To which hut are we going tonight?

This is a continuation of the previous 2 posts about experiences leading up to and during the 6-day Amatola hiking trail.

It was the morning of the 5th day and I was fed-up, while lying in bed in Mnyameni hut featured in the banner thinking to myself that this hike is too long. I was not in a mood to get up, let alone hike. It was still dark but late (4:50 am). Now that might not sound late to you but the others got up at 4:30am. Soon somebody will sympathetically ask me if I am okay or something, which actually means (when translated into hiken-lish) ABRIE GET UP – YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE THE GROUP LATE. Or maybe Thomas would simply drag me out of bed – he has forearms bigger than Popeye’s and unlike Popeye the rest of his body is built in proportion to his forearms! That thought inspired Abrie to gather enough self-discipline to begrudgingly get his butt out of bed. The morning tasks lay ahead, cooking water for coffee and porridge and packing the megafters and thingamajigs (which he should have packed the previous night) assisted by the glow of the not so bright anymore headlamp. Well at least the headlamp had a not so bright buddy – Abrie!

⇓Underneath is the impressive bulk of the Hulk I mean Thomas – do not be fooled by that smile! On the far right is the music lecturer, Daniella, with the extensive repertoire of plant and bird knowledge, who I gossiped about in the previous post. But it is time to gossip about the lady in the middle: Tracy…⇓

One of the tasks which naturally befalls the person with camera in hand is taking a group photo each morning before we set off. I would normally attempt a remark aimed at bringing a smile to the lips to draw attention away from the eyes which are often still puffy from the night’s sleep – very kind of me if I may say so myself. This morning I announced that I am not in a mood for jokes and somebody else better say something if they want the photo smiling back at them. Immediately Tracy made a remark which appeared out of context by asking a factual question: to which hut are we going tonight? A few Zinguka’s were echoed helping the poor Tracey for not noticing the direction boards with the name clearly imprinted. Tracey confidently replied: no, we are going to Pizza hut and the whole group burst out laughing. Yes, you had to be there… to really understand. That evening Dan our man from Away with the Fairies was going to drop off Pizza among other things at Zinguka hence her naming it Pizza Hut. The answer was simply unexpected, and the way Tracey said it was exceedingly funny. Unfortunately no photo was taken right after she said it, but Jannie (of engineering an amazing weight loss fame) took the camera from me and here I grinningly stood next to Tracey. It was 5:59am at 6:00 am we were on our way, like each morning.

⇓See it clearly and repeatedly states Pizza Hut. Those who read anything else is obviously suffering from temporary adult illiteracy if not insanity. Schalk is Sandra’s son and being a Biokineticist the cloak of first aider fell on him as naturally as the cloak of photographer fell on me merely because I had a camera in hand. These photos became quite an institution. Schalk has proof he was at each hut. Schalk became a hero the previous day as he was able to get his mother accross the river – read on.⇓

On day 2, I became a victim of Tracy’s sense of humour as it was directed spesifically at me. It rained, fortunately only in the morning, but it meant that everything was slippery. Ahead was a round boulder protruding from the path (a miniature version of the one underneath). The wise hikers (i.e. everyone but me) walked around the rock, but I loudly proclaimed that it looks like “the moon or Mars” and decided to do a moon walk. No not the Michael Jackson type – I am not that silly – the one small step giant leap Neil Armstrong type. It turned out to be a giant fall. I slipped and fell forward and quickly had to turn to protect the camera dangling from my neck and I slid a meter or so down on my back and posterior end. Tracy observing the spectacle quickly judged that all vital health signs were still present and remarked: “well it seems as if you ended up on Uranus…”.

Amatola: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Amper daar (Almost there) hiking group. Its 6-day mission: to explore strange new worlds... well at least we found Uranus! Where is that damn Scottie he should be fired, he beamed me down not up.

Earlier on day 2 – dressed in the waterproof version of Josephs’s amazing technicolour dreamcoat

I concluded the previous blogpost by stating: The next tale will contain more tails as indeed we did wake up a few Inkanyamba’s (snakes and their tails make lovely tales). Underneath is a Boomslang (Tree snake) which is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world but does not easily attack humans. I heard a commotion up ahead and it was because Shairaz stepped on the rock the snake was lying on while crossing the river. Thomas (of Popeye fame) walking behind him did an elegant about turn as light footed as a ballerina despite his 160 plus kilogram (combined weight of him and his hiking bag). Sandra our birthday lady, the reason why we were hiking, immediately said she is not crossing the river as she has an extreme fear of snakes. Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures. I took my hiking stick and theatrically pointed it at the snake (as it would attack the stick first and therefore not Sandra) and in an imperative tone told Sandra’s son Schalk to the heck get his mother across the river. My “braveness” was in part inspired by necessity, but I could see that the snake was injured. While it did follow my every move with its head, the body did not move. A snake like this would normally move away when confronted with humans.

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And on the next day we were confronted by what I thought to be a Green Mamba, also a very poisonous snake and more prone to attack humans. This one was also in our path but sailed away into the tree when it saw us. When Sandra sent the photo on to snake experts it turned out to be a harmless Green water snake.

Photo credit Tyrone Ping http://www.tyroneping.co.za

Talking of snake experts. In the first of the series on the Amatola I mentioned that hiking gets Sandra into her comfort zone and takes her out of her comfort zone as she fears heights and as we learned snakes as well (snakes in high places would be her end!!). But this lady despite her fears or maybe bcause of it surprises us continiously. She is on her way to become a snake expert as she has recently done a course on snake identification. I asked her how she is going to identify the snakes if she runs away and her retort was that after the Amatola she is not going to run away. She has since also asked me to take her on a hike which would certainly be scary for somebody who fear heights. For the person because of whom the hike took place, the Amatola was certainly a catalyst for growth.

Amatola: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Amper daar hiking group. Its 6-day mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. After being confronted with the snakes I think we can tick of the new life mission.

And abruptly changing the topic to something lighter (litrerally). The words of an Afrikaans song asking you to catch the laughing sun and put it in a dark room so it can lighten the house and sing songs in the passages.

Kyk of jy vir my, die son kan vang.
Daar’s ‘n kamer in die huis waar ons die son, kan hang.
Dis donker by die venster, in die middel van die dag.
Onthou jy hoe helder die kamer kon lag?
Kyk of jy vir my, die son kan bring.
Daar’s ‘n liedjie in die gange wat die son, kan sing.

As mentioned on day 2 it was raining and cold, dreary and sunless with mist de-viewing the views. Strange people with outlandish clothing gathered in the forest. Were these the Ents meeting in Fangorn forest (Lord of the Rings). They needed a hero to catch the sun!

We needed a hero, we were holding out for a hero in the middle of the day. He’s gotta be strong, and he’s gotta be fast. And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight. We needed a hero, He’s gotta be sure, and it’s gotta be soon. And he’s gotta be larger than life. Somebody to catch the sun, to bring views and smiles. To light up the young ones, to create the possibility of eye candy… Shairaz stepped up to the plate and caught the sun.

And the sun shone down on the young ones. I present eye-candy from Africa! Arnold on the left has since received a civil engineering qualification. Gongratulations young man!! Towards the end of the hike muscle man Arnold was to be surprised by the strenght of someome double his age but that is a tale to be told another day. I conclude with a poem by Tolkien from Lord of the Rings referring to Aragon (Strider) a king not known to many. On this I will also comment another day except for saying that hard core hikers certainly are not lost despite their wandering.

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”