Slack-packing around Green Mountain

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The Green Mountain slack-packing eco-trail takes you through vines and fynbos

It has to be said that slack-packing is one of the most civilised ways of exercising ever invented.

And one of the most gorgeous slack-packing trails can be found at Green Mountain, part of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve in the Western Cape. The vineyards you’ll walk through (near the apple- and grape-farming areas of Elgin and Grabouw) mostly belong to owners who are part of the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative.

They have, remarkably, set aside more land for conservation and wildlife corridors than for vines, so you’ll walk through fynbos and wine farms. In fact, the website boasts that this is the world’s 1^st biodiversity wine route.

And as it points out, no less than 80% of the fynbos ecosystem is in private hands, as witnessed here. Individual landowners are contributing massively to fynbos conservation. Support the responsible ones, and you’re supporting this threatened and utterly unique floral kingdom.

The Green Mountain eco-trail covers 57km in 4 days and is graded as moderate in difficulty. You’ll be accompanied by accredited guides and spend every night at a 4-star guest house, eating delicious food straight from surrounding farms.

The Kogelberg Biosphere, incidentally, is home to a staggering 1 900 species of plants in an area of 100 000ha.

Dining in style along the Green Mountain eco-trail in the Overberg

Category: Routes & Trails