Cape Town was buffeted by a big storm this weekend that brought much needed rain and even snow to high lying areas.
These areas include the Koue Bokkeveld, Winterhoek, and Hex River Mountains around the Ceres Valley.
We went to have a look and even got stuck in a blizzard.
When you think of South Africa, snow is not the first thing to come to mind.
However, in winter, the lofty inland mountains often get snow when the conditions are right.
Matroosberg Mountains
The Matroosberg, part of the Hex River Mountains stands at 2,249 metres making it the second highest peak in the Western Cape mountains.
Here it often snows in winter and is one of the coldest places in the Western Cape.
There are even rudimentary ski slopes with a ski lift available for enthusiastic club members.
This isn’t quite the Alps but lots of fun for South Africans deprived of real snow for most of the year.
Located two hours outside of Cape Town, the Matroosberg mountain area is a popular destination when snow falls occur.
June to August is normally when weather conditions align properly and mountain tops are capped in white.
The working farm, Erfdeel, located on this mountain range has a number of great self-catering cabins and plenty of adventure activities as well, including one of the top 4×4 routes in the country (advanced route).
Water Worries Over?
What is interesting to note is that a large percentage of our water catchment in the Western Cape relies on this yearly snow event to help replenish dams levels.
With a lovely covering of thick snow, fast flowing rivers and bursting waterfalls on the drive through the mountains, all signs are pointing to a good amount of water being available in the warm summer months and hopefully no dry taps!
What this also means is that our river canyoning trips are going to be icy cold until it warms up and have a large amount of water coming down the channels.
If the cold and snow is not for you, then on the other side of the mountains is Inverdoorn Nature Reserve where you can go on a Big Five Safari and enjoy scenic views of this incredible Karoo landscape.
Visit our adventure pages for more fun activities in South Africa.