Reaching the end of our draining weekend of 12 hour night shifts, Alex and I took a couple days off to visit Drakensberg ("Dragon's Mountains"), a beautiful mountain range in eastern South Africa. What was meant to be a relaxing hike to see the second tallest waterfall in the world ended up going, of course, not quite according to plan.
***
After a much needed lie-in, we set off from Swanage in our little Hyundai i10 (now named Heidi) for our 300km road trip. The majority of this was a single straight road surrounded by nothing but plain fields, so we would have to think up some interesting conversation ourselves. Having spent 2 years driving to and from placements together, we knew this wasn't going to happen - we downloaded an audiobook. We followed Manu's recommendation and listened to Trevor Noah (South African comedian and host of The Daily Show) tell us stories of life in Johannesburg as a mixed child during the Apartheid - it's brilliant, anyone else in or going to South Africa give it a listen!
The highlight of the drive though was probably arriving at the petrol station to fill up and switch drivers. Now for some background: Alex and I were placed at Hinchingbrooke Hospital together last year for our surgery block and would often go to watch operations together. As many of you will know, Alex prides himself on being tall and muscular and rejects any comments about him looking like an east Asian monk. I on the other hand am pretty short, not a great fan of the gym, and half Japanese. But apparently to the surgeons and operating staff of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, all it takes is for each of us to wear a scrub cap (to hide my voluminous hair and to hide his lack thereof) for everyone to ask, "Hey are you guys brothers?"
Alex soon stopped going to operations with me.
Fast-forward one year later to the petrol station attendant having a conversation with Alex as he filled up. As we were leaving he asked Alex, "Where are you guys from? China? Japan?" I of course lost my shit, and the little Chinese monk next to me was not a happy bunny.
We eventually arrived at our accommodation for the evening and went to the Tower of Pizza (wahey!) restaurant for dinner. Having attempted homemade banana sushi last week, the logical next step seemed to be to try the most rogue item on the menu: its Italian cousin, banana pizza. I thought it was pretty great (kind of like french toast with banana) and generously offered Alex a trade of one slice of mine for one slice of his. Apparently the aftertaste ruined the rest of his meal.
Our plan for Wednesday: drive to Sentinel Car Park (the start point of the hike), do the Drakensberg chain ladder hike, see the legendary Tugela Falls, and drive back to Johannesburg. We met misfortune and mishaps at every stage of this plan.
6km away from the car park, we met a fork in the road. It was like a scene from a film: the left was beautifully paved and led to the warm well-lit sunny side of the mountain, and the right was a steep rocky dirt track ridden with boulders and potholes.
GoogleMaps said go right.
We went right.
We gave up after 10 metres.
I got out and jogged a few hundred metres ahead to see whether the track got any better.
It didn't.
GoogleMaps told us that the left route led us to a nearby hotel so we decided we'd go and park up there, and see if we could pay for a transfer from the hotel to take us these last 6km. I was proud of how sensible we were being, the elective was maturing us into good responsible adults. But just as we were setting off, a small vehicle rolled by and took on the rock path.
It was a taxi bus.
If you've read previous blog posts, you will know how much Alex despises South African taxi buses, they're his worst enemy.
He went after it.
He claims it's because "they have a similar wheel size and ground clearance to Heidi, we'll be able to make it too" but really, he just saw red. He couldn't lose to a taxi bus.
Before long, we realised this was a mistake. I have never seen Alex so stressed, he looked angry, on the verge of tears, and badly constipated all at the same time. Heidi's engine was overheating and we were one mistake from a puncture... needless to say, after 2km we gave up the pursuit. We thanked Heidi for her heroic efforts and cautiously made our way back down to employ plan B via the hotel. [To our parents, a disclaimer: we would like to stress that though attempting this was indeed stupid, we were never at risk of harm to ourselves through crashing or falling off a cliff or anything like that, we were completely safe we promise... but yes maybe we could have destroyed the car, sorry]
Sadly I don't have any photos of how bad the dirt track was, I was too afraid Alex might shout at me if I did... instead, here's a photo of the moment we made it back down to sweet sweet surfaced road.
At first, a nonchalant warning from the hotel manager worried us that we might have to give up on the hike altogether: "Oh yeah, just so you know, they're setting the mountain on fire while you're up there." WHAT!? Apparently though she thought it would "maybe" be safe, just try to avoid getting too close, and run away if necessary... okay cool, thanks boss.
Alex, that banana pizza may have been a bad idea...
The trek itself was absolutely incredible. We had sunny blue skies, the views were amazing all the way up, and being winter there wasn't another hiker in sight, giving us free reign to explore the mountain as we wished (a.k.a. we repeatedly got lost). We hit another speed bump as we came across a sign telling us the chain ladder route was closed for safety reasons, and the sign redirected us to go up the gully route instead: a steep final push to the summit clambering over rocks and boulders. Linen trousers were a bad idea... much cold, much spiky plants, much regret.
The view on the way up was pretty great
Arriving at the top was surreal, like entering a new world. It's really hard to put into words, but if you've ever hiked before you will recognise how generally when you reach the top of a mountain, you very much feel like you've reached "the top": the mountain gets narrower as you go up, and when you're done you're at a peak where if you walk in any direction you'd be going back down. At Drakensberg on the other hand, the top is a vast smooth plateau (the escarpment). You could look out onto it and there would be yellow-green plains as far as the eye could see. You could imagine a football pitch, a town, even an entire city being built there. It was only when you looked at the 1000m drop behind you that your brain would recognise you weren't at sea level.
View in front, and view behind... a magnificent mindfuck
Such a poser
We spent some time wandering around these other-worldly plains looking for Tugela Falls, and came across a few semi-frozen ice lakes and rivers. We followed them along the escarpment but found they ended before reaching the edge - with the lack of rainfall recently it seemed the waterfall must have dried up :( It was a shame but it's been known to happen, and we were pretty happy with all the other beautiful sights we'd got to see. Alex chirped up saying that he wanted to be back down the mountain well before it got dark, so we started heading back.
Frozone from The Incredibles anyone? "Honeeey... where's my super suit?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2qRDMHbXaM)
The closest thing we found to the second tallest waterfall in the world.
On the way back, we unexpectedly came across several groups of other hikers: people were popping up seemingly out of nowhere at one edge of the escarpment, and walking confidently to the other side as if they knew what they were doing (ah, guess the lack of other hikers may have been more related to our navigation skills than with the time of year). There were also a few groups coming back in the opposite direction, looking very happy, fulfilled, and like they had just seen what they had come to see... hrmmm.
We tentatively asked where people were popping up from (the chain ladders) and what they had seen (the legendary Tugela Falls). God dammit.
"I'm sure the sign said it wasn't safe to use the chain ladders..."
"Are you sure we can go down these ladders?" "Yeah they're only shaky halfway down"
Fake news.
Oh and to finish off, a selection of quotes from our trip:
"I think this route looks path-ier, no no this one's definitely path-ier"
"Do you mind making this moment really special for me.... and like getting down on one knee or something?"
"Why are you taking a photo of the poo?" "I want to send it to Hayley."
***
After a much needed lie-in, we set off from Swanage in our little Hyundai i10 (now named Heidi) for our 300km road trip. The majority of this was a single straight road surrounded by nothing but plain fields, so we would have to think up some interesting conversation ourselves. Having spent 2 years driving to and from placements together, we knew this wasn't going to happen - we downloaded an audiobook. We followed Manu's recommendation and listened to Trevor Noah (South African comedian and host of The Daily Show) tell us stories of life in Johannesburg as a mixed child during the Apartheid - it's brilliant, anyone else in or going to South Africa give it a listen!
The highlight of the drive though was probably arriving at the petrol station to fill up and switch drivers. Now for some background: Alex and I were placed at Hinchingbrooke Hospital together last year for our surgery block and would often go to watch operations together. As many of you will know, Alex prides himself on being tall and muscular and rejects any comments about him looking like an east Asian monk. I on the other hand am pretty short, not a great fan of the gym, and half Japanese. But apparently to the surgeons and operating staff of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, all it takes is for each of us to wear a scrub cap (to hide my voluminous hair and to hide his lack thereof) for everyone to ask, "Hey are you guys brothers?"
Alex soon stopped going to operations with me.
Fast-forward one year later to the petrol station attendant having a conversation with Alex as he filled up. As we were leaving he asked Alex, "Where are you guys from? China? Japan?" I of course lost my shit, and the little Chinese monk next to me was not a happy bunny.
We eventually arrived at our accommodation for the evening and went to the Tower of Pizza (wahey!) restaurant for dinner. Having attempted homemade banana sushi last week, the logical next step seemed to be to try the most rogue item on the menu: its Italian cousin, banana pizza. I thought it was pretty great (kind of like french toast with banana) and generously offered Alex a trade of one slice of mine for one slice of his. Apparently the aftertaste ruined the rest of his meal.
Our plan for Wednesday: drive to Sentinel Car Park (the start point of the hike), do the Drakensberg chain ladder hike, see the legendary Tugela Falls, and drive back to Johannesburg. We met misfortune and mishaps at every stage of this plan.
6km away from the car park, we met a fork in the road. It was like a scene from a film: the left was beautifully paved and led to the warm well-lit sunny side of the mountain, and the right was a steep rocky dirt track ridden with boulders and potholes.
GoogleMaps said go right.
We went right.
We gave up after 10 metres.
I got out and jogged a few hundred metres ahead to see whether the track got any better.
It didn't.
GoogleMaps told us that the left route led us to a nearby hotel so we decided we'd go and park up there, and see if we could pay for a transfer from the hotel to take us these last 6km. I was proud of how sensible we were being, the elective was maturing us into good responsible adults. But just as we were setting off, a small vehicle rolled by and took on the rock path.
It was a taxi bus.
If you've read previous blog posts, you will know how much Alex despises South African taxi buses, they're his worst enemy.
He went after it.
He claims it's because "they have a similar wheel size and ground clearance to Heidi, we'll be able to make it too" but really, he just saw red. He couldn't lose to a taxi bus.
Before long, we realised this was a mistake. I have never seen Alex so stressed, he looked angry, on the verge of tears, and badly constipated all at the same time. Heidi's engine was overheating and we were one mistake from a puncture... needless to say, after 2km we gave up the pursuit. We thanked Heidi for her heroic efforts and cautiously made our way back down to employ plan B via the hotel. [To our parents, a disclaimer: we would like to stress that though attempting this was indeed stupid, we were never at risk of harm to ourselves through crashing or falling off a cliff or anything like that, we were completely safe we promise... but yes maybe we could have destroyed the car, sorry]
Sadly I don't have any photos of how bad the dirt track was, I was too afraid Alex might shout at me if I did... instead, here's a photo of the moment we made it back down to sweet sweet surfaced road.
At first, a nonchalant warning from the hotel manager worried us that we might have to give up on the hike altogether: "Oh yeah, just so you know, they're setting the mountain on fire while you're up there." WHAT!? Apparently though she thought it would "maybe" be safe, just try to avoid getting too close, and run away if necessary... okay cool, thanks boss.
Alex, that banana pizza may have been a bad idea...
The trek itself was absolutely incredible. We had sunny blue skies, the views were amazing all the way up, and being winter there wasn't another hiker in sight, giving us free reign to explore the mountain as we wished (a.k.a. we repeatedly got lost). We hit another speed bump as we came across a sign telling us the chain ladder route was closed for safety reasons, and the sign redirected us to go up the gully route instead: a steep final push to the summit clambering over rocks and boulders. Linen trousers were a bad idea... much cold, much spiky plants, much regret.
The view on the way up was pretty great
Arriving at the top was surreal, like entering a new world. It's really hard to put into words, but if you've ever hiked before you will recognise how generally when you reach the top of a mountain, you very much feel like you've reached "the top": the mountain gets narrower as you go up, and when you're done you're at a peak where if you walk in any direction you'd be going back down. At Drakensberg on the other hand, the top is a vast smooth plateau (the escarpment). You could look out onto it and there would be yellow-green plains as far as the eye could see. You could imagine a football pitch, a town, even an entire city being built there. It was only when you looked at the 1000m drop behind you that your brain would recognise you weren't at sea level.
View in front, and view behind... a magnificent mindfuck
Such a poser
We spent some time wandering around these other-worldly plains looking for Tugela Falls, and came across a few semi-frozen ice lakes and rivers. We followed them along the escarpment but found they ended before reaching the edge - with the lack of rainfall recently it seemed the waterfall must have dried up :( It was a shame but it's been known to happen, and we were pretty happy with all the other beautiful sights we'd got to see. Alex chirped up saying that he wanted to be back down the mountain well before it got dark, so we started heading back.
Frozone from The Incredibles anyone? "Honeeey... where's my super suit?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2qRDMHbXaM)
The closest thing we found to the second tallest waterfall in the world.
On the way back, we unexpectedly came across several groups of other hikers: people were popping up seemingly out of nowhere at one edge of the escarpment, and walking confidently to the other side as if they knew what they were doing (ah, guess the lack of other hikers may have been more related to our navigation skills than with the time of year). There were also a few groups coming back in the opposite direction, looking very happy, fulfilled, and like they had just seen what they had come to see... hrmmm.
We tentatively asked where people were popping up from (the chain ladders) and what they had seen (the legendary Tugela Falls). God dammit.
"I'm sure the sign said it wasn't safe to use the chain ladders..."
"Are you sure we can go down these ladders?" "Yeah they're only shaky halfway down"
Fake news.
Oh and to finish off, a selection of quotes from our trip:
"I think this route looks path-ier, no no this one's definitely path-ier"
"Do you mind making this moment really special for me.... and like getting down on one knee or something?"
"Why are you taking a photo of the poo?" "I want to send it to Hayley."
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