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The Tankwa Camino

The Tankwa Camino is a modern-day "Great Trek" which will take participants through one of the most starkly beautiful areas of our country, the Tankwa Karoo.

Inner strength and a strong mind will keep you on track, but "your emotions need to be as educated as your intellect. It is important to know how to feel, how to respond, and how to let life in... so that it can touch you" (Jim Rohn) – and what better place to allow life in? This is why the Camino is considered as much a spiritual pilgrimage as it is a test of physical endurance.

Hiking the Camino, the Tankwa desert will become your drug for ten days as you will walk through one of the most extraordinary landscapes in Africa, a landscape that beggars belief and that makes you realise God is indeed in all the detail.

This is a place where time and distance are stretched, where horizons dance and disappear, where every corner brings a startling new vista, but in that magical hour before dark, when the flat, harsh, grey and brown tones start turning to reds, purples and chocolate brown, you will vow to return.

Your epic Camino journey will take you through vastly different landscapes, a journey only imagined by many and one that will stay with you long after you've shaken the Karoo dust from your hiking gear.

 

 

The challenge to get up every morning for 10 days and take on an average of 27 km per day is a test of any hiker's ability. It is here where you discover your true self anew. The vastness of the region, though sheltered by mountain ranges, offers the most serene silence which will reverberate in your ears. It is here where the boundary between two provinces is crossed on the longest gravel road in South Africa, a road that connects two adjoining towns. Safety and old-world hospitality are an inextricable part of the Tankwa and its people. With the merest sprinkling of rain, a piece of scorched earth transforms into a theatre of floral beauty.

 

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Tankwa Camino Travelling Distance Information:

 

Day, Distance, From, Waypoint, To, Waypoint

 

1, 22.5,Calvinia, S31°47.532' E19°77.174', Boskloof, S31°38.741' E19°44.347'

 

2, 28.2, Boskloof, S31°38.741' E19°44.347', Kleinbrak, S31°51.652' E19°44.683'

 

3, 27.2, Kleinbrak, S31°51.652' E19°44.683', Witkloof, S32°04.512' E19°41.994'

 

4, 26.3, Witkloof, S32°04.512' E19°41.994', Onder-Stompiesfontein, S32°17.350' E19°39.671'

 

5, 28.3, Onder-Stompiesfontein, S32°17.350' E19°39.671', Witwalle, S32°31.481' E19°41.471'

 

6, 29.1, Witwalle, S32°31.481' E19°41.471', Grootdam, S32°46.503' E19°44.819'

 

7, 27.3, Grootdam, S32°46.503' E19°44.819', Beukesfontein, S33°00.455' E19°46.268'

 

8, 21.3, Beukesfontein, S33°00.455' E19°46.268', Karoopoort, S33°13.081' E19°42.207'

 

9, 31.4, Karoopoort, S33°13.081' E19°42.207', Rhodona, S33°17.916' E19°26.079'

 

10,15, Rhodona, S33°17.916' E19°26.079', Ceres, S33°21.555' E19°18.325'

 

Total = 256.6Km

 

T
and C's

PLEASE NOTE THAT REGISTRATION IS ONLY OFFICIAL ONCE DEPOSIT HAS BEEN RECEIVED AND IS MADE ON A FIRST-PAID, FIRST-SERVED BASIS!

 

A 50% deposit needs to be paid with registration to secure your place. (Payment will be required within two weeks at this point). The remaining amount will be collected 3 months ahead of the event.

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If you have registered during the previous year, your registration fee will be adjusted according to the calculated tariff for your specific trail.

 

Payment details (including an information pack with all the information you need about the Tankwa Camino) will be made available upon registration.

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Confirmed dates for 2023

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 1 - 10 September

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R 6285 pp.

 

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Confirmed dates for 2024

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 17 - 26 May

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R 7600 pp.

Tankwa Camino

Fees include the following:

 

  • Meet-and-greet dinner on the evening before the event

  • Transport of your belongings along the route

  • Support vehicles and a team that travels with hikers

  • Coffee/tea/milk/sugar in the early morning and after dinner

  • Snacks upon arrival at base camp each day (Boere high tea)

  • Dinner daily of potjiekos or braai, pot bread with kaiings/dripping (if available), syrup & homemade jams

  • Hot water will be available on arrival at each overnight camp for washing purposes.  You collect your own water out of the heating pots but are limited to 5 liters per day.  No showers are allowed.

  • Daily drinking water allowance

  • Tankwa Camino certificate

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All above is subject to change due to COVID 19 regulations.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

 

No transport before, during or after the event is included in the fee.

 

Transfers from Cape Town Airport to Calvinia and Ceres to Calvinia can be arranged upon request - the price will depend on demand.

 

Transport fees are subject to change annually.

 

Your Guest House stays are not included in the Fees.

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**If you have registered during the previous year, your registration fee, t-shirt and tent-pegs fees will be adjusted according to the calculated tariff for your specific trail.**  

Please contact us for our most recent rates

 

*If hiker prefers to move from one hike to another, a request must be made within two months before the event

registered for. Hikers will only get one chance to move from one hike to another. No refunds will be made after hiker cancels for a second time.

 

 

Our cancellation policy is as listed below (R50 admin fee will apply to ALL refunds):

 

Cancellation made 3+ months ahead of event - 50% Refund

Cancellation made within 2 months of event - 25% Refund

Cancellation made within less than 2 months of event - 0% Refund

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If a hiker prefers to move from one hike to another, a request must be made within two months before the event is registered for. Hikers will only get one chance to move from one hike to another. No refunds will be made after hiker cancels for a second time.

 

Please contact us for our most recent rates.

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