When it comes to hiking in South Africa, there is no shortage of trails to choose from. Even briefly scrolling through Instagram will provide you with endless inspiration for your next hike.
Being inspired to go out and hike on the weekend is all very well, but fear of the unknown can get the better of us: Where do I start? How long will it take? What if the weather turns? We get it – there are plenty of factors that can lead us to rather reach for the TV remote rather than our hiking boots.
Instead of shying away from your next memorable hiking adventure, Forge and Hi-Tec have partnered to help you explore with confidence. Forge is South Africa’s free 100% Made in Mzansi hiking maps app. Packaged in a simple, easy-to-use library of parks and reserves, the app hosts over 5 000 km of hiking trails. The trails are hand digitized by the Forge crew, ensuring they are accurate and reliable. Each map includes all the useful information you need to know before you head out such as, entrance fees, opening times and Google Maps locations of the trailheads.
An accurate map is a vital hiking safety tool. Getting lost in the outdoors can put you and others in grave danger (and seriously spoil a fun day out!). The Forge App however, by showing your GPS location on the map helps ensure that you stay on the right path. Downloading the offline map of your chosen hiking area before you head out will ensure you can navigate even when you don’t have cell-phone network.
Now that you’re reassured knowing you’re unlikely to get lost with your Forge App as part of your hiking safety kit, you can explore with confidence. Although, a reality of hiking in the outdoors is that, no matter how prepared you might be, accidents happen and emergencies can occur. To give you piece of mind, each Forge map also includes the relevant emergency contacts that you can contact directly in the app (provided you have an active cell-phone network).
There’s never been a better time to start ticking off that hiking bucket list. Download the free Forge App – it’s time to Find Your Path and Explore More.
The Forge App is available on both Google Play and App Store.
*Active cell-phone network required.