Suikerbosrand ~ Beginners Backpack
26th to 28th August 2011
By Bertha Lazarus
Participants: Edward Grant, Cynthia Webber, Bertha Lazarus. Unfortunately Lee and Tonie had to cancel at the last minute. A pity no beginners actually participated.
On Friday at about 14h00, we had all arrived at Suikerbosrand and added the last few items to our packs, before commencing our great trek to the overnight hut, Blesbok. The lady at the reception knew about our booking, but was very unsure whether we had paid or not. After a long and slow process reconciling payments, the two groups, Alex and Kevin, Bertha and Cynthia, set off to the various huts, saying goodbye to each other at the first split after hiking 1,6km’s.
Alex and Kevin were on their own for two nights and their first day’s walk was 4,7 km’s, and our group’s walk was 5.6 km’s. Our group grew from two to three on Friday evening, as Edward had been running late and only got to the Blesbok Hut around six o’clock. After his arrival we collected some loose pieces of wood for a small fire as no wood had been delivered to the hut - we scouted around for small pieces of wood to just heat some food and boil the big kettle for washing up and a warm shower. We settled in at 20h00 as we wanted to leave quite early the next morning.
On Saturday morning, we set off on a loop of 7,6km’s to the Steenbok Hut. En route we had a few water breaks as it was very hot and we did not want to dehydrate ourselves. We took only two litres of water each thinking that we would refill at Steenbok, where we had lunch, but discovered that there was no water available. After taking a lunch break of about half an hour, we set off on the next part of our hike of 6,5 km’s to the Springbok Hut, where we were to sleep that evening. On the way, Edward injured his left foot/ankle and our progress now became quite slow, as he limped along. Luckily it had now cooled down, but so had his foot, which by now was quite sore. Taking it easy to the top of Kudu’s Kloof and having had a few stops, the climb became very hot, our water also now started running low, but we luckily did have enough to reach the hut. An old hiking rule – always take too much, rather than too little. We saw quite a variety of game along the way - eland, rooi hartebeest, springbok, baboons, black wildebeest and so on.
When we reached the junction at the pylons, Edward said that we should go ahead and not worry about him. Going on ahead, we quickly hiked to the overnight hut and got some water. Bertha ensured that Cynthia was okay, dropped her pack and went back to help Edward to get to the hut. She gave him water and then assisted him by carrying his backpack to the hut and in so doing, he easily managed to get to the hut. That afternoon after having a shower, the three of us settled in. I once again had to burn more energy and walked to the top of the entrance road to get a cellphone signal and sent a message to Tonie, who was to join us at the hut on Sunday morning early. Unfortunately, no hiking for Tonie on Sunday, as I asked him to bring the car to the service road and collect Edward at the hut in the morning. Cynthia and I would then be starting our walk back to Diepkloof at 8h00 and we would meet him there. That night we fell asleep to the call of jackals.
On Sunday, Cynthia and I started the hike back to the vehicles and then saw a sight! Edward had become impatient and started hiking back on the road. Tonie did not see him so he drove down on the double cement tracks to the hut. He got a call from Edward to turn around, but there was no way that he could do so with all the rocks around and therefore had to proceed all the way to the hut before he could turn the vehicle around. Why did he take so long, as he only arrived at the hut just before 9h00? You have to drive 90% of the game drive, at 40km per hour, that’s why! Also, he knew the hiking map, but not the road map! The hiking map shows where the huts are, but not the road map. Combining the two, he figured out where the Springbok Hut should be and then drove even slower, looked out for the access road. After picking Edward up, he drove to Diepkloof, where they met Alex and Kevin, who had already returned their overnight huts keys and were on their way home.
Sorry for those who did not come and join the two groups at Suikerbosrand – being so close to home and with such good weather, you missed out on a great weekend!
Thank you to those who were there. I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did. Happy hiking and good health and see you soon. Keep hiking!
Bertha.
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