We left on Saturday morning 3 AM from Sandton. It was 3 of us and its all boys trip. Our objective was to go to the top of Tugela falls which is the second largest in the world next to Niagra. It wasn’t an easy drive after 1 hour with all mist and fog. We finally managed to reach the place called Witsieshoek Resort around 7.30 AM. They serve a decent break fast even to visitors at 65 Rands per person. We further drived for around 20 minutes in a bloody-muddy road to reach the trek start point. We also stopped in between to click pics of the ice layers along the mountain walls.
We finally reached the departure point. The parking lot is quiet good with guards there. You got to register yourself in the office there and pay 40 rands per head for the entry. The weather was absolutely perfect with bright sunny sky and uber cool 5 degrees temperature. We set off with a medium warm jerkin. It was cool walk initially for 20 minutes or so and then slowly steeping up. The path gets rough and rougher but the scenic view of the mountains kept us going. My mates were almost rookies in trekking but they were motivated enough and we kept pushing keeping the destination (Tugela falls) in mind.
We took couple of breaks in middle to get a breather. However, we havent felt the real pressure of high altitude trekking until we reached this dangerous thing called CHAIN LADDER. This ladder was long enough that even if you climb it fast, would take 10 minutes to reach the top. For me, that was the most stunning moment of the whole trek for 2 reasons.
Reason 1 : I never climbed the chain ladders on a mountain trek with no safety harness but I always waited for a chance to climb chain ladders (thanks to the training I once received in SAP Labs outing in Bangalore)
Reason 2 : This is not a pleasant one. Will reveal at the end.
We 3 took our time to get to the top and there after it wasn’t tough walk any more. We reached the top of Amphitheater valley and therez lots of snow all around. It was a serene atmosphere after a long grueling ups and downs. We ran around, jumped around, clicked pictures of snow etc.,
Then we patiently walked forward to see the ultimate view of the frozen long Tugela waterfalls. Man, this is the worlds second largest and 90% frozen.
The sound of ice blocks breaking away with the rising heat is awesome. It was like music in the echo friendly amphitheater valley.
We chilled out there for like 30-40 minutes and enjoyed the unique experience for a while. Sadly, we didn’t get any food with us and we are not camping there like other dudes around there did. We got to leave before its dark ( we havent got the torches either) We then had a relaxed walk until the same chain ladder spot. The climb down activity was more scarier than climb up as you got to often look down with uncertainty.
All 3 safely landed and we continued the walk all the way back through the same route. Once again, lots of ups and downs. The sun slowly getting down and ice started growing again every where. I (with my few other old friends) always have the habbit of doing brisk walk for the final 1 hour or so just to keep the spirits high. So, I jumped out of the path, took the steep shallow down way to reach the bottom and had a quick brisk last leg to the car parking area we started from.
By around 5 pm we managed to get back and kick start the car to our resort. It was a bloody long day with only 4 hours odd sleep over night and there fore you feel like almost beaten to the death.
What was the reason 2 that I was bragging about in the chain ladder point ?
When I finished climbing the ladder, I swung the back pack to front to pick my Nikon D90 and at that point it happened. The zip opened up. The camera flew over and effortlessly, travelled to the deep. Woefully, hit the rocks. Inevitably, shattered in to pieces. There was 2 seconds silence. I couldn’t believe it. I lost the best non-family-companion who was always with me since I got him. In all these, I managed to recover the data card. The best part of the incident is that the heavy D90 camera just missed a girl’s (from another trek group behind us) head who was standing down. Now, I am waiting for the entry of Nikon D7000 in to my life ;)
