Lindela House Kokstad

... some great views of the mountains and provided a good introduction to the area. The Sani Pass Lodge felt very "backwoods" and turned out to be a great experience, even though it was akin to sleeping outside since there was no heat. It got down to 50 degree F at night so we definitely felt like we were roughing it. Below are some great pictures from our hike.

... further two and a half hours from the entrance gate to the camp - although only only 8,2 km up and over and down the mountain. But to be fair, there was thick snow as well as thick ice atthe highest points on the inclinations with the road width a mere footpath on the edges, so two wheels were inclined up on snow for most of the top edges.

... host. Interestingly, none of the four other guests are travellers. Rather, they are two sets of Dutch health care workers having an in-town weekend. Annika and S??? (one of those Dutch names an English speaker can't wrap his tongue around) are mid-wifery students doing a foreign practicum. Ingrid and Natasha are nurse and doctor friends who signed up to spend a year working in a 35 bed pediatric hospital in the small town of Creighton. In both cases, talk of their work is all ...

So today is the last day of 2005. I decided to have breakfast at the backpackers next door as I woke up feeling a little weak and quite hungry. It was a very good breakfast but it took almost two hours. I think they had to send someone to the shops to get the ingredients (seriously) I had the 'Israeli' breakfast which was scrambled eggs and salad. I was also given two slices of toast with banana jam. Yhis was really yummy and all it was (I think) was ...

The sun was shining and everyone was gathered outside and on the roof for breakfast and the like. I found some stale muesli which I had brought with and forgotten about. It was NOT what I really wanted alas. We had organised to go on a mini-trip to the falls for some walking, swimming and a braai [barbeque to all outside SA] organised by the good man Mike. So in we all climb: myself, Sarah, Francois, the French couple Celine and Eric, (who ...

Rain Rain Rain, but its lovely!!! A little exploring is done of the town centre, which is really quite tiny. The supermarkets here are an eye-opener and quite refreshing to say the least, well that is.... if you have no desire to shop whatsoever and aren't really hungry (at all) Its very rustic, very 'in the middle of Africa' which I like, very rural and 'foreign'. Everything comes in 10kg bags and there are loads of maize and 'pap' and grains I have never even heard of. There is only one type ...

... all the skin - leaving the thread under the surface to stop the puss from building up - a neat new trick from the navy - and then I just had to warm up the sores every time we stopped. The terrain changed more today. We were off the beach (thankfully - I'm not a beach walker - well not with this monumental backpack) and walking up and down through rolling hills. We got lost a couple of times, having to pick the contour of the land and walk around the huge rifts that defined the coast ...

... either. But that is what you would have to be in order to negotiate such vast expanses of sand without feeling every muscle and nerve twitch at the repetitive quick-stepping required to summit the vast dunes. It was a challenge or the greyest wettest kind. It didn't help that my bag broke within the first hour of walking. It was not my 'real' hiking bag. That one had been successfully destroyed by British Airways in Johannesburg - or rather the thief ...

... the wet skin underneath the waterproof jacket. Would it ever end? Jump up and down between the wet jagged rocks, enjoy the relative grip, despise the added pressure of the leaps on tired knees. Would it ever end? Try and follow close to the ocean line where the sand is firmer, while avoiding the increasingly aggressive waves that are trying to trip and fight our passage. Would it ever end? Try and see the coastal outline that is meant to be beautiful ...

... would be camping tonight. It was a flurry of activity, and I thought the best thing I could do was attach the tent and bag to my rucksack, and look like I was ready to be off. Things never quite go that smoothly though do they! The manager of the Wild Coast Sun Hotel and Casino (not worth the trip, unless you like hotels and casinos) was in deep discussion with the leaders of the group. We couldn't go to where we needed to go for two reasons: 1. The gates ...