Sarah, and team, for a wonderful experience in South Africa.

Overall a fantastic trip exploring 3 very different regions of South Africa

Fantastic way to see parts of South Africa and the guides are brilliant during the walks. Zingela safari where we kayaked down to is a wonderful experience. unfortunately we didn't abseil but in exchange we seen the Giraffes and some wildlife. I went in November so please be aware of how hot and strong the sun will be, advice for the walk along the beach pack light and if you walk barefoot keep applying suncream to your feet they will constantly be wet and in and out of the sand - maybe neoprene socks would be a good choice to prevent burnt feet, I missed the last couple of days due to this. Please also be aware of long car journeys and book enough time to get back on your last day to the airport.