The Kingdom of Swaziland

Two weekends ago I met up with an old friend from Alaska who happened to be in the country.  Together we went to Kruger National Park and then to the Kingdom of Swaziland. Driving to Nelspruit on a Thursday afternoon through the province of Mpumalanga (which means “land where the rising sun”) the traffic quickly came to a dead halt.  After about an hour of playing cards with the taxis drivers I found out that they were burning the grassland and that the section of highway up ahead was engulfed in a thick blanket of smoke.

 

Waiting for the fires to die down on the N4

After staying with one of my good friend’s parents for the night, I picked up my travel buddy and headed north for the park.  Another friend of mine’s mother works and lives in the park and was letting us use her house as well as organizing free guest permits for us.  A few hours of getting lost on the pothole ridden country/forestry back roads, we made it to the park.  Despite cold rainy weather, we had a great day in the park with tons of great sightings.  Herds of buffalo, prides of lions next to the road, 2 leopards, a rhino, and of course tons of elephant traffic and many other animals. 

Always a pleasure to see a white rhino

One of two males sitting just by the side of the road

Coming into the staff camp (where tourists aren’t allowed) we drove by the spotted hyena den where 3 females were laying on the side of the road, one nursing a cub.

Hyena with cub in the staff camp

That night we had a braii at the house and sat outside listening to the hyenas and watching the bushbabies crawl around near our feet. 

The next morning we drove south out of the park and directly to the border of the Kingdom of Swaziland.  Swaziland is a tiny country only slightly larger than the state of Connecticut and is mostly rural and mountainous.  Driving through the mountain kingdom if was hard to remember that we were in Africa with roads spiraling around steep pine tree covered mountains. Most of Swazis live on subsistence farming and as such there were few towns, but rather just sporadic villages with a few people selling trinkets on the side of the road. Swaziland has one of the highest levels HIV infected people, one of the highest wealth inequality ratings, and also ranks 191 out of 198 for life expectancy. 

Within an hour we had reached the capital city of Mbabane, where I received my first speeding ticket ever.  Going 86km in an 80km zone too close to the residence of His Majesty King Mswati III.  For that I paid 60 Swazi Lilangeni (or about $6 USD), which I paid directly to the police officer who had what appeared to be a small bank in the boot of his car. 

King Mswati III of Swaziland

Later we arrived at the Mlilwane Game Reserve where we did some hiking and game viewing. That night we had a dinner of impala steaks and watched the reserve rangers and guides perform some traditional Swazi dancing and singing.  Our accommodation was a traditional thatched beehive style hut, which was really comfortable and spacious.

Out for a hike in the gum-tree forests

Swazi dance

Traditional beehive hut we stayed in

Watching the sun set with some Zebra

The next morning we went for an early morning horseback ride through the reserve.  By simply claiming for be “experienced” they let us canter and gallop on the horses, until one of the girls that was with us was thrown into a tree while her horse was galloping through the woods.  She was fine, but the Swazi guide seemed indifferent and unsure what to do (very atypical to what you’d see in the states). We rode past the “execution rock” which was really just a mountain they used to throw people off of if they committed crimes.

Having to be home that night, I tried to take the most direct route back to South Africa, which ended up being the most interesting part of the trip.  Upon reaching the road to heading west to RSA, we found that it was under construction (a bit of an understatement).  Really the road didn’t exist, just a dirt path cut through the forest, however TIA (This Is Africa) and I continued knowing it was only 20km to the border.  It was raining and foggy on the road, which being in a forestry section of the country made it feel like a Congolese rain forest.

Having not seen a single other person or vehicle on the road we traveled for what ended up being hours through this misty, tropical jungle, climbing mountains, and going through mud paths.

Eventually we reached an area in the middle of jungle where a single hut was standing and a solider with gold teeth, sporting a thick ski coat came to check my license and life a wooden gate for us to continue.  On the other side of the gate was pavement, but it was probably worse than the dirt/mud road since there were potholes that could of easily of swallowed my car.  Constantly spinning the wheel to avoid the minefield of pavement/brick/rock terrain we eventually made it to a small village…which turned out to be a creepy ghost town with just a person or two walking around. 

The border ghost town of Bulembu

Finally the road conditions picked up and we made it to a mountaintop where the border crossing was; another small building with a single guard who looked very lonely and cold. I have to say it felt like the most “African” experience I’ve had.  

Mont-Aux Sources & Tugela Falls

This past weekend a friend and I went hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains. Although we had planned to hike in another section up to a cave, we opted for a two-day hike in the Mont-Aux-Source area, the tallest section of the range.  It’s called this because it is the source of Tugela River and was discovered by French Missionaries.  It was a short hike to the top, only taking about 2 hours, mostly because we had driven to a good portion of the elevation. 

Wasn't expecting to see this in Africa

Leaving Pretoria at 5am, we reached the car park high in the mountains at about 1030.  The fence next to where we parked was coated in ice, as were the bushes nearby, foreshadowing the cold night to come.  All morning an eerie fog creep through the mountains, though actually just clouds because of the elevation, it hugged the southern ridges like a wall of smoke. As we climbed higher we could more easily view Sentential Peak. The whole area was once formed by volcanic activity and thus the Afrikaans name for Sentential Peak (which now I can’t recall) means “God of Fire”.

The misty mountains in the clouds

Frost in the morning

Although we had parked in South Africa, in order to continue the hike we had to cross into the country Lesotho. The border was a broken wire fence that probably couldn’t even keep cows out, a very different border than many I’ve seen.

The Lesotho-SA border; have your papers ready please!

Taking a very steep gully we got on top of the escarpment we were rewarded by amazing views from dizzying heights.  The whole plateau is on a massive escarpment with extremely dramatic cliffs.  Thus there is no easy up or down and almost every edge is a several thousand-foot drop, making walking around in high winds a bit precarious. Looking down into the river valleys was similar to looking out of an airplane, peeping though gaps in the clouds below to barely see anything below us.

I took this one laying on the edge of one of the cliffs with a smaller valley

We camped on the open grassland plateau very close to the Tugela Waterfall.  This is the second highest waterfall in the world with a 3110’ (948m) plummet into the river valley below. This is less than 100 feet shorter than Angel Falls; it’s only competition.

Quickly we became the only group of people on top of the mountain, as all the day hikers had left not willing to bear a cold winter’s night.  As the sun set we stood near the edge of the escarpment taking photos and listening to the echoing baboon calls throughout the valley below. Within minutes of the sun setting the temperature dipped below freezing and our water bottles quickly turned to ice.

Getting some shots of the cliffs (Photo credit: J.D. Welman)

Tugela Falls is where the snow is and the flat peak to the right is Sentinel Peak (Photo by: J.D. Welman)

With a stomach of hot food, Jo and I stood in the middle of the plateau and watched as the stars came out.  I have been to many remote places where light pollution is nonexistent, but this had to be one of the most spectacular displays of stars I had ever seen.  It was as if the entire sky was a thick cloud of star shine, as if the Milkway was zoomed in on.  

 

Cooking dinner and playing around with the camera (Photo credit: J.D. Welman)

The next morning the wind was whipping again, but with a long drive ahead of us and holiday traffic in our minds, we couldn’t hang around.  On our way down we decided to take the “chain ladders” instead of the gully.  I’m not a huge fan of heights, but this was just creepy.  With the entire plateau surrounded by massive cliffs the only other way on and off the escarpment was to go down two long sections of ladders.  Made of thick chains, the ladders huge the steep cliffs and are probably 25-30m high (80-90’). Without a harness and with a heavy bag on your back, the best thing to do is just talk nonsense to yourself and don’t look down.

The valleys in the bottom left are probably as high as the ones I climbed in Namibia, so this is pretty high up

Jo coming down the second ladder 

Me heading over the edge of the first ladder 

This was my first hike in the Drakensbergs and I hope to do many more. The mountains are absolutely breathtaking and the shear cliffs were quite unbelievable to stand on.  As I like to say, I don’t climb mountains for the world to see me, but rather for me to see the world; this was definitely a new view of the world!

More photos: http://imgur.com/a/Gyg2N#0

The Jakkalstrou

Something amazing happened today that would probably seem mundane to most of you. I could give you a list of people, food, and even toiletries that I miss from the U.S., but everyday that passes the thing I miss more and more is RAIN.  Yes this morning for the first time in almost 5 months it rained.  Back in the U.S. we are pretty fortunate to live with a high degree of seasonality where it usually doesn’t go more than a week or two without raining or at least being cloudy.

In South Africa there are really only two seasons: summer and winter.  Summer is also the rainy season, where almost every night earth-rumbling thunderstorms drench the dry African red earth only to be gone by the time the sun comes up without any evidence that flooding had occurred.  But winter, winter is cold and dry.  Basically from May to October it never rains, it never feels like it’s going to rain, it never looks like it’s going to rain…it’s just pristine blue skies everyday.  You might be thinking that sounds great, but after a few months of that it’s like the overly fake happy person that never stops smiling…you just want them to stop.

This morning I woke up to a completely different ambiance, the sun wasn’t shinning on my face; thunder shook my bed, and for the first time in almost 5 months I was watching it rain.

Now this isn’t supposed to happen, according to my friends it usually doesn’t rain until early October when summer returns.  Last year they said this happened the same time last August only it snowed...unheard of.

 

Jakkalstrou - Also the masked weaver birds have returned and rebuilt their nests

The best part was that it happened again this afternoon and it was a sun-shower. In Afrikaans a sun-shower is known as a Jakkalstrou or a “Jackal’s Weeding”.  This is because of an Afrikaans saying “Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou as dit reën en die son skyn flou” which comes from a tale about how “Jackal is going to marry Wolf’s wife when it rains and the sun is shining faintly”.

Tomorrow I’m off to the Drankensberg Mountains to hike through the freshly fallen snow that might be up there and be in my natural element.

Hiking Through Namibia's Desert Mountains

After several weeks away, I’ve just returned from an amazing trip hiking the Naukluft Mountains in Namibia.  The Naukluft Mountains are in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in the Namib Desert, Africa’s oldest desert.  The journey to the hike took me through the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and tons of great adventures.

 

3 days travel from Pretoria, through the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, more desert to Windhoek, Namibia and south into the Namib Desert. 

Traveling Day 1: South Africa & the Trans-Kalahari

Three weeks ago, three South Africans who I was traveling with came to Pretoria for dinner and a place to sleep.  Early in the morning we took off for the Botswana border and the Trans-Kalahari highway. The Trans-Kalahari is a two lane paved road going straight through the desert with only a few small villages on either end.  The tiny town of Kang, which is really only a gas station lies in middle of the 1000km (600 mile) route. The Kalahari Desert is essentially the entire southern half of Botswana and most of western Namibia.

The first thing I noticed in Botswana was the number of donkeys, there seemed to be more than people.  Later after seeing donkey team driven carts, I realized that the local people use them for transport, as gas stations are almost nonexistent.

Kalahari means “Land of Great Thirst” as almost no standing water can be found in the vast expanse of sand and bush, yet the amount of animals is astounding.  All day we spotted Steenbok, Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Warthog, and Ostrich, not to mention the countless birds.

Days of open road with the only people being the occasional Bushman

After leaving Kang and watching the sun burry itself into the desert brush, we found a pull off to sleep for the night. An open sandy patch on the side of the road served as a mattress with which to lay and watch the stars. While a meteor shower in the city may offer a few shooting stars an hour, 5 minutes under the untamed sky offered 20-30.  

Sleeping on the side of the road

Traveling Day 2: The Kalahari to Windhoek, Namibia

At midnight, snug on in our sleeping bags in the open sand we awoke to the heavy and much too close roar of lions.  Hearing their bellows approaching us, we quickly made a fire and waited for them to pass.  Sleeping the rest of the night was light to saw the least, but the experience was unrivaled (especially since we woke the next morning).

Steenboks 

Ostrich family fleeing 

The next morning we hit the road early hoping to spot some predators still on the road. It took the entire day to cross into Namibia and arrive at the capital city of Windhoek. 

German church and Namibian Parliament building in Windhoek

After a quick grocery shop at the local mall, we meet up with the 5^th member of our crew who we stayed with at a mutual friend's house.  After a German dinner, lots of chocolates, laughs, and our last showers we hit the sack ready for the next desert.

Traveling Day 3: The Namib Desert

The five of us crammed in the truck, quickly got onto the dirt roads, and headed south to the Gamsberg Pass, a winding mountain road.  We drove through Gamsberg Nature Reserve and quickly stopped to explore a canyon where 2 Germans lived for 2 years to avoid the Second World War.

The terrain became less and less vegetated and more filled with sand as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.  With 3 ecologists and all avid photographers in the car we stopped often to explore plants and discuss the desert wildlife. We stopped for a long discussion about Fairy Circles, large circles in the desert where plants do not grow a natural mystery still to be discovered. 

Fairy Circles, from the sky they are perfect circles 

Gemsbok/Oryx 

Endless sand roads

After hours of dry desert road we hit the oasis town of Solitaire, which consisted of a gas station, a bathroom, and an amazing German bakery.  After loading up on brownies, apple tarts, and sodas we headed into the Naukluft Mountains; our playground for the next 9 days.

Abandoned car near Solitaire 

On the way we ran into a desert Black Rhino, an extremely endangered and rare sight.  Later we saw leopard cubs crossing the road.  As the sun set we finally arrived at Hikers Haven, the starting point for the hike.

Desert adapted Black Rhino - Great horn! 

Hike Day 1 – Putte Shelter

Leaving Hiker’s Haven, an old farmhouse strewn with daunting messages on the walls about the hike, we set off into the river valley.  Throughout the day we hiked higher into the mountains, spotting mountain zebra, kudo, black eagles, auger buzzards, and rock hyrax. Walking on jagged elephant skin dolomite rock, our feet took a beating.

Nick and myself (blue bag) starting to traverse (Photo Credit: W. Matthews)

Hike Day 2 – Ubusis Kloof

The next days hike took us along an escarpement with amazing views and then through what seemed like endless dried river canyons. The remainder of the day was spent hiking through Cathedral Fountain and Ubusis Kloof, a massive river canyon that took us down several large dried waterfalls on chains. 

           

Me (my arms up in the cave) at Cathedral Fountain

Chains going down a waterfall

Our team moving down the first waterfall

 That night we slept in the river valley, using the dried river gravel as a bedspread. After a quick swim, a hot meal, and a roaring fire we slept in the shelter of the canyon with the stars overhead. 

Hike Day 3 – Alderhorst Shelter

Only a half day of hiking, the entire time we walked on black rhino trails were rhino tracks and dung was in huge quanities.  We a half day's rest at the shelter, I quickly devised a stone bowling alley and the First Annual Naukluft 8-Pin Rock Bowling Championship was started (even when all you have is rocks you can still have fun). With a chance to muck around, get a bucket shower, and repair our gear, we spent the evening watching the sunset over the rolling hills. 

Hike Day 4 – Tsam Ost

The first half of the day was spent going there more river valleys, where lush green grass lined crystal clear pools.  It felt very tropical at the head of the valley, but before lunch the valley was dry as a bone and we climbed high into the mountains again.  Of course only to come straight down to the bottom of another waterfall.  The rest of the day was spent following a river, were we encountered warthogs and walked through another black rhino territory.  Reaching the shelter at dusk, we had reached our restocking shelter where we blew up party balloons and had a beer. Unfortunately this was not the half way point and the next four days were going to be harder, longer, and steeper than the previous four combined. 

Everyday the sky got bluer and blue and not a single cloud was seen

Hike Day 5 – Die Valle

Starting with an immediate 350 meter straight ascent, all morning was spent going up one mountain only to come down the other side, it was glorious.  The wind was harsh that day, blowing us over and all around every time we reach a ridge or peak. We frequently encountered mountain zebra, springboks, klipspringers, and hyrax. Lunch was spent at an old windmill where we stockpiled water from the well in preparation for a 4 hour walk across Die Valle "Death Valley".  The trek across Die Valle was flat open and without shade.  Surrounded by mountains, all out of our reach and with nothing to focus on by the jagged rock path, 4 hours of 20 questions, riddles, and really lame jokes ensued.  We were hiking in the coldest week of the year and still Death Valley was hot.  Apparently if you do it in summer, you run from tree to tree for the shade. Reaching the shelter at sundown, we slept in the shadow of a massive waterfall and it's surrounding cliffs.  The wind was whipping that night, so much that all our gear had to be tired down or put into our hanging sacks.  My nightly 3am bathroom break was a literal piss in the wind. 

Trail conditions - not the most pleasant to walk on

Die Valle

Sunset on the mountains

Hike Day 6 – Tufa Shelter 

Another straight ascent up to the massive waterfall that morning with the wind still whipping at our backs.  Once at the top we stopped to stand at the very edge of the waterfall, a 200+ meter (600') drop overlooking the mountains and in the far off distance the endless sea of sand dunes that stretched to the ocean.  It was an amazing moment to stand at the top of that waterfall and know we had climbed up there and then to piss of it. :) 

Nick holding on for dear life on the ascent (Photo Credit: W. Matthews)

Looking out over the waterfall, sea of dunes to the right

Standing on the edge of the waterfall. Photo Credit: W. Matthews

All day we hiked up and up and up only to reach a flat barren top where herds of springbok ran past us.  Then a death march through an old rock blasted path encountering tons of zebra and kudu to the shelter.  

That night I worried all night as the next day we had to climb straight up a waterfall using chains, it was the only part of the trip I wasn't thrilled about as it is often slippery and the site of numerous deaths. 

Hike Day 7 – The waterfall and Kapokvlakte

Setting off with the feeling of dread I quickly killed the poisonous feeling and focused on the climb.  Climbing high into a canyon around boulders the size of houses, using chains and climbing holds to continue upwards we eventually reached the waterfall.  Once I saw it, I immediately felt 100 times better and extremely confident.  Using a chain we climbed up 6 meters (18') to the first ledge, from there continued on the chain another 5 meters (15') up and transported out bags to the guy at the top. From there 15 meters (45') feet to the top of the chain in vertical ascent. It was actually a ton of fun, but if you're scared of heights it would have been a nightmare. 

Chain going up part of the waterfall

The rest of the day we hiked up to a plateau and the highest point on the hike called world view.  It was a view that made you sit and stare, even ponder. A view that made you realize how isolated you were from the rest of the world.  

Preparing the group picture. Photo Credit: W. Matthews

Kubu Team 2013 at World View

That night we stayed on the open rock plateau called Kapokvlakte, which means "light snow or flurries" really there isn't an English word, but it's called that because of how cold it get (for the desert).  That evening we watched an amazing sunset with a simultaneous moonrise, something I have only ever witnessed once before. 

Me and Francois. Photo Credit: W. Matthews

Feels like being on another planet

Hike Day 8 – Back to Hiker’s Haven

Hiking off the plateau, we walked through endless river valleys where we encountered troops of baboons and gorgeous pools of water.  After swimming for a bit we continued through the lush valley of fig trees to the point from which we started. 

The next three days were spent heading back the way we came, me in the back of a enclosed pickup listening to Namibian country music, and trying to annoy border guards.  Namibia reminded me a lot of central Wyoming, only the cowboys were darker. 

The park claims that the hike is 130 km, we clocked over 150km (95 miles) on the GPS.  The Naukluft is considered the most challenging adventure hike in Southern Africa.  This not just because of the distance, the boot-breaking terrain, or even the steep ascents. The challenge is in the remoteness, lack of water, and challenges of climbing waterfalls using chains.  If you get injured on the hike, there is no rescue other than your team. A broken leg or a fall can spell disaster for a crew.  

All seasoned hikers our team was only the second to finish this year.  All the other teams had hiked out at turn arounds or waited for help at the restocking point. 

I was far from bored! Photo Credit: W. Matthews

Looking back this was an absolutely amazing trip.  Every night we did a best and worst of the day and every night there were too many bests and only funny worsts. Being in the desert mountains away from any other people, worries, or technology is something few people experience.  Removing yourself from the world for a bit, can be an almost spiritual journey as you have so much time for inwardly reflect and outwardly observe nature.  Still everyday was not stop jokes, laughs, constant threats of lawsuits (a joke pointed at me, the American).