Munich - Germany May 2008

I had a quick 2-day trip to Germany for work and while we walked around town, I was able to add a few birds to my list.

Kruger National Park birding May 2008

A 3-day trip to Kruger park, all on my lonesome, looking for some birds. I started in Pretoriuskop, then went to Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Crocodile Bridge and exited and Malelane gate.

Uitsoek hiking trail - May 2008

After work on Friday I drove over to the Newing’s place and arrived shortly after 17:00. I left my car there and we drove to Gordon’s cousin’s place to pick him up. We left Pretoria around 18:15. Not long before 20:00 we picked Nicola up in Middelburg and then drove through to the petrol station on the N4 at the Belfast turn-off where Darrell and Liza had a quick dinner – the rest of us had eaten before we left. We took the Schoemanskloof alternative to Waterval Boven But I didn’t notice that it was still called the N4 and mistakenly sent us on the R36 to Lydenburg. When we saw the Kwena dam turn-off I realized I made a mistake and we had to backtrack to the Schoemanskloof road. We looked for any signs to Uitsoek but didn’t see any. As a result we had to go all the way to the N4 and then take the R539 to Sabie/Sudwala. This road eventually turned into a dirt road which we followed for 10km before we saw a signpost to Uitsoek. Through the boom the road turned into tar again and we drove on this to the forest station where it turned into dirt again for the last section to the hut. We arrived well after 23:00 and were eager to go to sleep. We discovered other people were also there and there were no more mattresses for us. A little upset, we managed between one remaining mattress, as well as two that Nicola and Gordon brought, to sleep OK for the night.

Day 1 (10 May): I had a bit of a fitful sleep and got up when it grew light outside. I started packing up and the others soon joined me and we started breakfast. We were ready to go at 07:30 and off we went up the hill. Almost immediately we entered the pine plantation and despite the gentle uphill, we made very good progress. Initially one of the day walks followed the same route and when our trail inconspicuously split off, we didn’t notice it until Gordon, who was walking in front, returned without having seen any white footprints. Gordon retraced our steps for about 100m and then found the split – very indistinct. Gradually we gained height through the pine, until, at about 10:30, we emerged from the forest at the exact same spot I recall having missed the trail 10 years previously. This time however, the bushes were cleared and we could directly see the trail going up into the upper grass slopes of the escarpment. With Gordon and me in front we started gaining rapid height. We came across a small forested gully with clear running water and we sat down for a while. It was a beautiful and hot morning but a slight breeze gave just enough relief. We left the forested gully around 11:20 and soon afterwards came across a bigger gully with a very nice clear area where we decided to have an early lunch. After lunch we contoured around the mountain and then dropped into Clivia gorge. It was really beautiful and I was enjoying the hike tremendously. Climbing out of Clivia gorge was a little less pleasant, but when we eventually topped out, we had stunning views over the lowveld stretching into the distance. We crossed a small stream just before entering pine again and this gave some very welcome relief from the hot sun. We walked steadily until exiting the forest again and saw Lisabon hut right in front of us. It was just before 14:30. I had faint ideas about climbing Makobulwane, a ridge peak I saw when we topped out on the escarpment. However, arriving at the hut I was fairly tired and very lazy and decided to rather relax for the rest of the afternoon. Most of us went down to the river for a brief splash-down as the shower seems to have fallen into disrepair. We started the fire early as I wanted to eat at 6pm. We cut thin green branches from a young pine tree and used this as skewers to fry marshmallows. After dinner we sat around the fire for a short while but we all drifted to bed before 7pm and were soon fast asleep.

Day 2 (11 May): I got up soon after it started lightening outside. It looked to be a brilliant day and I got everyone out of bed. We had a quick breakfast and were walking by 07:15. We started through pine plantation again but soon emerged on the escarpment edge and contoured here for a fair distance with magnificent views to the east. A cool breeze was blowing and kept the sweat away. At about 3km from Lisabon hut, the path dropped through the top rock bands, descended first through grassland and then a young pine plantation before dropping into the lower reaches of Clivia gorge. Here our pace slowed a little as we enjoyed the beautiful green of the forest and the murmur of cascading streams. I remember our difficulties crossing the bridges 10 years ago vividly, but the wire they fixed to the bridges completely solved this problem and we experienced only one difficult bridge where one of the support beams has collapsed. The route through the forest eventually opened up slightly and we walked through more savannah type vegetation. In total, we crossed 19 bridges. This number excludes the bridge we crossed directly below Lisabon hut, as well as a small little wooden step built shortly after the first or second bridge in the forest. With everyone keeping to their own pace, the group split up but eventually all got back to the hut without problems. We all had a quick shower and were on our way back by 13:00.

Skywalk (Eastern Cape) May 2008

After work on Friday I drove to Karen’s place. From there we drove to Karen’s parents in Senekal arriving around 9pm. They offered us some delicious left-over food before we went to bed. We were up at 5am and gone by 6am, arriving without incident in Lady Grey around 11am. We went to the Mountain View Inn owned by the Oertels. We parked the Terios in the back and made sure we had all we needed. Shortly after, Otto Oertel showed up to take us through to Tiffendell. The drive was very pretty and we stared at the high mountains we were about to enter.

Day 1 (26 Apr): Otto dropped us off at Tiffendell and left for the long drive back. As we gathered our packs, Karen and Phil realized they left their ski-poles in the car. Phil quickly phoned Otto and luckily there was reception – Otto returned to drop off the ski-poles. It was cold. There was still quite a large amount of snow on the slopes after the snowfall of 21 May. A strong wind was blowing over the icy slopes and we started hiking with shell gear and beanies. We followed the Tiffendell dirt road to the upper ski-lift station and in places had to wade through knee-deep snow. When we arrived at the top we were greeted with a bitterly cold gale blowing from the north. We dropped our packs and walked over to the top of Ben MacDhui. It was a beautiful sight – mountains everywhere as far as you looked! Back at our packs we kept to the southern slopes to try and avoid the wind but it was not always possible. I had Breslin’s kop in my sights and this was just under 4km away. The walking was pretty easy at this stage and compared well to the Drakensberg escarpment. We made it to just below Breslin’s kop when I spotted a flat rocky slab about 20m below us. I walked down to it and discovered that it would make a good camping spot. We decided to first climb Breslin’s kop which was another 50m higher up. At the top we had magnificent views of the Witteberg range still in front of us, as well as all the Lesotho mountains to the north. At the campsite the wind was a little calmer and we pitched the tent at around 17:30 while getting the stove going as well. Soon we had dinner going and went to bed straight after.

Day 2 (27 Apr): The night was calm and we woke to a clear but cold morning. When the sun rose, it did not make much difference to the cold and by 07:30 we were on our way – dressed in a lot of warm gear. The wind still blew from the north but not quite as cold as the previous afternoon. Following the fence lines as far as possible, we made very good time initially, despite having to climb through fences a couple of times. As we approached Edge Hill we came across some kraals that I assume must be Basotho as we were still very close to the border. Phil inadvertently discovered the spot where we had to descend the main range if we were not able to cross Edge Hill – this was as described by Dawn Green and Derek Odendaal. We still hoped to go across the top and climbed across a fence to traverse around the last hill to reach Edge Hill. There was a steep gully leading down to the northern slopes that looked like it could work. I still walked further along the ridge and discovered that we would not be able to descend the ridge directly as it was a sheer 50m drop. Back at the gully we discussed our options for a while: Karen and I thought it was possible but certainly were apprehensive about how things looked on the other side. Phil did not like the look of the summit ridge of Edge Hill. After 5 minutes we decided to play it safe and descend the range. We returned to the point where Phil had started descending and walked down to a gate in the fence on a nice bridle path. We decided to have lunch immediately beyond the gate and we watched the valley below us as we ate. Soon after lunch we packed up and descended. The path was still covered in snow in places and the walking was interesting. The path disappeared on approaching the saddle between Point 2404 and the summit ridge but we managed to pick it up again lower down. At the bottom we decided to follow Derek’s advice to stick high up against the mountain but this proved to be rather difficult with large patches of thick fynbos, including thorny rose hip, confusing cattle paths and endless numbers of fences we had to cross. Our progress was very slow in this section; so much so that I decided at one point to rather go down to the road and walk from there, even though it would take us much longer. We started walking south towards the farm road but 100m lower down it seemed like the undergrowth opened up and we decided to have another go at traversing west along the mountain base. Things went a little easier now but it was getting late in the day. Past 16:00 I started aiming for a little bush in the distance and when we arrived at about 16:45, we found a pretty decent campsite to use for the night. Our water was a little low but Karen judged it to be enough. We pitched the tent while the stove was going and after dinner soon crawled into bed. During the night it dripped a little but when we got up the next morning, the tent was dry.

Day 3 (28 Apr): We left again at around 07:30 with a perfectly clear sky above. We had a good walk down the ridge and towards the road that crosses Lundin’s neck. We followed a number of good cattle paths and eventually made it out to the road. Phil complained a little about his right knee and Karen’s boots were crushing one of her little toes. I aimed for a gully we could see in the distance that goes up about 1.5km south of Balloch Peak – this was also as described by Derek. I reached a point where I thought we should start climbing. Phil and Karen were both struggling to keep up and as we reached a small stream, they proposed that I hike up on my own to climb Balloch Peak if I wanted to and then wait for them as they get up the gully at their own pace. This sounded like a good idea as the weather looked very good and I really wanted to get up Balloch. The walk up on the ridge approaching the gully was steep and hot in the morning sun. I had to get across a fence on my own before struggling through thick grass to the bottom of the gully. The gully was very steep and for some reason I felt very tired going up it. Sitting down numerous times, I occasionally spotted the other two making their way below me. I finally reached the top at 11:50 and was absolutely exhausted. I decided not to have lunch yet, and immediately took some water and started walking up towards Balloch Peak. Even without the pack the going was hard as my blood sugar dropped but I finally reached the top. The views were really brilliant but I must admit that my exhaustion took precedence and after a few quick pics, I was back on my way down, reaching the pack at 12:50. I immediately started eating lunch and felt very shaky with low blood sugar. At around 13:05, Karen and Phil arrived at the top and they sat down for a brief rest – they had lunch in the pass. From the top of this gully we then walked a little uphill to where we crossed another fence and then struggled through thick grass to a stream where we got some good water. From here we followed a cattle path that angled uphill and topped out on a ridge leading towards a high plateau. With my legs still a little shaky, I stuck to the back. Heavy clouds started to build up and we were all very tired. On the ridge, a bitterly cold wind blew in, and with the sun starting to go behind the clouds, we had to dress warmly. As we approached the plateau/saddle where I thought of camping we had to drop quite a bit of height to avoid crossing and re-crossing a fence. At the bottom of this section a lot of cattle have trampled the earth into mud and just as we started crossing this section, it started to drip lightly. It was very cold and we hurried on to a rocky section just below the saddle summit where we decided to pitch the tent – it was 15:30. We didn’t get quite as far as I had hoped for the day, but it was a tough day and we were all very tired. We agreed that we would get up at 05:00 the next morning. Dinner was done before 18:00 and immediately after we were all ensconced for the night.

Day 4 (29 Apr): We were up at 05:00 and on our way shortly after 06:00. The skies cleared up early in the evening and we had heavy frost all around. We walked barely for 10 minutes before my feet were soaked. It took us a while to climb onto the ridge behind our campsite but we made the ridge shortly after sunrise and made good progress towards Point 2599. Here we ran into a very nasty fence – the bottom two thirds were covered in chicken wire and the four upper wires were spaced too close to climb through. The barbs on the top wire were so close together that you couldn’t even put your hands on it! Finally across, we had to descend a steep and thickly overgrown gully to get to the ridge connecting Point 2599 to the rest of the range. We ran into an even nastier fence that was on a very steep slope. We struggled a lot here and ended up on the other side of the fence with a lot of holes all over us from the barbs. Finally on the ridge we made better time and eventually walked up to what looked like an abandoned hut in the Skiddaw valley area. From here we contoured on the inside (northern slope) of a large bowl where we were able to collect some water – from here we could see the ridge starting to sharpen ahead of us and we knew that water was going to become a little scarce. As we approached Trig beacon 217, clouds had started to move in again and the wind blowing from the north was very cold. We made it to the Trig beacon at about 11:00, took some pictures and started to traverse the next section on the northern slope. The ridge before Avoca peak started to rise and sharpen and we could see several dragons’ back shaped sections that looked a little scary. Just before 12:00 we sat down for an early lunch just before the first serious climb to the altitude of Avoca. We used the opportunity to dry the tent and flysheet from the previous night’s frost. Then we started climbing and came to a few interesting spots – the fence made life difficult as it forced us to walk over exposed sections and traverse past large drop-offs. But we had a steady approach and made good progress over difficult terrain. After crossing a steep, snow-covered southern slope beneath a shark-fin outcrop, we descended to a saddle and tackled the next section on the northern slope. Gaining height on this slope until we reached the summit, we topped out on a spectacular ridge that was only 1m wide in places with the mountains falling away on either side – it was magnificent! We gained steady altitude and I climbed to another Trig Beacon (226) just before the start of Avoca peak’s slopes. From here we decided to traverse low on the northern slopes of Avoca which turned out to be a little overgrown in fynbos. But we progressed well and I discovered a reasonable campsite just after 4pm, about 500m north of the actual summit of Avoca peak. As the sun set, clouds and mist moved in from the south and we had a very colourful sunset. The views to the north were beautiful and as we ate dinner, the wind also subsided and eventually died in the early night.

Day 5 (30 Apr): With clear skies we once again had heavy frost during the night. We decided that Phil, who were still having trouble with his right knee, would traverse the northern slopes of Avoca by himself while Karen and I climb Avoca peak. We would then meet up again on the ridge leading west from Avoca. We had a bit of a late start and were only away shortly after 7am. Karen and I climbed well and arrived at the summit about 25 minutes later. We were greeted by the most amazing view over the southern valleys. Cloud covered most of the hills below 1900m and the view was so awe-inspiring that I got tears in my eyes – I decided that Avoca’s summit ranks within the top 5 summits I have reached so far. We descended again over some rocky sections and as we approached the ridge, we saw Phil walking in the distance. On the ridge, early morning cloud had moved in and the wind from the north was once again below freezing. We covered up with shell gear, beanies, balaclavas and gloves and struggled against the cold wind. As we only had about 8km to cover to reach Snowdon, I wasn’t in a big hurry. The two Snowdon annexes kept us busy but it wasn’t long before we sat down for lunch, hiding behind a rocky outcrop on the ridge leading directly to Snowdon. Snowdon is a magnificent hill with two Trig beacons on the northern and southern ends, ringed with a rock band of about 10m tall. After lunch we headed towards its southern slopes and came across a decent campsite for the night. We all wanted a nice long break and we rested well for the rest of the afternoon. Initially I thought about doing the 12km round-trip to Graskop on my own, so that we could head south west towards Pelion the next day. But I felt lazy and decided to only climb Snowdon for the afternoon. At 14:00, Karen and I left for the walk to the top. I wasn’t sure where we would be able to breach the rock band but as we approached it, I saw a pretty easy ramp leading to the top which we quickly scaled. We walked to both beacons and took a bunch of pics before descending back to the tent. We spent dusk watching the beautiful play of colours on the valleys to the north and eventually went to bed, feeling ready for the last two days.

Day 6 (01 May): When I poked my head out of the tent at 05:00, I couldn’t see a thing – we were covered in mist. Our plan was to walk to Pelion peak and from there descend a ridge towards the tip of Joubert’s pass. We packed the wet tent slowly to make sure we start walking when it was light. At about 06:15 we were on our way and I navigated by GPS. When we reached the ridge I thought will lead to Pelion, we all decided that it would be better if we descended immediately to the farm road Karen and I had spotted from the top of Snowdon. This would mean we miss out on Pelion peak but would also mean we get off the mountain – we were concerned that there may be snow in the air. I struggled finding the track in the heavy fog, even with GPS, but I kept heading downhill until we ran onto a thin track that had bright orange markers on it. This we followed until it turned into a cattle track that started heading due south – and we were supposed to go due west. I then headed off the track on the GPS, lost some more height and then descended a steep grassy slope on its southern flank – this brought us into a deep valley and at the bottom of this we ran into the track again. This time however, it was much broader and very obviously a bulldozed road. We were happy to be finally on something recognizable and after a brief stop, we headed down this road. The road ran down some pretty steep inclines and we walked past a bulldozer being used on the track. The road dropped steeply down to the river where we crossed at a little drift and started taking off a few layers – the clouds and fog had started to clear slightly and although the sun poked out occasionally it was still pretty cold. A little later we heard some noise coming up the road and a girl on a quad bike and a guy on a scrambler came past. We chatted briefly and the guy explained we still had about 3km to go to an empty farmhouse. Shortly after chatting to these people, another larger group came past on scramblers, quads, and what we later learned, a Polaris buggy. We chatted to them as well and later found out it was Dick Eistedd, his wife and some family and friends going up for the day. The farmhouse we eventually reached and sat down for some biscuits and water. Then we were on our way again and at long last reached the road of Joubert’s pass just after 12. We walked down to where the road crossed the Karnmelkspruit and sat down for lunch. We had already walked about 16km for the day and our feet were sore. While the tent and flysheet dried in the wind, I boiled some water for Karen and Phil’s lunch. I settled for biscuits, chocolate and biltong. At around 1pm we hit the road again at a steady pace, walking a good 4km before having a brief break. A lady came past while I was walking out in front; Phil and Karen spoke to her and she apparently invited us in for coffee if we walked past Olympus farm. Another 30 minutes passed and we were starting to feel really tired. We checked the map and noticed that we were already on the Olympus farm area. We followed the road and came to the entrance to the farmhouse. Deciding to take the lady up on her offer, we walked in and knocked on the door. The whole family greeted us and immediately offered us some coffee. We chatted some time before I asked if they knew about some place along the way we could pitch our tent – they immediately offered their place for sleeping and we gladly took it up. Maureen showed me around and I then also met her husband, Leo. The whole family consisted of Leo and Maureen Reid, Maureen’s mom Dorothy and Leo and Maureen’s daughter Kerry-Anne as well as her two children Philippa and Catherine. Leo showed me pictures of Mozambique and told me he used to date the daughter of Brian Godbold – he used to climb with him as well. We enjoyed the afternoon of chatting tremendously and later went out to pitch the tent and get ready for the night. The three of us agreed we wouldn’t accept dinner if it was offered to us but when Maureen invited us, she refused to take no for an answer. We couldn’t decline and the food was delicious. We sat around the fire in the lounge until after 9pm before thanking them, saying goodbye and going to bed.

Dat 7 (2 May): Phil woke at around 03:45 and asked softly who else was awake. I was awake as well and tired of sleeping. I suggested we start walking and this idea caught on very quickly. At 04:30 we were on the road – literally. We had about 19km to walk for the day and intended to walk a good distance before breakfast. There was some moonlight and we were able to walk without torches. It was chilly in the morning air but I enjoyed this walking very much and we made excellent progress. Shortly before 6am we stopped to have breakfast. It was still pretty dark but the stars had started to fade. We sat in the middle of the road, got the stove out and boiled water for breakfast. I had two really nice cups of coffee with salticrax but I started getting cold and at about 06:30 we were walking again. Soon we hit the incline that goes towards the summit of Joubert’s pass – third highest in South Africa. I walked a little faster and got to the neck first where I sat down, looking out towards Lady Grey – it was a beautiful morning and I felt very sentimental at this point. Karen and Phil arrived shortly and we started on the remaining 8km or so. I took my time down the pass but still went ahead of the other two and started singing and whistling as I went. We finally arrived in Lady Grey and got to the hotel at about 11am. We sat on the stoep and had a drink before going up to our rooms. The shower and shave was wonderful. Then we met again for lunch – Phil and I have been looking forward to a steak for a whole week!