Naukluft Olive Trail — Attraction in Hardap

Beautiful hike! The landscape and nature are absolutely stunning!

You should not, however, underestimate it, especially when it is hot. There is very few short spots in the shade and sunscreen as well as a lot of water are a must-bring.

My girlfriend and I are relatively young, frequent hikers, with a good deal of experience in the Alps, and when we did the trail, it took us pretty much the exact time given to us at the office by the ranger, including some smaller breaks. This was, if I recall correctly, around four hours. If this seems rather short, we were nonetheless quite exhausted, which I would attribute to the heat (we hiked in October).

I would not recommend this to someone who has no hiking experience, you do need some basic fitness to complete the trail in a reasonable amount of time. There are also some more scrambly parts on the trail (not just the chain) which are not particularly complicated or exposed, but you should be safe on your feet and once again a little experience is helpful.

The chain itself (we were told only the right one was usable, the other one being loose) is again not particularly difficult, but you need to be comfortable with trusting your weight to it in some exposure (around 2m) over a pool you definitely don't want to dip into.

To sum up: It is absolutely worth it, but as with every hike, consider your limits carefully, and plan...

What a beautiful trail. Anyone saying this trail is boring doesn't know what he's talking about. The beginning is going up offering plenty of stunning views around the mountains and then the trail descends into a spectacular canyon where challenging parts require you to remain focused on where you step. They do warn you about the chains and the lady at reception wanted to convince us not to take the trail as I had my 8-month old with me but since we are experienced hikers, we did it anyway together with my parent sin their sixties. Yes, the chains are there but you can easily hold onto them and have good foot steps if you take the right side. Just one to two meters is a tricky one where you only have small ledges for your feet. If you're afraid of heights or don't do challenging hikes with chains usually, do not attempt this trail. Take plenty of water along and take rests to enjoy the views and nature. It took us just under five hours including stops for the baby to play and us to have lunch along the way. Will...

This is a HIKING trail. Not a walk. A you-will-be-scrambling-rocks trail. If you are not feeling well or are pregnant, I would highly recommend you do the first half to the plateau and then turn around.

I also recommend hiking shoes for this trail and not generic sneakers. The rocks on the latter half of the trail are very loose and if you have weaker ankles, expect some falls with regular running shoes.

Also beware there is one part towards the end where just taking off your shoes altogether will make things much easier. So make sure you know how to throw or have room in your pack for your shoes.

Also when we were hiking this trail, there was no one else there. Service is also non existent so if you don’t feel safe, again turning around at the plateau is...