14 May 2019
Overnight we heard animals come and go from the trickle of water we had collected ours from. The buffalo were the most obvious with their hooves clancking over the rocks when a herd moved in or out.
It was my birthday and Michelle produced a cake for me out of her tiny bag. She would make a habit of this, pulling delights out of her bag an unexpected times, sometimes as late as the fourth day of the leg of TKT.
Rob and Mark explained the flow of each day. Wake up, drink tea/coffee with a rusk. Pack. Walk for an hour. Take a 30-minute breakfast stop. Walk until noon with lots of 10-minute stops. Take a 3-hour lunch break. Finish the last “few” kilometers to the next overnight camp.
It was a steep climb and my muscles burned as they coped with the weight of the pack while driving me up the hills. I was carrying my fair share with our tent strapped to my back along with my birthday badge. The guides did well to follow animal paths through rock-strewn areas, taking a slight variation from what they had before which worked out well.
The area is known for its Baobabs, and it would be on this day that we would see “forests” of them across the sand filled flats that were surrounded by granite koppies. We weaved between the outcrops all day, stopping to climb one at the lunch stop. We saw The Outpost Lodge in the distance, a well-known 5 star lodge in the Pafuri area of Kruger. Little did I know that day what a significant role it would play down the line as I became a trails guide.
That night we slept in a riverbed where a water drop meant we had the luxury of water on tap. Exactly 100L had been left in 4 x 25L drums. 10L per person to shower, cook and refill for the next day. It’s a very small amount by comparison to what we use in the modern world, but as we would discover, more than enough when used sensibly.
We were definitely settling in having walked two full days. We designated a large rock as a kitchen area, sat on the ground (we had not discovered hiking chairs just yet), and told stories to one another, but never late into the night. In May its dark before 6, and by 7.30 you are almost ready for bed.
This second night felt a lot more comfortable… the shower had taken the layer of dust off, the course sand in the river bed felt clean on your feet, water was nearby. The only discomfort would come in the early hours when the temperature would get low and you had to be careful not to lose the heat from your sleeping bag. These were the problems of the simple life lived close to the ground. Problems I was welcoming in. We were sinking in.
