SANTIE GOUWS MOUNTAIN GUIDE

Santie invites you into the Mountains with her to see 'the far' from a-near... so as to share her love and passion for high Mountains and spectacular fynbos flowers... and mayhaps a cup of condensed milk tea..... 

'I first fell in love with Mountains 30 years ago when I started my engineering studies at Stellenbosch University. The town, surrounded by Mountains, offered exquisite weekend hiking escapes to the most beautiful fynbos flowers, highest mountain peaks, hidden waterfalls and deepest rock pools imaginable.

Since then I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to hike so many truly incredible routes, from Mt Taranaki, Mt Tongariro and Copland track in New Zealand, Mt Glittertind in Norway and the Piton des Neiges and Piton de la Fournais volcanoes on Reunion Island to name but a few abroad, to so many local specials like Sneeuberg, Wolfberg and Tafelberg in the Cederberg, Fonteintjiesberg above Worcester, Turret Peak, Swartberg, Groot Winterhoek and Table Mountain... my favourite still being the Jonkershoek hikes in the Mountains above Stellenbosch. 

Returning home from a life-changing 10-day solo hike across Reunion island in December 2019, I left a 25-year engineering career to pursue my long-felt passion of wanting to share the deeply revitalizing effect of immersing oneself in nature, especially when hiking across my beloved Western Cape fynbos-clad Mountains, with others, and qualified and registered as a full-time Professional Mountain Guide in March 2022.

Join me in my 'office' in the Mountains today, and enjoy some fresh water from a mountain stream, or mayhaps a cup of my now renowned rooibos and condensed milk tea ;-)'