Revel in the Karoo - on a bicycle!
Great Karoo Cycling trails (GKC) are the consequence of years of cycling the undiscovered and abundant dirt roads and jeep tracks meandering through the timeless panorama of the Cape Midlands area of the Karoo. Ride past and stay at celebrated farms en route. Mountain biking is the fastest growing sporting and leisure activity in the country. Great Karoo Cycling is offering secure and safe mountain biking trails on back roads with little vehicular traffic and no crowded venues. Cyclists are accompanied only by tranquil merinos grazing in the veld, quizzical meerkats, nimble springbok, blue cranes screeching and spurwing geese honking overhead as they pass by solemn, secretive ironstone koppies! Early risers will hear a prolific dawn chorus of Karoo endemics!
What to Expect
GKC, in collaboration with established Karoo Hospitality and Breakaway venues, offers you leisure cycling at its most affordable.
- All on dirt roads and jeep tracks through well-known Karoo farms, staying over in established farm guesthouses
- Option of river rafting on the Great Brak.
- Minimum of 8 cyclists per group, ideal number is 12, maximum of 14.
- The ride is between 45 and 60 kilometres a day.
Our Karoo Cycling Trails
GKC offers six different trails to various towns in the Karoo. These are:
- Sneeuberg – from Middelburg EC via Nieu Bethesda to Graaff-Reinet.
- Fish River – from Mt Melsetter along the Fish river, stopping off at Lowlands County House near Fish River Station, then on to Cradock.
- Gariep – from Colesberg to Bethulie via the Gariep Dam. This is the history tour.
- Zuurberg – from Cradock to Addo Elephant Park via Somerset East.
- Three Provinces – from Philippolis in the Free State to Gariep, cycling into the Northern Cape and then the Eastern Cape.
- Mt Melsetter – the hub of many of our cycling trails, offering a number of different out and back trails of varying lengths.
Video by Dave Marsh