We started our eventful day meeting at 8:30 at the parking lot near the Huguenot tunnel on the Worcester side.
We hiked along the mountain and then descended towards the river. We stopped at a spot next to the river, had a snack and everyone had to ensure that their belongings in their backpacks would not get wet. Luckily Jonathan saved the day. He had a proper waterproof bag and the cell phones were given to him for dry keeping. Otherwise we would have been in trouble… as most of our belongings did get wet.
I started my first Kloofing experience. Kloofing is the art of following a mountain stream by floating, jumping and swimming. Kloofing takes place in a river gorge deep in the mountains.
We were surrounded by beautiful mountains and apart from a few trout fishers we were on our own. Some of the scouts dragged behind and some were charging ahead.
The most special part of the Kloofing experience was the waterfall. When we reached the 100-metre-high waterfall, we were in awe. Although it was in shade the water wasn’t too cold. A few of us had the courage to jump from the highest point next to the waterfall.
Once back from the waterfall we had lunch and for the next four hours made our way back by swimming, walking or jumping from rock to rock. This was no easy task, with scouts falling backwards, forwards and sideways, miraculously no-one got injured.
By the way I manage to contract swimmer’s itch, for those who have never heard of it (including me). It’s a rash caused by an allergic reaction to the larvae of certain parasites. The parasites can get under your skin when swimming in freshwater. If they come into contact with people, the parasites can burrow under the skin. This causes an allergic reaction and a rash. Luckily the larvae can’t survive in humans, so the parasite die.
The rash goes away on its own and doesn’t need treatment. Mine was so bad that I couldn’t go to school for the two days.
We had a great day and it was certainly one to remember.
a fence and along more gravel road. It was clear where the hike actually started, because this is where we started going up. The first part of the hike was continuing along the steep gravel road, which eventually led into a path. This path continued going up and along a ridge, which lead onto a steep downward path into a valley. Here we stopped for a rest and to refill our water bottles. After walking along the valley floor for a while, we reached a steep upward path that took us out of the valley. Here, we started hiking up zigzags. We could now clearly see the saddle we were aiming for. The zigzags seemed to last forever, before we reached another spot to fill our water bottles and have short break. The path then continued up and onto a few more zigzags before we reached the saddle. Here it was a short, flat hike to the Arangieskop cabin. Here, we had a very rewarding view down onto Protea farm and the rest of the Koo valley below. After enjoying our dinner and some friendly chatter with another group of hikers, we went to sleep.
the valley to the next until we reached a forest. Here, the path flattened out as we made a few crossings, back and forth over a river. We then continued hiking around a spur and onto an extremely eroded path which lead all the way around another valley. On the other side of the valley, we hiked along a flat path which eventually started to zigzag down. These zigzags seemed to last forever, but eventually met a road. We hiked along this road for a couple hundred metres and onto another path. On this path, we hike around a small koppie and then zigzagged down to where we had started the day before. After the walk along the road, we got back to the cottage where we had a very rewarding Coke and biscuits.
of ropes and a groundsheet – and the scouts were put to the test that night, sleeping in the shelters they had made. They held up well even through the rain! We also made solar stills and learned how they collect and purify water from greenery.
