Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Camping Trip

We did this trip in Sept 2010 with friends Mark and Cathy

It went something like this:
3 Nts Twee Rivieren (Kgalagadi)

2 Nights Mabuasehube (on the Bots side)(actually the Landy decided to go half way there and no further due to major corrugations, so we just parked off in the bush for 2 nights and never actually made it to our camping destination on the Eastern border of the park)

Then a few nights in the Riemvasmaak Community Conservancy. We had one night in a cottage near the hot springs (which we never actually swam in because we disturbed a rather dodgey, giggly group of locals in the water with not a lot of clothing on), but it was a beautiful drive to get there and the accommodation was nice. After that we went further into the reserve and camped along the Orange River near Augrabies (but still in the community reserve) and that was so relaxing - no people around anywhere, just bush camping on the very edge of the river.

Eastern Cape Hike : Kariega Mosslands Two Rivers Trail

Lightning flashed, thunder struck, and the heavens opened.There was morning and there was evening, the first day.

The Bat Run

The Bat Run is an epic 30km nightime trail run up 3 peaks of Table Mountain, held annually on a full moon night in February. Its been on my wish to-do list for ages but with 1700m of climbing, I thought it was way out of my reach. Somehow one thing led to another and I managed to do the training and get an entry (and one for Chris too, who was busy training for ironman anyway).

The race starts at the bottom of Tafelberg Road at dusk and winds up to the very top of Devil's Peak, any route you like. There is a check point at the top where you can see the whole of Table Bay, the setting sun and the rising moon. Then it's head torches on and a scramble back down the mountain.

'Lost' it appears, is relative

“I know exactly where we are – we’re just SW of Judas Peak, Hout Bay.”

Had we been lost, I would have called Mountain Rescue and said that someone has blindfolded us, and dropped us somewhere in the mountains of the Western Cape. So while I still maintain that we were never lost, I will admit that the path down the mountain appeared to be missing. Being lost and being in trouble are two different things. So I call it more than semantic opinion… I call it adventure.

Red Disa Hike Adventure

 I've learnt my lesson on this hike and from now on we will call them “adventures”. You need a sense of adventure to hike, because they don’t always happen in a straight line and according to plan – so next time, we will arrange a mountain walking adventure, just so that we know to expect the unexpected.