Kgaswane Mountain Reserve (Magaliesberg) Aug 2004

Everyone joined up at varsity before 3pm and we were soon on our way. We drove through town onto the toll road and then over the dam wall. We stopped at Damdorein to get some drinks for the weekend. The road to Rustenburg flew past and before we knew it we were there. The entrance was fairly easy to find but it was quite a mission to sign in. Eventually we were granted access and we drove off to Naga camp. The reserve was quite pretty despite the winter colours. We drove around the large marshy area in the middle onto a fairly rocky road to the camp itself. It was not long after we arrived that Corné showed up and our group was complete. Gordon and I started immediately with the fire and we enjoyed a lovely dinner around the fire. We only went to bed after 9pm.

Day 1 (14 August): We rose early and had breakfast. We left the camp just before 8am. The sun was already quite warm for winter and I regretted not looking harder for my hat at home. The path was fairly distinct and the footprints showed the way over the rocky areas. It first wound up and down the side of the back of the hills facing south. We stopped for a breather in a small gorge before climbing up to a low saddle. We saw a Verreaux's eagle soar over the vast expanses south of the range and took some pics before returning to our packs. The path continued further upwards before eventually descending down to the Tierkloof pools and a magnificent waterfall. We decided to have an early lunch here. It was an awesome spot and we spent more than an hour looking around and enjoying the scenery – Chris even braved the cold water for a swim. The waterfall was about 40m tall and the cliffs next to it would have made ideal abseiling was it not for the virtually impossible route back out. I reckoned it would be quite challenging and good fun if you were able to abseil down past the waterfall and continue down the gorge to see where it ends up. We left just after 12pm. The path climbed up a distinct ridge and followed the upper contours where we spotted first a lone sable antelope, then a waterbuck, and not long after, an eland. It was fairly hot at this time despite some high fuzzy clouds moving through. Past the ridge we came onto the main plateau, crossed the main road in the reserve and ascended with a long detour the main ridge on the northern side of the reserve. At a point the path split and while I told the rest of the group to continue along what seemed an easier way to get around the ridge, I continued up. I walked past a trig. Beacon and onto the next saddle. I discovered there was no path joining up with the one I was on. I left my pack and jogged back to find the rest of the group. I found them resting below the summit of the hill; they have come to a dead end on the path and I realized it must have been a viewpoint. I showed them the way back up and we all got back onto the path. We soon walked past a sign that indicated the hut to be only 2km away – I was a bit surprised as I expected the hut still to be a good 3km away. We started descending steeply down a wooded gorge along a rocky and dangerous path. The 2km marking fired on the faster walkers and they were soon no more than dusty footprints. The rest of us had another quick break as we entered the acacia forest. We followed the path and saw the 1km mark not long before the path split to the two separate camps. According to the signposts we had less than a kilometre to go but as we walked we realized the path to be considerably longer. The path kept on winding through tall grass and then joined up with a gravel access road that went up a steep little hill before descending to the hut. We arrived at the hut quite exhausted and a bit annoyed at the distance having been indicated wrongly. But the sight of a beautiful setting of three steeped wooden huts on stilts made us forget all this and we sat down for a well-deserved break. We all had lots to drink and a good rest in the afternoon before starting the fire around 16:30. Dinner was good and we chatted the early evening away. At 9pm most of us went off to bed.

Day 2 (15 August): We got up a little later and were away just after 8am. The path barely gave us time to warm up sore muscles before it started climbing steeply up the hills west of us. Despite a few flat and downhill sections, the path continued steadily upwards and we stopped now and again for a breather. When it looked like the worst of the climbing was over we crowded in the shade of a tree for a good rest. Most of Rustenburg was lying below us and we spotted five hikers on a slope opposite us. The path still climbed although at a much easier angle than before. We went past a dry Zebra dam where four eland tried to escape our cameras. Following the path that wound next to the trickling stream, we also spotted a lone waterbuck. After winding next to the little stream for about 300m the path veered away towards the escarpment and we headed straight for a lone tree on the edge where we had a nice rest in the cool wind that had picked up. In the distance we could see the trig beacon that marked the highest point in the reserve. The walk to the beacon was quick and we took a couple of mugshots before descending steeply down the escarpment. This was quite unexpected as I was quite sure the path would stick to the upper slopes of the escarpment. But the path wound down to a grassy slope about 50m below the escarpment. At the time, Florian and I were walking in front. We frightened two large eland into fleeing through the thick undergrowth. We waited for the rest of the group to join up and then climbed steeply back to the escarpment. The path then continued to wind its way through a few rocky sections before aiming for the flats towards the camp. We sat down beneath one of the last trees to have a quick lunch. The GPS said we were 1.6km away from camp and not long after we started walking again, we spotted the green watertank in the distance. Then we all bee-lined for it and were back at Naga just after 1pm. Most of us washed our faces before packing up and leaving for a well-deserved drink in Rustenburg.