Dassie Trail – Augrabies National Park
The Augrabies Falls National Park in South Africa’s Northern Cape is a treasure trove for twitchers, hikers, cyclists and nature lovers. The park offers visitors a variety of different activities, most of which start at the park’s reception. In the month of June the parks plays host to the Trans Augrabies, a multistage mountain biking race through the unforgiving desert terrain. There is also a 4×4 eco route in the park which will test the wits and mechanical abilities of drivers and their vehicles.
There are multiple hiking routes starting from the campsite just past reception. For day hikers, the Dassie, Gorge and Ebony trails will all take a couple of hours and will take hikers through the park without the need for a vehicle. We hiked the Dassie trail when visiting the park for a quick stop over before heading to Ais-Ais.
The Dassie trail is about five kilometers long and will take an average hiker between two and four hours to complete depending on the amount of times you stop for photos and breaks. The trail starts close the reception area and takes you past the campsite along the gorge. There are multiple signs with a clearly marked Dassie (Rock Hyrex) symbol that will guide hikers along the trail. As this region is generally very hot take enough water and sunscreen along, even when hiking in the winter months.
The first major waypoint you will reach on the trail is Twin Falls. Twin falls is made up of two sequential waterfalls that guides the water down the steep cliff. The second waypoint to visit is Arrow Point. The path past the falls leads to a dead end where you can see an arrow shaped rock formation. The scenery exposes you to the vastness of the rock from top to bottom, easily a couple of hundred meters in height. It looks as if a skilled painter made brush strokes of white, black, beige and brown colors on the cliff walls. For all those aspiring geologists out there, Augrabies National Park will keep you busy for days.
About two kilometres along the trail you’ll find Moonrock. The massive surface is visible from far away and the sheer size of it can only be imagined when walking on it. From the fascinating colours that you walk on, to the texture of the rock, to the crevices that make up Moonrock, it’s the closest to the moon a human in the Northern Cape will experience. From moonrock a quick two kilometres of rather flat hiking will take you back to camp in no time. We got some baboons playing in the late afternoon sun along the way, but they were too busy to be bothered by us.
Along the Dassie route, you’re guaranteed to witness dassies in their natural habitat, going about their day, curious to see what the hikers are doing. Make sure you don’t get too close to them as they remain wild animals. The trail is a must do at Augrabies if you do not plan to do a multi-day hike like the Klipspringer in the reserve and want to spend some time in the park.
This post forms part of our 2019 Namibia Road Trip. We planned an epic road trip the months leading up to June and it was worth every bit of planning, research and expense. We visited Augrabies, Fish River Canyon, Luderitz, Aus and Spitzkoppe to name only a few. We recommend the trip to anyone who wants to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We will try to give as much up to date information as possible in this series of articles but recommend you check the local websites for the latest information before embarking on your journey.
