Day 3: In Which God's Window was Misted Up

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One shouldn't have to get up at 05h40 when on holiday. However, sometimes it is necessary to take a little pain for so much more gain. In this instance, the early morning was offset by a rather pleasant shower, followed by rushed packing of the rucksack to ensure that I was down in breakfast by 06h00.

Simplicity was the order of the day so far as breakfast was concerned but the croissant, jam, coffee and water were enough to permit me to follow it all with my daily malaria tablet. The other interesting point about breakfast was that it would allow me to meet my fellow travellers for the first time.

Looking around, the tables were empty. There was a receptionist but I knew she wasn't coming on the trip. Soon I heard a familiar sound; Dutch!

Goed morgen, mijn nam is John … en jullie? … and was introduced to Willem and Hermine from Nijmegen and Joke from Amsterdam.

After our meal, we all checked out and met the guides. David, half German, half British, living in South Africa and Switzerland was our leader with Jerry and Maxwell, both from Zimbabwe, assisting.

After completing some additional paperwork, we grabbed our kit and went out into the cold morning air where we saw what would be our home for the next three weeks. The big red converted lorry would hold our food, cooking utensils, tents and ourselves. At 07h15, we headed off onto the N12 out of Jo'burg before arriving at the N4 toll. It was cloudy though not cold as we drove past very salubrious gated communities nestling by their shanty town neighbours.

Continuing east, we left the signs of occupation behind and made our way through fields of maize and sorghum before finally arriving at Wittbank in time for another breakfast. This time, the coffee was accompanied by bacon and eggs!

A short while after, we stopped in Belfast at a shopping centre and whilst Max and Jerry obtained the day's rations, Willem and I bought our own supplies - bottles of white wine and a box of red!

We drove on, through Dullstroom, which was dull, before beginning to climb into the hills. As we got higher, the cloud became more evident and we encountered the first spots of rain. Apparently, this is not unusual in this area - known as the Mist Belt. Higher we climbed, the maize crops being replaced by grassland. Dull Dullstroom was also replaced … by humdrum Lydenburg. Though the town itself is nothing to write home about, it is the location of a major archaeological discovery in which some ceremonial ceramic masks dating back to the fifth century were uncovered. However, without stopping, we continued towards Sabie where we saw our first African animals.

“Aapjes”, shouted Joke. Everyone peered forwards as a troupe of Baboon headed towards the vehicle. Some 20 apes walked by; young and old and all ignoring us. Snap - the first of many photos was taken.

As we continued to drive up Robber's Pass, the tall grass thinned and became interspersed by red rocks, like little sunburned bald heads. The road twisted up through Long Tom Pass where, at the top, we stopped to look down on Pilgrim's Rest, our home for the coming night. Some 110 years previously, the Boers had done exactly the same, but then, they were looking down on the town with their siege guns, known as Long Toms.

Driving into town, we turned down a track and stopped just short of the river at a camp site. Here, we unpacked the bus for the first time and David showed us how the tents were erected. And so it came to pass that David led us to the water and the respective sites were chosen for our accommodation. My site was under the trees (cooler), on sloping ground (more comfortable to sleep) with the door away from the prevailing wind. Tent up, I went and stored my bottle red wine (taken from the plane) in the river so that I'd have a cool drink later.

After a lunch of bread and salad, we returned to the bus and, driving through Graskop, made our way to God's Window. This sits on the edge of the Blyde River Canyon and boasts tremendous tree-filled views. Sadly, with the mist all around us, we could see nothing. However, not being dispirited, we stopped in Pilgrim's Rest on the way back, grabbed a beer and walked back to camp.

The wine was opened and the food was cooking so we sat around the camp fire telling stories and introducing ourselves more fully.. Finally, after a meal of chilli-pork and rice, we all retired to our tents, tucked ourselves up in our sleeping bags and slept.

It was 21h30.

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Photos

Long Tom's Pass
View from the top of the pass down into Pilgrims Rest

View of the first campsite
Very picturesque - by a river, but quite high and cloudy