After spending most of the day birding at Roodeplaat dam, I drove through by myself at about 1.30pm, arriving at about 3pm. After taking my pack with all my hiking stuff to the camp, I returned to the car to fetch my laptop and a few other things. Back at the car I did some birding while waiting for the others. When they didn’t arrive by 5pm, I walked back to camp and completed my birding list for the day on the laptop. It wasn’t long after when the rest of the team showed up. We started the fire and then celebrated Shirley’s birthday with some champagne. After dinner we chatted till about 7pm before we hit the bed.
Day 1 (28 Jun): Under the trees, it took some time for the sunlight to filter through – consequently we probably only got up around 7am. We packed quickly and I took a quick walk back to the car to drop my laptop and other things I didn’t feel like carrying. George, Eddy and Brian also walked back to the car soon after. At around 8.30 we started on the same trail I did almost 4 years ago. Shortly after we started climbing we came upon a little kudu calf lying on the path. It was very much alive and we first thought it was caught in a snare or broke a bone or something. Shirley mentioned putting it out of its misery but then George and Eddy thought that it might just be struggling to get up. George got it by the back and heaved it up and all of a sudden it found its legs and bounded away in the undergrowth – we were happy that we managed to help the little one. We eventually made it up the seemingly endless incline, headed past the zebra dam and then up towards the trig beacon where we arrived at about 11am. We had a bite to eat before carrying on. Just before descending down the escarpment, a group of four came walking on the path towards us. They had started from Naga that morning, but I thought they should’ve done it in the opposite direction. I took the lead and soon I was ahead of the rest. My feet were getting a little sore as I ascended back to the top and as I approached the Secretary bird plains I decided to have a short break to rest my feet. George and Eddy soon came walking up and I took the lead again with George following. We first saw the green water tank in the distance and about 1km further, walked into camp – it was 1pm. We rested easy the afternoon. Brian started the fire early to heat up water for the showers and during the course of the afternoon we all had a hot bath/shower. I started cooking my mealies and onion early and at 5pm had a really nice dinner of mealies, onion and boerewors. At 17.30 we were all ready to go to bed and I read for a short while before dozing off.
Day 2 (29 Jun): We were up before the sun and ready to go by 7.30. There was a slight but chilly wind blowing so I kept my top on. I took the lead with the intention of resting my feet properly along the way. I walked an hour and then reached the little kloof where a ladder descends into it. At the bottom I sat and waited for about 15 minutes before the others arrived. Then I was off again and walked well until I reached Tierkloof waterfall. My feet had started to become a sore but it wasn’t killing me yet. Either way, the others were still some time away so I scrambled up the other side, took my boots off and sat baking in the sun. Twenty minutes later the others arrived. Eddy and Shirley clambered down to the waterfall but it wasn’t long before we started walking again. Once more I went out in front and made good progress up the first little ridge. George stuck close behind but after I crossed the plains and the car road, I pulled ahead. I climbed well up to Trig beacon 217, had a short break, and then moved on. I passed the four hikers we passed the previous day – they still had quite a way to go. Down into the kloof I sat down again just as I entered the forest. My feet were reasonably sore, but the brief rest of about 8 minutes or so made a huge difference. I got up before the others arrived and sped down the kloof to the bottom. After walking another 400m towards the hut, I had another short break to ease the pain from the kloof descent. I then realized that the road running next to the path will take me back directly to the car so I walked through a little bit of burnt veld and then got on the road for the last 500m. I reached the car at about 12:20. I only waited about 15 minutes for the others to show up. As I was close to home and eager to get back there, I said my goodbyes and left at 12:45.
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