Tsitsikamma National Park is about 70 km east of Knysna, 20 minutes from Plett. We had gangs of fun, maybe this will whet your appetite.
Day Zero
Can be summarized in one word..... #*\@&% !!
Having arrived in Nature's Valley and doing supper at Kalender Hut I discovered I left all the fresh food in Cape Town. No ham, or salami or bacon. So supper for three of the four nights was currently rice and pasta <insert appropriate swearwords>. I suppose this is what happens when you only get to bed at 9:30am on New Years day and get up for lunch.
Day One
Started off by going to the little store in Nature's Valley for food.
Here I got Tuna for only R12,80 per tin (x2), Corned Beef for only
R13 per tin (x2) and 16 pork sausages, whose price I didn't want to know.
Ninety bucks later we were ready to hike. (As you fly through the air,
having just been kicked in the butt by the donkey, you think to yourself,
'So what can I learn from this?' I think the store is called Pick 'n Rip-off.)
On to the hike....
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Lynne swimming at the lunch pool.
It was overcast with occasional misty rain. Nuts. But they breed them tough
in Graaff Reniet.
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| Eventually Lynne got cold and needed
to eat something. Robert thought she was mad and had a short sleep instead.
I'm with Robert.
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The three ladies who risked their sanity to join us on the hike. Two have recovered but a third left the country. From left to right are Michelle, Lynne and Melody. |
| Once you remove the chicks, this is what you see from Blaaukrantz hut. Down below is a river that is very swimable. With sore shoulders and sore feet, and enthusiasm generally lacking, only Noel and Pete ventured down. |  |
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| Here I am, pondering the relationship between Heizenberg's Uncertainty Theory and the emotive psyche of a chainsaw, as well as when the hell are those bangers going to be ready to eat! |
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And here they are...with a glorious view. What more does one need? Porkers and rice with sauce. Braaied marshmellows for pudding. I suppose all that's missing from the picture is a bottle of the elixir of life... Coke. |
| This is the dumbest bushpig you'll ever meet. He/she just lay there and would bolt away when we approached. I managed to get close for the shot, probably because I smelled like a relative. We named it Barry the Bushpig and he was the butt-end of much laughter and jokes. |  |
Day Two
I didn't take any fotos on day two for some reason. Michelle may have, and if I get my paws on them, I'll put them up later. Probably because it was flipping hot, the hottest day of the hike. Even the staunch hikers in the other party took some strain. The biggest pool on the hike was here, about five kilometers into the hike. Had it been 5 km further on that would have been much better. We all swam. Needless to say Lynne spent the most time in the water. And that was day two.
Day Three
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| A panoramic view of where we came from, seen from the saddle between Klipbokkop and Elandskop, about four hours into day 3. And here I am, in an office...swearing, again. Michelle was not feeling too well at this stage, but lived, and even perked up a bit when we split up her pack. |
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This is Robert. He's from Kenya. He's studying Engineering Management at UCT. That's Peak Formosa behind him. |
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| End of Day Three and here we are, slumming it at the pool at Heuningbos. Apparently there used to be a Heuningbos (honey tree) somewhere nearby. We couldn't find it. Noel's in the hat, Pete with the white towel, Chris with the checked towel and Melody soaking up the sun. Can you find Robert? |
| It was the 5th Jan and that was
Chris' birthday. So we prepared a gourmet meal for him of tuna and mussels
with mushrooms and mushroom sauce on spaghetti. And for pudding we
did marshmellows dipped in melted Bar One sauce. Nyum nyum! Michelle is
dishing up and Chris is watching nervously.
In fact our creation was so interesting, the other group even took a
foto of it. We're thinking of selling the idea to the Mount Nelson as the
Meal of the New Millenium.
Pete and Robert almost came to blows rushing for the food. Chris, in the background, just had a huge burp and scored a glorious four through the covers. |
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Day Four
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| Chris is pointing to where we are headed. The climb from the hut to where this shot was taken is 200 m, then down into the valley (a 250 m decent). Then up to the saddle, whose height is about 740m above sea level, this final climb being about 320 m. Yes folks, we do this for fun. |
| Made it!! Michelle coming up the
last 10 meters with Mel a bit further back. The saddle in the background
is where we came from.
That's Lloyd se Kop on the right. The one on the left had no name on
the map, so Chris and I thought we would grace it with the enviable name,
Chris
se Kop. We thought it may just be big enough.
It was downhill from here to the lunch spot on a river. Chris, Noel, Michelle and I ran down most of the way down. As we rushed passed Robert, I'm sure he said something about stupid South Africans. |
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| Just before you get to Sleepkloof hut, there is a sign that says "Waterfall". We eagerly rushed down and were greeted by what could best be described as a "Watertrickle". Then during supper we had an awesome thunderstorm. This attempt at flash photography shows the change a downpour of 45 minutes can make. |  |
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This is group that had the misfortune
of hiking with us, foto taken at the final hut, Sleepkloof. If I remember
correctly, from left to right are, Leon, Shane, Steven, Natalie, Adrianne,
Andrew, Allistaire and seated is Mom. Leon rocketed to Hero status when
he took a quiet stroll to the take-out point and brought back Coke, amongst
other stuff. Allistaire, and Michelle were the trendoids of the hike.
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| And this is us. From left to right:
Michelle, me, Pete (crouched) Lynne, Mel, Chris, Robert and Noel on the
floor.
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And that's that. A fantastic hike with great people.
Cheers, Chris.
