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We are planning to do this trail next month. Any tips or advice?

Don't be a woossy and stay at Kabouga. Rather stay at Mvubu campsite, which is THE BEST and most charmingly rustic campsite any NP (if you have it to yourselves). We have done the trail on the southern side of the mountains but have not gone over to the Darlington Dam side. All relatively easy driving but apparantly the drive to D.Dam can get rougher (friends of ours shredded a tyre on the way over).

Thanks j-ms! Being fairly new at the 4x4 thing, we were planning to spend the night at the main camp and just do the trail as a day trail. What is the river crossing like?

We've only done the river crossing on foot ! It would have been a doddle in the vehicle but you can only cross at certain times of the day and with a minimum of two vehicles (check these details with the folk at Addo though) and we were on our own. We've probably been there about 5 or 6 times but being more intersted in the birds and things and less worried about showing off our levels of testosterone we've never got excited about the 4x4 trail apart from those bits we use to get to places.

Hi DB, lam has just informed me we did NOT cross the river crossing on foot but simply had lunch there before taking the escape route over a steep hill to where the trail crosses back over the river. This all happened back in 1999 and my old brain is not always that reliable (lam is a couple of years younger than me so her memory is more trustworthy).

j-ms and I are in disagreement as to whether we did the river crossing. I don't think we did, but it was about 7 years ago, so either of us could be wrong.

You really should stay on the Kabouga side.

Hi all

Addo elephant (our resident Addo guru) is off line for the next week or so....but in the meantime I'll see what I can do aboutgetting a reply...

Dianne

Thanks Dianne, that will be great.

We are only going on 20 July. I promise to take loads of pics and post them here upon return.

The river crossing is a grade 5 whereas the rest of the trail is rated grade 2-3, so I wouldn't recommend the river crossing unless you are confident about these type of things. It is optional, so you don't have to include it on your trail.

If you do want to do the crossing, you need to check the river conditions with the section ranger, as the level of the river is higher on certain days when they open the sluice gates from Darlington Dam, and then the crossing is not passable.

The trail will take you about 6 hours if you want to take it easy and stop for views etc. Remember that once you are on the Darlington side, it will take you about two hours to drive back to main camp (on roads outside the park) or to reach Port Elizabeth, if you are heading in that direction.

Thanks Megan.

Finally got to do this trail!! It was great!

Addo 4x4 Trail Report

What is it like? Husband and I have never done any off roading but he would like to try it and we are considering hiring a 4x4 to drive in Addo. Is this unrealistic? Can you do the drive in a day and spend the night before and the one after in the main rest camp?

Hi lexis and welcome to the forums

The 4x4 trail is well worth it in terms of spectacular scenery and getting to see some of the newer and more remote areas of the Park. You'll travel through thicket, forest, fynbos and the arid karoo area of the Park.

There is also a lot of history attached to that area with evidence of the battles that were fought there during the Anglo-Boer War of the early 1900s.

You can start the trail either from Kabouga (near Kirkwood) or from Darlington. You could have the main camp as base camp but bear in mind that it takes 2 hours to drive from main camp to Darlington or visa versa when you start/end the trail and the trail itself takes from 4 to 6 hours depending on how much time you take to absorb the scenery.

There's also the Kabouga cottage that you could use - its a rustic cottage that sleeps 6, with gas & solar power, no electricity.

Hi,

Is this trail really 4x4 or can I drive it with a high rider 4x2? I have a fair amount of experience (Chobe, Moremi, etc.) with my vehicle...

Regards
Jean

Hi Jean,

There are two reasons why we don't allow 4x2's on the 4x4 trail: 1) this trail is situated in a national park and we would like as little damage done to the environment as possible. A 4x2 would definitely be less kind on the track, especially in the steep and rocky places. 2) if the trail gets a little wet (from rain/drizzle), a 4x2 wouldn't make it anyway.