The Springbok hike that shows when perseverance is what you need!

When I started planning by Springbok hike, I selected a nice route across the front of Sneeuberg. After the planning was mostly complete I had to scrap my first hike route. I was unable to get a permit because the area of the Cederberg I was planning to hike in was full. This all meant that I had to plan a new route from scratch, in a different area of the Cederberg and get approval from my examiner. With the pressure from exams mounting and at a loss for route ideas I reached out to one of my troop scouters who directed me to a route in the southern Cederberg that met the criteria. I then set about updating my planning document to reflect the new route.

I was using my laptop to write my hike planning document, but I also had a computer dispensation for exams. The weekend before exams started, I had to hand in my laptop (with my hike planning on it) to the head of my school’s IT department for him to reformat it so that I couldn’t cheat while I wrote my exams on it. This meant that I could not finalize my hike plan until I had completed my written exams and that I had to finalize my document during the second half of my exams.

I got pneumonia towards the end of November and this meant that I could now write half my exams and that I would be unable to do my Springbok hike. I would have to postpone the hike for at least a month. This was a major issue, because my 18^th birthday was on the 10^th of December and it looked like I would be unable to complete my Springbok. There was only one thing to do: Apply for and extension and wait…

Fortunately my extension was approved until the end of January, but this meant that I would be doing Springbok in my Matric year, which is not good.
In January I had difficulty getting hike members. The weather on my proposed date was predicted to be very hot with temperatures in the high 30s. Two scouts pulled out due to fears around heat. I contacted over 21 different people and over 6 troops, trying to get a fourth member. Eventually, with the help of multiple people and five days before the hike, I was able to find another scout (Thank you Pierson).

But, my troubles were not over yet. On the eve of my hike (18 hours before we were going to start) I received news that part of the Cederberg was on fire. This was almost funny, given how much else had gone wrong. The next morning, we had confirmation that the fire did affect my hike route and that my permits had been cancelled due to Area C being closed.
I had school that morning and so I enlisted the help of my parents and troop scouter to do some work for me while I needed to be at school. My dad dug up one of my previous route plans (the one that had been changed, because the area had been full) and confirmed with my examiner that the route was adequate. My mom changed my permit booking to Area B for me. We had been in contact over Whatsapp all day, and when I got home I sat down at my computer and worked frantically to update my planning document to include the new-old route.

With so much going on and going wrong in the build up to the hike, it was almost an anti-climax when the weather changed from being scorching hot to cloudy, rainy, misty and cold. We planned for heatstroke, but because the scout motto is Be Prepared, we were also well equipped to handed the cold and wet the hike brought.

I am amazed that my Springbok hike went so well given all these issues. I extend my thanks to all those who helped throughout the long process to make it so.