The term at Mount Kenya Academy ended with 4 days of final exams for all followed by the annual Sports Day. Parents came to pick up their children and cheer them on as they participated in various running events. The band opened the event.
The junior school cheer squad performed enthusiastically.
Everyone had a good time and the weather was perfect.
Students had their bags packed and were ready to head home after the event.
Two days later, April 4th, Chris and I flew from Kenya to Blantyre, Malawi to climb Mt. Mulanje, the highest point in the country.
Chris with our guide, Reckson
The trails were the steepest that I have ever experienced. Why have switchbacks when you can go straight up???
Manuel carried the food for 5 of us for 3 days. The first night we slept in a hut at the base of the final ascent to the summit. There were lots of other hikers, both Malawians and foreigners.
Lunch on our first day included a jar of peanut butter!
Beautiful views!
Almost there...
At the summit!
After descending to the hut, eating lunch, and gathering our gear, we walked a couple hours to a different hut at the base of the 2nd highest peak. This area is a broad plateau with peaks all around.
The next day, we started down on a trail to a waterfall.
We had to cross this river a few times. This crossing was the most difficult. Emmanuel, our cook, had no trouble. I needed help getting across.
After a swim below the falls, we ate lunch and walked the rest of the way back to town and our hotel.
Free range chickens are the norm in villages.
Reckson is pointing at the summit on a model of Mt. Mulanje.
We took a walk through the village and bought some snacks from kids at the side of the road.
Kids playing soccer with Mt. Mulanje in the background
The next day we drove to a tea plantation...
... and tasted lots of different teas.
Back to Blantyre for our last night in Malawi. This town is named after the Scottish town where Dr. David Livingstone was born.
The view from the terrace at our hotel in Blantyre. Our 6 days/5 nights in Malawi passed quickly and were packed with adventure. Next stop, South Africa!
The company that arranged our hotels for us spoiled us in Durban. This is the view from our room and from where we ate breakfast. We spent two nights here before beginning our Garden Tour adventure. Then we dipped into Lesotho before exploring South Africa's famous Garden Route (the scenic route from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town).
It's difficult to see the face in this photo but you may recognize Nelson Mandela. We stopped at the site where he was captured and toured the museum. His incarceration marked the beginning of 27 years in prison, from 1962-1990.
The Drakensberg (or Dragon Mountains) are the highest in Southern Africa and form Lesotho's eastern and northern boundaries with South Africa. We spent one night at a lodge looking up at Monk's Cowl and hiked for a couple hours in the hills below it.
Lesotho, known as Africa's Rooftop, is surrounded on all sides by South Africa. It's lowest elevation is 4593' and the highest is 11,424'. We stayed in Malealea Lodge at about 5900'.
We drove through beautiful landscapes sprinkled with stone houses and small villages.
This marker sits at the top of the pass as you enter the valley to Malealea. It's a little like going into Shangri-La.
It's challenging to look at the scenery when the road looks like this, and we are driving a small Toyota without 4W drive.
Our schedule gave us 1 full day to explore the area around Malealea so we hired a guide and hiked to the top of Fuku Fuku, a nearby high point.
The views were beautiful.
We passed farms (this one growing cabbage), houses, and schools. The farming here is done by hand, no tractors or other machinery.
We passed a beautiful waterfall.
And made our way back up the river to where we were staying.
Sheep, horses, and ponies are a big part of the culture.
Just before dinner, a group of local musicians performed traditional music on their homemade instruments. They were as much fun to watch as to listen to!
Leaving Malealea was more challenging than getting there. As we prepared to leave, the skies opened up with a big thunderstorm. This delayed our departure and also muddied the road. This section was extremely narrow. Eventually, a 4x4 truck pulled our car back onto the road.
We're very grateful to the Basotho who helped us out of this ditch, and for the paved road that was 5km from here!
Back in South Africa, we entered our first Karoo: The Great Karoo!
For those of you who are karoo-less about karoos, a karoo is a semi-desert area with mountains and plains.
Early morning at the Great Karoo's Valley of Desolation.
Why do they ruin the views by putting up this big frames?!!!
Addo Elephant Park has more animals than elephants, but it has a lot of elephants. These two young bulls put on quite a show for us!
Cutie warthogs!
More elephants!
A horse in striped pajamas!
But no lions - and I took this photo from the car!!
The "Garden Route" in South Africa is officially between Storms River and Mossel Bay. After we left Addo Elephant Park we officially started on the Garden Route. We drove from Jeffreys Bay, to Tsitsikamma National Park, to Outdshoorn, and to Arniston (near Mossel Bay) before arriving in Cape Town. The route is gorgeous. The hiking was challenging at times and incredibly beautiful. We saw dolphins in Jeffreys Bay, but we were a month too early to see whales.
THE Big Tree at Tsitsikamma National Park
And Big Waves!
We hiked along the shore to a beautiful waterfall that nearly fell directly into the ocean.
Chris describes the trail to the waterfall as a zen trail because we had to focus continuously on climbing over and moving from rock to rock.
On to Oudtshoorn, the ostrich farming region of South Africa and our second karoo, The Klein Karoo. Klein means little.
This is the Klein Karoo, an arid yet fertile valley known for wines, mountain scenery, and ostriches.
We drove to the top of a mountain pass intent on hiking.
Starting the drive in a warm valley did not prepare us for the wind and 40*F temperature at the top. Our warm clothes were back in our room.
It was a beautiful drive up and down without much traffic on a gravel road. This pass is not far from Cango Caves, our next stop.
Cango Caves offers two tours. One is an easy walk through several large and dramatic chambers.
The Adventure tour takes you into smaller rooms where you have to climb, crawl, stoop, and slide. We did the adventure tour.
Notice the legs inside the hole. Everyone had to squeeze through the hole, stand up inside, and push yourself up to the next section of cave
We got up early one morning to watch Meerkats.
When they come out of their underground dens in the early morning, they stand facing the sun to warm up. Their belly skin is darker with a thinner covering of fur. This allows them to absorb more energy from the sun and warm their bodies after a cold night. It also allows people to sit and watch family groups habituated to having humans around.
From Oudtshoorn and the Klein Karoo, we drove back to the coast.
We love beach hikes!
At last, we our at the southern-most tip of South Africa, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.
The water and fish don't know anything about the significance of this geographic point.
At the southern tip, there is a monument that is a very large map of Africa showing natural features, such as mountains, plains, and rivers. It's too big to fit in one picture.
Agulhas is the park where the two oceans meet. There is an old lighthouse and a new interpretive center that is still under construction.
From Agulhas NP, we drove along the coast to Cape Town.
We stopped to watch penguins.
Another unusual sign!
Cape Town, South Africa!
Hiking to Lion's Head, a prominent peak overlooking Cape Town.
This is Lion's Head taken from the top of Table Mountain, another prominent feature of Cape Town. In this picture you can see part of the trail on the side of Lion's Head.
Looking to the northeast from Lion's Head, you see part of Cape Town and the bay. This side has the big port.
This is the view to the southwest. We drove the road that runs along the coast. It's unbelievably beautiful.
There's a very popular cable car that brings people to the top of Table Mountain. We had two beautiful, clear days. Our third day in Cape Town was foggy and you couldn't see either mountain. We were grateful to have taken advantage of the first two days for our hiking adventures.
But no lions - and I took this photo from the car!!
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