Lost yet again

Three of us departed for Gwaxentaba on Christmas Day, passing hundreds of mostly very drunk people, including young kids sipping merrily from Quart bottles. We stopped briefly at Bra Moves' (briskly trading) tavern to stock-up on milk stout. It came as a relief that the drunken mayhem along the road was absent at the much more traditional rural village of Gwaxentaba.

We proceeded down the cliff-face into Magwa, pitched tent and got the fire going. I went up the ravine before sunset and discovered a perfect camp site, allowing for emergency evacuation in the eventuality of sudden flooding. This came as a surprise after 23 years of simply noticing (and using) one realistic camping option. Our intent was to hike 5 hours to Hili village, on the coast, the next day and return before sunset.

We did so, bare feet, shorts and t-shirt; at a very brisk pace, through forest and up-and-down the intermediate valleys. We hugged the escarpment, which is really just a geological fault that threw-up the sandstone features so well known to Wild Coast lovers (Waterfall Bluff, Cathedral Rock, Frazer and Magwa Falls). Its an exceptionally beautiful walk - one of the most beautiful that I've known in my life. Much of this area is depopulating, as is evident on the accompanying picture. The result is that many paths are being reclaimed by the forest. Along the way I learned that a direct route (that I really loved in the past) between Hili and Magwa had become usable again - this was to turn out to be bitter misinformation.

At Mbotyi, where we first hit the sea, we had a quick shebeen stop. On to Hili, and a swim (despite the now tentative drizzle). Ample time to get back. We took the direct route, and spent nearly 4 hours (midway to Magwa) battling the forest, searching for the path. Eventually we accepted that it had truly been reclaimed by the forest (a point confirmed by Hili residents), and were swiftly overcome by darkness and strong driving rain, as we turned back to Hili in search of an overnight stop.

I knew people in Hili, but it was pitch dark, and we had to look for help at a homestead, where the elders ordered their very recalcitrant son to show us the way. His reluctance quickly made sense: he was dead drunk and it was all a matter of time before he had a spectacular somersault off the path.

Closer to the sea the wind became a freezing cold factor (we had no back-up clothing); and once at the house that we were looking for we desperately embraced offered blankets. Sleep was good, and food and hot milky tea gave us respite. The next morning it was back into our wet, cold shorts and t-shirts, and the (now dreaded) 5 hour wet walk to Magwa. To add insult to injury we took a wrong turn and over-shot up the cliff-face (and then back down, into Magwa - food, dry clothes, pack camp - and back up the cliff-face). We learned here that it had only started raining around Magwa an hour earlier.

Mandozi - one of my 2 fellow hikers - had a lovely orientation outing two weeks before starting life as a soldier in the South African National Defence Force. Yet again, I've been sorely tested in the wondrous inhabited wilderness that forms the deep rural forests of Mpondoland.