Glen Harry Game Reserve
Glen Harry Game Reserve was established in 2010 to create an exclusive environment celebrating the beautiful landscapes and biodiversity of the Eastern Cape.
Situated close to the town of Bedford, the reserve offers a wilderness experience where species of antelopes, wildebeest and bird species roam free. The natural Karoo environment is a protected ecosystem that comprises of bushveld and mountainous terrain.
The game reserve offers visitors a range of outdoor activities including bird watching, game drives, mountain biking routes and hiking.
Mountain Biking
Bedford is located in the scenic Amathole District, known for its stunning mountain ranges and great mountain biking trails.
Skelmkloof Farm offers a combination of riding along district roads, gravel farm roads, 4x4 tracks and game footpaths. Start off from the farm house, where there is safe parking, and decide whether you either want to head onto the main district roads for flat riding along the Baviaans River, or go tough into the surrounding mountain ranges.
A good circular option would be to follow the road to Tarkastad until you see a gate on your right sign-posted ‘Buffelskloof’ (20 km). Climb along a rugged farm road towards Bloemhof Farm, but keep right after another 10 km before an old klip kraal, passing through various farm gates along a range of dual-track and dirt road options. From here you can either drop down via Cameron’s Hoek or Buffelskloof, with the latter connecting onto Skelmkloof and a spider web of farm trails.
Escape to Ribbok Valley and wake up to the sound of guinea fowl greeting the African dawn, and look forward to a day filled with outdoor adventure on a remote working farm set amidst the sprawling mountains of the (other) Baviaans River.
Go dirt track jamming on a network of single-tracks, jeep tracks and farm roads, running the gamut of big time drop-offs, g-force downhills and erosion ruts. Start off Silverbrook and turn left onto the Bedford/Tarkastad gravel road. After 3.4 km head right through a gate signposted 'Buffelskloof' and climb along a rugged farm road towards Bloemhof Farm. At 12.9 km, turn right at the Buffelskloof sign, passing through four gates and onto a steep acacia ridge. Look out for a jeep track to your right after 17 km and bang along this faint track atop a grassy plateau for 2 km before dropping down onto the opposite side of the spur. The next couple of kilometers will see you drop a good 300 m along an eroded rock and gravel switchback, liberally sprinkled with acacia thorns. Once you hit the valley, blast along a speedy road with great corrugation jumps until you join the Bedford road again near Silverbrook Farm.
Huntly Glen Farm Trails
Huntly Glen is a “working” farm, situated in the foothills of the Winterberg Mountains, approximately halfway between Bedford and Tarkastad. It is an original Scottish Settler farm, and is still owned by 5th generation Pringles. It offers trail running, hiking, bird watching and mountain biking for the active crowd or you could just come and relax and enjoy uninterrupted views across the mountains and valleys.
There is plenty of game and over 200 recorded species of birds, as well as two breeding pairs of Black eagles to be seen. Huntly Glen is the meeting place of four different vegetation biomes, so the terrain is comprised of scrub and thorn veldt in the lower regions, as well as riverine thickets, changing into savannah and grassland as one goes higher in altitude. It is mountainous, with some areas being extremely rocky, so this makes for some challenging running, hiking and mountain biking.
Bliss out on a network of farm roads and tracks that criss-cross 7 000ha of unspoilt nature waiting just for you! There are 5 circular routes. The Bushkloof trail is 12 km long and heads over some steep mountainous terrain, with plenty of “ups and downs”. When nearing the top of the mountains, look out for Cycadefolias growing on the rock ledges. This is the endemic Winterberg Cycad that grows in a very restricted area in these mountains.
The longest trail takes you over one of the highest points of the farm and down into the valley called Damon’s Kloof. It is quite a climb back out of the valley, but then it is basically flat or downhill back to the farm house. This trail is 20km if you follow the road back to the farm house, but if you want to add on the Eland and Hartebeest camp route this would add another 5km onto your run.
The third trail is shorter. It goes through the Hartebeest camp and then back through either Mill Kloof or down the valley separating Baboon Kop from Calf Camp. The fourth trail runs through Eland Camp, Hartebeest Camp and back to the farm house and is relatively easy with just one rocky section over a stream to negotiate. Trail number five is a 4 km flattish run.