040313, Wild Lubanzi

Will, checking if we're still heading in the right direction

Way to go!

Morning view from our dorm room door

Lubanzi chilling

Hole in the Wall on the way back

At Hole in the Wall

A little leap of faith

On Saturday evening I met Will and Hanni at Coffee Shack for dinner. They told me that they're walking to Lubanzi the next day.  Since we were all supposed to be in Bulungula that weekend for the NGO forum, but didn't go because of the rain and difficult roads, I reckoned there should be nothing stopping me from joining them, except maybe for laziness.

So Sunday morning at 7:30 we set out on our hike to first, Hole In the Wall, where I had a nice cooling off swim, (IT WAS HOT), had breakfast, chilled by the Hole a while and then did the last stretch to Lubanzi. I must say the first bit was tough for me, these hills always are.  Just going up and up this steep never ending hill and then another and another.  At one point I had to sit down because I was feeling dizzy and my 2 eperienced hiking partners just had to patiently wait for me.  I guess I'm not the fittest hiker around.  We did do it in quite good time though, about 2hr 30 min to Hole in the Wall where the last time I did it with a guide and some other backpackers it took us 4 hours to get there...!

We went  around the rocks a couple of times, which was much more fun than the hills, but one time I almost saw my life flash before me.  We got a little bit stuck and these young boys came to show us which way to go, I had to get a foot grip on these tiny rocks, looking down at more rocks and water down below and I thought that it probably works better if you've got tiny kid's feet and no shoes.  But thankfully I made it.  Luckily the other two found another route.  After that I was quicker to opt for the steep hills.

My two hiking partners are Dutch and I told them they have to speak Dutch all the time so that I can get used to hearing it again and try to remember some of my long lost Dutch (I used to be fluent 18 years ago when I lived in Rotterdam!  Man, I'm getting old..), which was fun.  I must say a few times my head was so confused with all the languages,  I'd be thinking in Dutch, Afrikaans, English and Xhosa all at the same time.

Lubanzi itself was excellent.  Have to go there again.  The backpackers is great and has such a lovely atmosphere created by it's owners (a South African guy married to a Swiss lady) who are also able to provide most interesting information regarding self-sustainability from a veggie garden for one thing.  And what a feast of a dinner we had, prepared by our lovely Swiss chef, father of Rahel.  Pork rashers, egg-plant marinated in a special sauce, carrot-and-egg salad, potato salad and a wonderful green salad with a great variety of fresh ingredients.

When you arrive at the Wild Lubanzi backpackers, you are greeted by a big cold beer (for free!) and a view from a deck that makes you feel you must be in paradise.  I was too tired to do much else than hang in the hammock, checking the view.  No guilty feelings.

I went to sleep early because the day's heat got to me a little.  Today on the way back, I wet my sarong and covered my head and shoulders with it, to create a cooling down tent.  It worked.  The way back seemed much more easy than the way there! We left there about 9 this morning, a bit late because we wanted to wait for the yummy fresh bread to be baked for breakfast.  And of course we had to check out the awesome garden and improve our own knowledge a bit.  At Hole in the Wall beach we had a nice swim again and got back to Coffee Bay around two.  Hungry and happy.

Awesomeness!