Amatola Trails

Very beautiful well marked 5km hiking trail from Away with the Fairies to the Madona and Child waterfall. Looks exactly like in Lord of the rings!

Natural and peaceful landmarks

Absolutely an awesome experience. 13 of us headed out to explore the Amatola mountains 6 days ago. We've come back with a new appreciation of nature and plenty of wonderful memories. This trail should be on every hikers bucket list.

Definitely not recommended due to lack of maintenance and poor marking system.In short - the 2 day Zingcuka loop should not be advertised as a legitimate hiking trail as long as it is not maintained and marked properly.We're a group of 3 skilled hikers, did the Zingcuka loop (from Hogsback connected to the 5th day of the trail, slept at the Zingcuka hut and finished the 6th day - 42Km in total).The trail in major parts of it had been claimed back by nature, and we're talking about bushes and trees shoulder tall, covering long sections of it, which turned to be annoying and dangerous, not seeing where we're stepping. Add to that the cuts, scratches and torn cloths.The hut condition and surrounding is also terrible: facilities are broken, dirty and in different states of decomposition.Marking system is arbitrary and not consistent, especially the majority of the first day before connecting to the 5th day of the Amatola and at those parts you actually need the markings to change route/direction.To summarize, this path passes in beautiful areas which definitely worth exploring, but as a designated trail it definitely lost its glory and now is claimed back by nature in the majority of it's supposed sections. To be charged for doing it is nothing but a sad joke.

Barely survived the Amatola Trail - its relentlessly tough, grueling, huge climbs, massive drops - trail is well marked but also easy to miss... With all the challenges though the sheer epic beauty and the sense of accomplishment as you deleriously stumble back to Away with the Faeries on the final day make it worth it.Once in a lifetime experience, do it.