Wednesday 12 April 2006
Highlights: Seven hour nature hike, exploring bushman caves

Some people on the tour really enjoyed the fireplaces in the rooms last night; I think some wood was missing from outside my room reflecting how keen people were to keep their fires going.

Today was all about the 7 hour nature hike.   It was extremely hard at certain points, I remember looking down as I was climbing a rock face (with Jan’s help) and thinking it was a very long way down.   The walk was so hard because their never seemed to be a flat bit (always up or down). I think the hike really bought the group together.   We were all watching the threatening clouds hoping they would stay away (they did thank god!).

The bushman caves proved interesting.   Marjia keep finding new places to explore and the rest of us just worried about getting out from this small damp cave.   It’s very sad to think these bushman were hunted and killed, they live a very simple life.   Their paintings leave some clues to what they saw in their time.

After Marjia fell off her horse (only experienced riders allowed) we all took long showers and walked (slowly) to a well deserved dinner by candlelight (to save power).

The Drakensberg area is actually an environment success story by the Drifter’s group.   It’s good to think we were actually helping the environment for once instead of destroying it.   Drifters are continuing to restore the land to its former glory in this area.