From your Committee and
Leaders we wish you all a great 2010.
2010 South Africa’s BIG year for soccer, and
hopefully the many people who come here for this event, will see some
of the rest of the country, and hopefully spread the news to friends and
family to come back to spend “tourist money” to see some of our vast arrays of
places to visit – including our Drakensberg, and related attractions. Whilst they have to pay big money to visit
the berg, we have it on our doorsteps, and yet we don’t really use much. As we
grow older, we tend to put off a bit of gay walking or hiking. Unfortunately we
can never catch it up again. A lost chance is lost opportunity.
Some
of you may remember that last year your committee “Unveiled” the BIG FIVE
CHALLENGE – the challenge was for members who were not so active, to set
themselves 5 Goals with the club for the year. Unfortunately this challenge was
not the success that we hoped it would be.
Again,
the Xmas party went off very well, and the day was superb meeting with friends
under the big shady Flat Crowned Thorn Trees of St Mathew’s Church grounds in
Hayfields. Our thanks again to Mother Xmas Pat, and sometimes helpful Fairy – Bushy. They
have come to the fore for many years as our Christmas Gift presenters. Thanks again Bushy and Pat.
Prizes
for the Person who introduced the most people to the Club, for the Best
Write-up of a club activity, and the best photo taken from all the photos
submitted to the web site over the year, were handed out. Thanks must go to
Rose Dix for all the work she put in to find the 3 sponsors for these prizes, The Committee, also thanks the sponsors, - (more about the prizes
below)
Hiking
has been quiet over the December period.
However, Keith and Margaret again gathered a group of hikers to spend NEW YEAR’s eve, and a few days hiking at Aasvoelskranz cave
at Highmoor. The weather was good, and no “wandering around” in the dark was
experienced. Our leader Keith who is still suffering
from an injured knee, did the hike on “Crutches” – with his big New Year’s eve
backpack, then on New Year day he led the happy band towards
The
Club extends a warm welcome to the following new members: Wendy Dobson; Moyra Ford; Patrick Murray; Bronwen
Steynberg; Annie Waterhouse, and welcome back to Carolee Thomson.
Again
we would ask you to actively recruit friends and family to join the club
We
have a very full and varied calendar for the next few months, so watch the
fixture list, and let’s see you all at an event. All information is available
on our website at www.gohiking.co.za, and from time to time new snippets of
information are added. Make time to visit the site at regular intervals to see
what is going on. Rod adds new bits and pieces to the web as he gets the
stories in. So it is not a static
website, and we need new stories from members to keep the web alive, and to
encourage people to visit the site to see what is going on. The website is
visited a lot by overseas people, and we get a number of requests for information
on the berg, about hikes, about all sorts of things. Now and again we get a
“Wild ONE’, - Like “where
do I book the hotels and other accommodation for the Grand Traverse, or more
often – the Mini Traverse?????!!!) It
does NOT help to plan from a Road Map. We
look forward to meeting all of you at our club activities during 2010. Dave
Sclanders
COMPETITION
WINNERS
Newsletter Write-Up
Winner:
Mary Clover
|
|
Donated
by: The
|
Free
Accommodation for 4 people for 2 nights in either the Tent Room or the
Dormitory room (self catering) OR accommodation for 2 people for 2 nights in a
private en-suite room (self-catering) |
Photographic Competition
Winner:
Dave Sclanders
|
|
Donated
By: Mountain
Shadows |
Free
accommodation for 4 people in a 2-bedroomed cottage – Friday/Saturday night
(self-catering). |
Introducing the most New
Members to the Club Winner: Rod & Samantha Hart
|
|
Donated
by: The
Spinney, Mkhomazi |
Free
accommodation for 2 people for 2 nights (self-catering) – Out of Season. |
To
make the allocation of prizes fair and equal, the winners drew unmarked
envelopes from a hat to determine who got which prize.
The
Committee and Members of the Club thank the Sponsors most sincerely for their
sponsorship and the two outside judges who judged the write-up and photographic
entries.. To
Club PRO Rose Dix go our thanks for her efforts and hard work in obtaining
these sponsorships. Thank you all..
KGALAGADI DREAMING Peter Wedge
(After
July/August
2009
This trip has been one of
the “must do” category for most of the outdoor
fraternity. Keith Ashton had put together quite a challenging two weeks and
subsequently the following people joined him & Margaret on what proved to
be eventful and rewarding. The various teams however didn’t all travel together
until we all reached the first camp at Twee Rivieren in the
Teams were: -
Keith & Margaret
Ashton travelling in their Nissan 4 x 4 twin cab.
Morris & Noël Harper
travelling in their Honda CRV.
Both left Howick together
on Friday 17 July and spent the first night at Willem Pretorius Game Reserve
close to Senekal in the
Chris Dobson in his Toyota
Hilux with his friend Dai from Yorkshire (dentist and art critic of note)
together with Margret Kirsten and Elin Carbutt left the following day, Saturday
18th, and drove through to Kuruman in the day. Keith, Margaret, Morris
& Noel also staying over in Kuruman – not in the same B&B however.
All 3 then to the
The last team to depart
was;
Peter Wedge, driving
the Land cruiser, Paul Owen (in the country for 6 months from
Land cruiser
team leaving Howick at 06h30 on Monday 20th July and then on to
On to Twee Rivieren the
following day, Tuesday 21st July via Kuruman with a stop to see “Die
Oog”. This spring provides Kuruman with
fresh water – 20 million litres daily and it never stops. This is in the
Our journey took us
through Hotazel (always wanted to say we’ve been there!). It’s a mining town –
manganese with little else of note but the town’s name would be highly
appropriate in the summer.
We arrived at Twee
Rivieren around 17h00 with Keith meeting us at the gate. This is one of the
bigger Transfrontier camps, if not the biggest – and is well catered for with
showers, a camp shop with plenty of booze selection and good elevated sites. So
we were all together at last with Team Dobson & Team Wedge all in Chris’
tent – 7 altogether. This is a seriously large tent – you can walk around it
and a real boon for several nights in the same location. Taking up and down is
a bit of a mission but we eventually got this down to around 15 mins. at the end of the trip. Weather decidedly chilly at
night.
Wednesday
22 July
– all of us packed up around 09h00 and then on to Mata Mata for our next 3
night stay. The route follows the
The road is gravel and
sand and fine for off-road vehicles but ordinary sedan cars take a beating. We
travelled around 150 kms and got to Mata Mata camp in the early afternoon. This
is also well equipped with hot showers and a small shop. We camped alongside a sand runway for light
aircraft which caused Morris and Noël to salivate a little! (For those who
don’t know – both of them are qualified pilots and used to fly their own
aircraft regularly up to a few years ago.)
Peter cooking
up a potjie for dinner which was devoured very quickly and then a good fire and
Margret’s famous gluwein. Margret
brewed every evening which was eagerly awaited after our evening meal. A cold
night with frost the following morning and a hint of what was to come on the
Friday evening.
(To
be continued)
CLUB HIKE FROM SENTINEL TO FANGS
HIGH BERG MIDI-TRAVERSE : 6
October 2009 Leader: Dave Sclanders
On the 24 September, Chris, John, Roy, Rose,
Allison, Irene, Margret, Keith and I, from the Midlands Hiking Club, met at the
Sentinel Car Park in the
Hiking in the high berg is always a mind blowing
experience. The scenery changes so much, especially if one
takes the time to hike the extra bit, and get onto the edge of the escarpment,
and look down in
The weather was clear and sunny, however despite
recent rains, the ground was dry and brown, no signs of green grass coming
through. There was also a haze hanging
over the distant horizon which did limit the clarity of our views.
However with our fully laden backpacks including
tents we headed off from the Sentinel car park, into the high altitude of the
escarpment and into
Our trip had
all the weather affects, very hot days, cold at night with very high winds,
ending up with heavy mist, rain and cold on the last day. On the 3rd
day we spent the whole day in the Madonna/Fangs Pass area looking at the views,
and generally being spoilt by the awesome sights from the top of the escarpment. The only other living souls we were close to
was a large troop of Baboons who were foraging on the slopes of the mountain.
A few points to
bear in mind when doing a high altitude hike are the effects of Altitude
Sickness, which is very debilitating, and the only real treatment is to get the
affected person off the high altitude down to lower altitude, easier said than
done. Also general hiking fitness is
most important, one must put in the time to “be” fit
for such a trip. It is hard work to carry the unusual load of backpack, extra
food and tent weight, and hike at high altitude. Also the demands of climbing up long high
hills, and then dropping down to a river, and climbing up the other side
demands a high degree of mental and body fitness. Unless one works at the
fitness level, there are going to be problems. This not only makes the hike
unpleasant for the affected person, but for the whole group. Plans may need to be changed, hiking takes
longer than it should to get to the overnight stops, and in general has an
effect on all.
It is always with a sense of achievement, well
being, and one of feeling closer to nature when one gets back to the
beginning. Where would we be if we did
not have a chance to feel nature as it is, and to see
the incredible sights that is offered by nature. To stretch the body, know huge open spaces,
and the need to have complete trust in one’s self and fellow hikers to get to
the end.
IT IS ALWAYS
A PRIVELEDGE TO BE ONE WITH NATURE FOR A WHILE.
To my fellow hikers, thank you for sharing this
time in the mountains.
MISTY MOUNTAIN WEEKEND – SWIMAN HUT (
16-18 October,
2009
There’d
been so much rain recently we didn’t believe there could be any more left,
although the forecast predicted a wet weekend countrywide.
Friday
dawned cloudy but bright when Keith, Margaret, John, Nevil and I set off at a
leisurely pace past the Parks Board office and campsite to
After
a short while we moved on, crossing Mlambonja Stream, to
It
was great to get back to the comfort of Swiman and to find Liz and Graham
waiting. Thanks to Keith and Margaret for thinking to bring luxuries like a
hairdryer, an electric kettle and toaster! It wasn’t long before Val, Veronica,
Chris and Brigitta arrived and after drinks on the veranda a social evening
followed, the highlight of which was Liz’s mouthwatering Tipsy Tart. Thank you
so much, Liz!
It
rained overnight and was still misty on Saturday morning. After breakfast Keith
briefed us on our route to *
We
contoured round to the Cave, exploring the lower and upper levels. With the
wind coming up and mist swirling we ate lunch, then beat a fairly hasty retreat
back downhill in the rain. The gentle uphill of the gully soon put us on the
final stretch of track home and once we got back Swiman was decorated with
dripping clothes. After a hasty braai, undercover but in the
rain, some of us played Liz’ noisy Mexican Train and sort-of-scrabble games
while others read or chatted.
The
mist was still hanging around on Sunday morning but the sky seemed lighter and
we set off to
Sincere thanks to Keith and Margaret for
organising and leading, and thanks to everyone for being such lively, fun
company. It was
a really great weekend.
*Langalibalele
– Chief of the Hlubi Zulu tribe settled in the Drakensberg foothills in 1848 by
Theophilus Shepstone. (Dear Louisa by
Dr R.E. Gordon p.172)
TO
ALL OUR MEMBERS MAY YOU ENJOY
MANY
HAPPY HIKING HOURS IN 2010 AND MAY IT
BE
A YEAR FULL OF LIFE’S RICHEST BLESSINGS