DAY 7: PITSENG
Even the mixed sized rocks under my sleeping bag massaging quite happily didn’t prevent me from getting a good night sleep last night. After 10 minutes warm up we headed for a river crossing to start our final 12km trek. Today our route once again took us through more villages and schools as we walked along the track that lead across the Mphosong River to Pitseng. We walked through some "perfect picture" type scenery's through out the day and pictures here say it all.
Even the mixed sized rocks under my sleeping bag massaging quite happily didn’t prevent me from getting a good night sleep last night. After 10 minutes warm up we headed for a river crossing to start our final 12km trek. Today our route once again took us through more villages and schools as we walked along the track that lead across the Mphosong River to Pitseng. We walked through some "perfect picture" type scenery's through out the day and pictures here say it all.
[Photo: Bhumi ]
On route we stopped by a school that allowed children to come out of class to sing for us. They sang a few beautiful, harmonized pieces about friendship. In return we sang and taught them the Okie Kokie? Don’t ask me more as I had never heard this song before in my life but I did enjoy the song and dance. :) It had arm waving and a wiggle, which the kids enjoyed. Thanks to John Daffern here's a copy of the video of children singing:
We collected some money within our group to replace the broken windows for the school. Another group was due to visit that area the following week to build a school so it all fell into place beautifully. This was our last full day of trekking so after lunch we joined the two groups together to walk the last 6km as one team. Rest of the afternoon was spent walking through more villages and fields, climbing mountains and crossing rivers before we embarked on the last climb of the day to the finish line. We were greeted by our support team, and were served fizzy wine to celebrate our success. This was truly a great night for all of us as it was quite a tough trek and we completed it without any serious injuries, only what few of us had gone in with.
DAY 8: PITSENG—PILANESBERG
It was our last day in Lesotho and quite an emotional one too. Waking up to the views of the beautiful mountains was special. The school children came to see us and performed an impromptu concert, singing few beautiful, harmonized pieces, including items on friendship and AIDS. It was moving to see these talented children full of joy living in communities with highest % of AIDS in the world and where life expectancy is 37 years! I couldn't help but feel sad thinking these young children should be singing about other things and not serious issues like AIDS! This morning was full of mixed feelings; on one hand there was the satisfaction of having completed the challenge successfully despite of various difficulties, and the other hand sadness that it was our last day in Lesotho, where despite of a striking poverty and vacuum of needs, the locals seemed to be so content! Here's a link to my favourite video of the Lesotho trek by John Daffern
After 6km walk we boarded the coach for 6 hrs journey to Pilanesberg National Park. After 8hrs we finally arrived at the park at 8pm where we spent the next two nights. The luxury of a proper bed and pillow, hot water and flushing toilet, big enough space to leave all your bags around without compromising sleeping space injected a lot of excitement in the group. I was quite surprised with myself to have survived 7 days with baby wipes shower and no Indian music!!! South Africa unfortunately is not a vegetarian friendly place, so I had to survive on bit of salad that night and the next!! Breakfast however was delicious! :)
DAY 9: PILANESBERG
Today was our first and only free day to ourselves to enjoy and recover from the last 8 days of travel and trekking. I decided to go for Safari at 6am in the morning, with a hope to catch a glimpse of a baby Elephant. We managed to catch a glimpse of few animals including Lion, Elephant (from far away and I am sure there was a baby elephant but others had a different view :), Zebra, Rhino, a rare view of a lioness with a fresh kill, Antelopes and some distinct beautiful native birds. That night we had the Gala Night to celebrate our success, this kicked off at 8pm with a meal, followed by a number of activities (organized by trekkers during the day) that provided us with few hours of comedy and entertainment.
DAY 10: COTLANDS ORPHANAGE, JOHANNESBURG
In the morning we made our way to Cotlands in Johannesburg where we would be spending the afternoon before our return flight. Founded in 1936, Cotlands continues to meet the needs of children impacted by HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
We collected some money within our group to replace the broken windows for the school. Another group was due to visit that area the following week to build a school so it all fell into place beautifully. This was our last full day of trekking so after lunch we joined the two groups together to walk the last 6km as one team. Rest of the afternoon was spent walking through more villages and fields, climbing mountains and crossing rivers before we embarked on the last climb of the day to the finish line. We were greeted by our support team, and were served fizzy wine to celebrate our success. This was truly a great night for all of us as it was quite a tough trek and we completed it without any serious injuries, only what few of us had gone in with.
DAY 8: PITSENG—PILANESBERG
It was our last day in Lesotho and quite an emotional one too. Waking up to the views of the beautiful mountains was special. The school children came to see us and performed an impromptu concert, singing few beautiful, harmonized pieces, including items on friendship and AIDS. It was moving to see these talented children full of joy living in communities with highest % of AIDS in the world and where life expectancy is 37 years! I couldn't help but feel sad thinking these young children should be singing about other things and not serious issues like AIDS! This morning was full of mixed feelings; on one hand there was the satisfaction of having completed the challenge successfully despite of various difficulties, and the other hand sadness that it was our last day in Lesotho, where despite of a striking poverty and vacuum of needs, the locals seemed to be so content! Here's a link to my favourite video of the Lesotho trek by John Daffern
After 6km walk we boarded the coach for 6 hrs journey to Pilanesberg National Park. After 8hrs we finally arrived at the park at 8pm where we spent the next two nights. The luxury of a proper bed and pillow, hot water and flushing toilet, big enough space to leave all your bags around without compromising sleeping space injected a lot of excitement in the group. I was quite surprised with myself to have survived 7 days with baby wipes shower and no Indian music!!! South Africa unfortunately is not a vegetarian friendly place, so I had to survive on bit of salad that night and the next!! Breakfast however was delicious! :)
DAY 9: PILANESBERG
Today was our first and only free day to ourselves to enjoy and recover from the last 8 days of travel and trekking. I decided to go for Safari at 6am in the morning, with a hope to catch a glimpse of a baby Elephant. We managed to catch a glimpse of few animals including Lion, Elephant (from far away and I am sure there was a baby elephant but others had a different view :), Zebra, Rhino, a rare view of a lioness with a fresh kill, Antelopes and some distinct beautiful native birds. That night we had the Gala Night to celebrate our success, this kicked off at 8pm with a meal, followed by a number of activities (organized by trekkers during the day) that provided us with few hours of comedy and entertainment.
DAY 10: COTLANDS ORPHANAGE, JOHANNESBURG
In the morning we made our way to Cotlands in Johannesburg where we would be spending the afternoon before our return flight. Founded in 1936, Cotlands continues to meet the needs of children impacted by HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
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[Photo: John Daffern, Steve with a child at Cotlands]
This was a very moving experience for a lot of us especially to see the hunger for love and attention that these children had in their eyes when they rushed towards us opened their arms wanting to be picked up. The branch we visited looks after orphans from 0-7yrs, a lot of them are HIV positive. We spent few hours with children, offering them toys, colours, books, etc while learning about Cotlands and admiring their contribution to the society. Anna showed us around sharing stories and answering endless questions from the group.
[Photo: Dick Goodband, Richard sharing photo with a child at Cotlands]
That night we flew back from Johannesburg and arrived in London on Sunday the 22nd April. I slept for 14 hrs straight waking up the next day. I had not quite realised how exhausted I was!!! Despite of few difficulties it was definitely a worth while challenge to have taken on board!!!
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