Have any of you hiked around the Blyde River Canyon at all? Any nice trails on the west side where there might be nice views of the 3 Rondavels? Would be great to see the waterfall too! Stockhausen

Perhaps Blyde Canyon is not a good location for me to do some days of hiking before sitting in a car and driving around Kruger for a week?

There are a few hikes around the Bourkes Luck Potholes and at the Blydepoort Resort. In addition, on the eastern side of the Blyde Dam is the Hippo Trail, as well as several well marked trails on Mariepskop. If you are in the area, en route to Kruger, I am resident in Hoedspruit and am happy to point you towards what I think are worthwhile walks.

Thanks that would be amazing. We'll be in the Forever Blydepoort and would like to do a 4-5 hour hike with canyon views. Would be nice to also see the Tufa falls. After an early morning hike it would be nice to visit 1 or 2 waterfalls by car and grab a bite of good SA cuisine - any ideas. Will visit in August brrr! Where can one find maps online for the trails? Thanks so much for your help.

The Leopard Trail within the resort is well worth the effort. I don't know of any online maps but a map of all the walks is available at reception. The main tourist waterfalls are back towards Graskop and Sabie but another very worthwhile walk/scramble is to the Tufa fall on the Abel Erasmus pass, starting at the curio seller stalls below the main rock walls of Manoutsa. Then you could continue to the Waterfall Trail near Swadini, and perhaps do the Hippo Trail around the edge of the Blyde Dam, ending where the Blyde River flows into the dam. A path used to continue from that point back up to the Blydepoort Resort but has been closed for years now, and is very overgrown. Depending on how much time you have in the area, definitely consider Mariepskop too.
August may be chilly in the early morning but very pleasant for the rest of the day. SA cuisine? Lots of touristy restaurants but some of the locals swear by the Wildebeest Lapa near Kampersrus. I have not tried it myself yet.
Feel free to contact me directly with any more specific questions: (richardb@scschools.co.za)

Thanks so much Richard - I've sent you an email.