Blyde River Canyon 3-Day Hike: Why It Might Not Be Worth It

Up in little Mpumalanga is the Blyde River Canyon 3 day hike, an interesting jaunt through the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve that features some great swimming holes.

Thinking of tackling the Blyde River Canyon hike?

Well then, read on for our essential trekking guide, including all you need to know plus a very honest review of the trail and whether the Blyde River Canyon hike is worth it!

What is the Blyde River Canyon Hike

The Blyde River Canyon hike, also known as the Blyderivierspoort hiking trail, is a 3-day traverse of the southern section of the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve.

However, what is not so obvious, is that the hike doesn’t actually go through the Blyde River Canyon. 

Instead, it traverses the section of the Nature Reserve immediately before the canyon.

It starts at a place Paradise Camp outside Graskop and finishes at the Bourke’s Luck Potholes, where the Blyde River Canyon begins. 

So, if you’re thinking of an epic hike through the magnificent Blyde River Canyon – think again! 

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Blyde River Canyon 3 Day Hike Bookings

The Blyde River Canyon 3-day hike must be booked in advance. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to do so.

Simply email Mpumalanga Tourism at [email protected]. We found they were pretty prompt at getting back to us. 

When you email Mpumalanga Tourism, they send an info sheet on the hike. However, most of the information is either incorrect or outdated, so do not rely on it. 

If your dates are still somewhat tentative, changes are allowed without a fee. We booked a week or two in advance, changed our dates a lot and didn’t have any issues. 

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How Much Does the Blyde River Canyon Hike Cost?

The Blyde River hiking trail isn’t cheap. It currently costs 525 ZAR per person. 

Although the hike can easily be done in 2 days / 1 night, the fee is always for 3 days / 2 nights, regardless of how many nights you take to do it.

So, unfortunately, even if you’d like to do the shorter version, you still must pay for the longer one. We were slightly unimpressed with this, to say the least! 

Important: At present, you can only pay for the hike via EFT or by going directly into a bank and depositing the money into Mpumalanga Tourism’s account. This makes organising the hike difficult for non-SA residents who are not in the country. 

How Difficult is the Blyde River Canyon Hike? 

The Blyde River Canyon hike is not difficult. The days are short and there is very minimal elevation gain. 

This is a hike that can be done by anyone with a reasonable degree of fitness. 

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Check-In and Parking

The Blyde River Canyon hike (kind of) starts and finishes at Bourke’s Luck Potholes.

I say kind of, because while you don’t actually start hiking at Bourke’s Luck Potholes, it is where you check in for the hike and get the shuttle to the trailhead. 

You should get to Bourke’s Luck Potholes about 30 minutes before your shuttle is booked. This will give you enough time to check in, sign the indemnity form, and park your car.

Mpumalanga Tourism provides secure, shaded parking for the duration of the hike. Parking is in a secure compound at the back of the office. 

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Shuttle

Since you check in at Bourke’s Luck Potholes, but the Blyde River hiking trail actually starts many kilometres away outside Graskop, a shuttle to the start is included in the price. 

A day or so before you’re due to start the hike, someone from Mpumulanga Tourism will probably call you to ask about your start time, so they can arrange the shuttle. If they don’t, call them. 

The last shuttle is at 2 pm and the trail cannot be started after 3 pm. 

What To Pack For The Blyde River Hiking Trail

For an idea of what to pack, check out our essential warm weather hiking packing list.

If you’ll be hitting the trail in the cooler winter months, we’d recommend bringing a warm jacket and some merino thermals for camp as well.

Our Impression of the Blyde River Canyon Hike

To be honest, we weren’t that impressed with the Blyde River Canyon hike. It was disappointing to see the facilities and trail in such a poor state, especially considering the relatively high cost of the hike.

Given what else you can do with 500 ZAR, it is 100% overpriced.  

While we enjoyed the experience, we weren’t blown away by it.

In hindsight, we don’t regret doing the trail, but given what we know now, if given the choice, we probably would have elected to use our time and money differently – like exploring the fabulous trails around the actual Blyde River Canyon!

If you’re keen to check out hikes in SA that we love, these are our favourites:

Is the Blyde River Canyon 3 Day Hike Worth It?

So, considering the above, is the Blyde River hiking trail worth it? It’s hard to say. 

Yes, there are some beautiful sections on the trail, but there are also a lot of mediocre and tedious parts.

The trail misses a lot of really beautiful stuff in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve and at times, you need to go out of your way to see the good stuff. 

Considering the high cost and lack of facilities, I’d say unless you’re super keen to see the more remote parts of the Reserve, give this one a miss. 

However, If time and money aren’t so much of deciding factors for you, then do it. 

If you simply want to see the best of the Blyde River Canyon, check out this highly-rated full-day tour of the Panorama Route.

What to Expect on the Blyde River Canyon 3 Day Hike

Trail Condition

I’ll put it plainly: the trail is in horrible condition. The trail is pretty overgrown and in many places, is hard to see. 

For most of the hike, we were trudging through long grass and at times, had to bushwhack through sharp thickets – sometimes crawling on our hands and knees to get through! 

I’m not sure if the trail has seen much maintenance in the past few years. Fingers crossed this changes soon!

Navigation

It’s a bit tricky to navigate the Blyde River hiking trail. 

When you check in at Bourke’s Luck Potholes, the Mpumalanga Tourism staff provide you with a paper map. However, this is useless. 

There are some markings along the way – these consist of yellow footprints on rocks and some signs.

But, due to how overgrown the trail is, they are often hard to see or have worn down. 

To navigate the trail properly, you need an offline digital map. We used this one at Wikiloc. 

Huts

There are huts at Watervalspruit and Clearwater, the two designated camps along the Blyde River Canyon hike. 

The huts consist of 15 concrete beds with mattresses and linen. Towels are also provided, as are tin plates, cups and cutlery. 

Whilst basic, they’re not terrible (but, like everything along this trail, could use a bit of TLC). 

Each hut is near a fantastic water source, where you can not only get fresh drinking water but also go for a dip!

Rubbish

There are rubbish bins at each hut, but it appears they’re never emptied.

When we were there, they were overflowing, attracting lots of rats and other pests. Yes, it’s gross. 

All we can say is, don’t contribute to the problem, follow Leave No Trace principles and pack out all your waste. 

Safety

Overall, there are no major safety concerns on the Blyde River Canyon hike.

The biggest issue are the ticks, which are abundant in summer. We hiked in early February and they were horrendous, especially in the first 2 hours of day 2. 

Hiking is always an adventure, so travel insurance is essential. We use and recommend SafetyWing. Trust us, we’ve used a lot of travel insurance and they really are the best.

Water

Water is pretty abundant on the Blyde River hiking trail, so you don’t have to worry about carrying loads at a time. Be sure to treat all water to avoid any tummy troubles!

Pro tip: for treating water on all our hikes, we use a Steripen – it’s a game-changer.

Where to Stay Before or After the Hike

Budget 

Joy River Backpackers

Mid-range

Riverfront View – House on Blyde

The Birdhouse

High-end

Moholoholo Forest Camp

Blyde River Canyon 3-Day Hike Day-by-Day Breakdown

Day 1: Paradise Camp to Watervalspruit Hut

• Distance: 3.6 km 
• Elevation: +100m / – 40m
• Time: 1 hour 
• Difficulty: Easy 

This day is so short, that Zandy said it’s almost offensive! 

The shuttle drops you off at ‘Paradise Camp’ on the God’s Window Loop Road outside of Graskop. This is essentially an abandoned building. 

Once you’re dropped off, cross the road to find a slight trail leading off into the bush. There are no signs or anything to indicate the trail has started. It’s very confusing! 

You immediately pass a cute waterfall. It was around the waterfall, that the trail disappeared and we had to do quite a bit of bushwhacking until we found it again. 

You then meander through grasslands until you reach Watervalspruit Hut. 

While it has seen better days, Watervaalspruit Hut isn’t terrible. There are flush toilets (bring your own toilet paper), sinks with running water and a cold water shower.

We found the shower dingy and didn’t want to use it. There is also an outdoor picnic table and a fire pit with wood. 

2 minutes past camp is a nice waterfall, which is a much better option than the hut shower! There are also a couple of flat rocks to hang out on. 

Day 2: Watervalspruit Hut to Clearwater Hut

• Distance: 12.5 km 
• Elevation: +220m / – 470m
• Time: 4 hours
• Difficulty: Easy 

The first half of this section is a bit dull, mostly meandering through grasslands. This is where we found the ticks to be particularly terrible. 

There’s a bit of walking around the pine plantations, which we found bizarre and destroyed the nature-wilderness feeling we like on our hikes. 

We found the scenery to get much better in the second half of the day, as the trail enters the Treur River Valley.

The valley opens up and there are more rocky outcrops. The scenery at this point is beautiful. 

The river by Clearwater Hut is exceptional. There are lots of great areas for swimming, plus rocks to chill out on.

You could easily spend an entire afternoon hanging out and swimming here, so it’s worthwhile arriving early to enjoy. 

It’s also worth considering spending two nights here. For example, you could do sections 1 & 2 in one day, spend the first night here, chill on day 2 and then hike section 3 on day 3. 

Day 3: Clearwater Hut to Bourke’s Luck

• Distance: 14.5 km 
• Elevation: + 123m / – 380m
• Time: 4 hours
• Difficulty: Easy

We found the first third of this section the most beautiful of the entire hike. The trail follows the river and the magnificent rock formations. It was pleasant and peaceful. 

Shortly after leaving Clearwater Hut, there is an intersection for Fann Falls – a must-stop!

It’s a slight detour and the waterfall is amazing! If you’re careful, you can swim. 

Once the trail moves away from the river, it becomes tedious and boring. You skirt a pine plantation on a dirt road and walk parallel to the highway for a long time. 

Near the end, once you rejoin the river, there’s an excellent swimming hole a couple of hundred metres back.

To find it, you must leave the trail, however, you can see a waterhole marked on maps.me. 

Once the river valley deepens there are some nice viewpoints. But again, the trail doesn’t pass by these, so you need to go off-trail to see them. 

The hike then finishes at Bourke’s Luck Potholes, which is really nice and a great way to finish.