Hunting Leopards with Harold

The History
During the 1930’s land in the Hangklip area between the Palmiet River and the Rooiels River was acquired by three business partners, namely Harold Porter, Arthur Youldon and Jack Clarence.  They called it the Hangklip Beach Estates.

After a fire in 1940 Harold Nixon Porter acquired an extensive tract of land in the Betty’s Bay area to develop a garden and private nature reserve.  He named it Shangri-la, meaning 'paradise'. After Harold Porters Death in 1958 the garden was renamed in his honor.

Entrance Fees:
Adults: R16 Senior Citizens: R10
Students: R10
Children: R6
Pre-school: Free



The Hike
Leopards Gorge
Difficulty:  Very Easy
Distance:  About 4km out and back.

Once you are inside the Harold Porter Park head towards the mountain. You will soon find a sign post indicating the start of the trail.

Just after you cross this beautiful little bridge you turn right and head towards the gorge that gives this fantastic little trail it's name.





On this hike we managed Stiaan's brother to come along with us. It was a beautiful day in late spring. The air cool with that unmistakable ocean freshness. It was definitely a good day to be alive. :)

Soon we came across a beautiful stream with a small pool. Perfect for stocking up on ice cold mountain water... and we never let such an opportunity go to waste.

The trail now enters its shaded section and stays this way until you reach your final destination. We were surrounded by beautiful indigenous trees with the stream to our left and the mountain to our right.

The gradient is not steep at all and most of the time you do not even realise that you are steadily climbing upwards towards the gorge. Every now and again you catch a glimpse of the ever present river as it pools into beautiful rust-colored dams of various sizes.

There are handy wooden step ladders to help you over the higher rocks making this a very easy hike acessible to even small children.

We passed waterfall after waterfall and pool after pool. Each one more beautifull than the previous. The water looked very inviting especially on a warm summers day. Unfortunatelly there are no swimming in any of these pools. :(