Grey Mares Falls, 2 June
Hike leader and report writer: Deon Small
The weather forecast for the weekend did not look good and the forecast kept changing, however it turned out to be a cool, partly cloudy day and ideal hiking weather. The weather looked like it would improve as the sun started to break through the clouds.
We all met at Bushwillow and after everyone arrived and got the paperwork sorted, we got going. The path snakes up through the indigenous forest and quickly becomes quite steep, however I made sure we had enough breaks on our way up. The path is well worn and we had to be careful at certain spots where we had to navigate our way over and through the tree roots and luckily we had a few level areas where we could catch our breath.
Once you reach the “contour path” section, it does get a bit easier but for those that know – a contour path is all but level and not always easier. While walking on the level section, we could ease up a bit and pay a bit more attention to our surroundings and appreciate the beauty of the forest.
One section is covered in wild clivia and in September this whole area will be adorned in a pinkish – orange kaleidoscope, ushering in spring.
Until then we got mesmerised with all the different hues of green, from the trees, the moss and the under growth.
The path leads you on to the Shawswood property and once we ascended the last little bit of uphill we were greeted with some of the best views in the area as the trees makes way to open grass lands. We had a short rest, waiting for the group to re-gather and have a short “tea break” before we moved on to a view point overlooking the Grey Mares Falls.
We crossed the stream and made our way over the ridge to the view point and there everyone was amazed by the full view you have of the 104m high waterfall. Unfortunately, the water level was not as high as I expected, but we could still see some water plummeting over the falls.
A few months ago a few of us walked to the bottom of the falls and for those of us on that walk, now had the opportunity to see the full length from both sides.
The falls gets its name from the fact that when it flows strong, the spray of the falls looks very similar to the tail of a running horse. Hence the mane Grey Mares Falls. We made or way back to the top of the falls where we enjoyed our lunch while admiring the view over the valley far-far below us.
While having lunch, we were blessed by a pair of nesting Lanner Falcons, gracefully soaring and darting in and out of the rock crevices. In the forest section there is also quite a number of bird species to be found with the Marina Trogon and Knysna Turaco being most probably the best known, but less seen, bird species in the forest. However, the Karkloof is actually best known for the 3 different species of cranes that are frequently seen on the farm pastures.
After lunch we made our way back over the grass lands and back down into the forest and the group was surprisingly quiet as we slowly made our way down. We navigated the tricky rocky stream bed and as we got closer and closer to the cars, the level of chatter and noise slowly started to increase and by the time we got to the cars, the chatter and banter gave way to everyone saying goodbye and making their way home. Soon the car park was empty and almost as desolate as when we first arrived. After a quick walk around making sure the place is clean and nothing left behind we also made our way back home, already planning for the next adventure.
