My Little Hike

Africa » South Africa
February 7th 2012

Published: June 17th 2017

Edit Blog Post

jc80

01 Our Site

Our camp site with a great view of the mountains surrounding us.

Geo: -28.6938, 28.9277

This morning we woke up to a beautiful clear day, a big improvement from last night's storm! After we made toasted jaffles on the coals, we got ready to make the most of the great weather and spectacular surrounding scenery. We were all going to go for hikes, but not altogether. Neil and Claudine were doing the hike that we did on our first day, Brett and Paul planned a different hike and I was going on a short, easy hike.

They all set off while I relaxed at the campsite. From the campsite we had a great view of the surrounding mountains as the sky was clear and cloud free. As I sat in my camp chair reading a book, I noticed a few varieties of birds nearby. There were guinea fowl, which were hard to photograph as they didn't stand still for long. I also saw a pair of weavers enjoying the crumbs from our breakfast. A little bit later on, I observed some interesting interaction between the two weavers – one stood there while the other put food into its mouth.

A few other unidentifiable birds also came along looking for crumbs. Due to watching all

02 Guinea Fowl

A curious guinea fowl that walked up to me as I sat in my camp chair.

these visitors, I didn't get much reading done. Then I was also lucky enough to glimpse a mongoose as it ran under the car and off into the bushes. After photographing a few pictures of a butterfly, I decided it was time to go for my little hike.

It was just after 12 when I left. As it was an easy, gentle walk, there were no steep parts, which made it more relaxing. At the beginning there was a great view of the Amphitheatre. It was a very open area that I was walking in as I followed a thin path. At about one kilometre into the walk I came to a junction. Here there were a few choices as to which path to follow, each path leading to many different hikes.

I followed the path that lead to Sunday Falls. My feet got a little bit muddy along this path near the ridge, as the path crossed two small streams. The falls are in an indigenous forest. The path lead me to walk across the top of the small waterfall and then down to the foot of the falls.

After a little rest here, I continued on and walked

03 View

Another view of the surrounding mountains.

back via Faerie Glen. This was a nice area and I was really enjoying my hike. By mid afternoon I was back in camp and again relaxing as I sat in my chair. The others were all still out hiking. As I sat, I ate a late lunch, read and photographed the guinea fowls that pecked about nearby.

It wasn't long later that everyone arrived back from their various walks. We caught up on each other's day as we sat around the fire.

Additional photos below

Photos: 32, Displayed: 23