Amber Valley Hike, 11 August
Leader, photos: Keith Ashton
Scribe: Peter Wedge
Sunday 11th August 2024
Keith Ashton our senior hiking guru had arranged a repeat of this popular Amber’s hike for Sunday 11th August and had initially thirteen people, but two ladies had to cancel for several reasons, so we had eleven hardy souls meeting at Keith and Margaret’s house in Amber Valley by 08h00.
Our participating members were Sue Gow, Peter Wedge, Yvonne Lariviere, Lizette Gerber,
David Langstone, Lawrence Bester, Angela Bester, Max Ramseier, Margret Kirsten, Keith & Margaret Ashton.
Keith explained the route we were to take which encompassed most of the perimeter of Amber Valley then into Amber Ridge, Amber Lakes and finally Amber Lee.
The total distance was almost 14kms and we expected to take about 5 hours including a few short breaks and lunch.




We set off skirting Keith and Margaret’s house and then to the perimeter fence. Weather fine but slightly overcast. After about 40 minutes and a couple of quite steep climbs we arrived at a superb view site of the Ambers in general and Howick and environs. Keith and Margaret had dedicated a bench here to the memory of their eldest son Miles which would have pleased him with such a peaceful and panoramic view of the village/town where he went to school and made many of his friends.
Continuing in Amber Valley for about 2kms, around Falcon trout dam & into Amber Ridge.
Then we climbed up to the boundary with Kwa Wula before descending & across the Amber Ridge dam wall, then uphill past the “Cherub” to the highest point near the tall mast. From here we walked along the boundary fence between Amber Ridge & Kwa Wula down to near Karlkoof road & then back into Amber Valley. We then walked through some indigenous bush to a grassy area where we had a 40-minute lunch break near a secluded bench, near to a lovely valley & stream.



During the morning, we saw a fair sample of the Ambers wildlife – zebras including a mother and foal, numerous impalas & blesbok, duiker & warthogs.
Next, we walked in & around several dams in Amber Valley & adjacent to Amber Lakes, with abundant water birdlife, making the most of this scenic area.
Quite inspiring to see how people and wildlife had found a way to share space and how wildlife had adapted to a semi-urban environment without any serious predatory animals. Great life for such antelope species et al!


