So Tuesday we hit the mountains proper, taking a walk up to a local peak of about 2200m via a ridge and a number of rocky pinnacles. The ascent was surprisingly hard work, a combination of the humidity and a drop in fitness. We saw a decent amount of wildlife too, plenty of grasshoppers, a few deer, a lizard or two and on the way down, a family if baboons. The views from the top were spectacular of the Drakensburg Ridge rising to nearly 3500m and the Sani Pass leading to Lesotho, making the sweat bucket of an ascent worth the effort. Descending back to the road we came off piste, easily done since the maps are pretty simple and paths in distinct. We saw no-one all day.
Coming off the path, we could see the road a few hundred meters in front but between us and it was trial by sheer torture battling our way through shoulder high thorn bushes with centimetre long spines ready to tear your bare legs to shreds. And tear they did. There was absolutely no path and no obvious route so all we could do was try and bushwack our way through and grin and bear it. There was even a time we had to cross a small stream on a semi-rotten log surrounded by these lethal brambles. Bear Grylls eat your heart out aha. We made it to the road with cuts and scratches drawing blood but a memorable (if painful) adventure to end the day.
Back at the youth hostel, showered, we enjoy the incredible milkshake at the cafe and chilled with music, chess, cards and wine. A fantastic two days on a spur of the moment thing. That said there's so much more to do here and adventures to be had in the Drakensburg which warrant another visit to trek and explore with a 4x4.
We sit here this evening laughing and joking with a couple from Germany and a pair from Brazil. Meeting a lot of people from all over the world lately, I kind of expected to see a lot of Germans on this trip though. Absolute highlight of our little excursion here is playing cards with foreigners, turns out Germans are pretty bad at lying when we play 'cheat'. Thomas and his girlfriend are here travelling for a month after she spent 3 months in an internship near Cape Town. It's abit sad we'll never see each other again but that's what travelling is about. It also very funny watching foreigners swear in English when they mess up. Childish humour I know but it's what a bottle of wine does to you. Oh look I just won a game :)
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