It was beautiful Saturday morning, the sun was out, it was nice and warm I even forgot that we are still in winter season. I found out a day before the hike that we are doing 22km hike, I started psyching myself up and preparing my mind to 22km hike. I was told we are doing it for team spirit as a send off to our fellow Comrade runner, who is few weeks away to the race, 28th August to be exact. All the best to him, we will be rooting for him in the comfort of our homes. If you’ve been following my blogs, you will remember I spoke about this gentleman in our hiking group that runs marathons, and he is running his 18th Comrade Marathon if I am not mistaken.

I have hiked Van Gaalen few times, few 10kms, 18km and always discovered more and realized that I still haven’t discovered everything about Van Gaalen. This 22km hike was no different, I most certainly discovered a whole lot newer things.

I have many times talked about how gorgeous the place is, the pictures do not tell the whole story. The experience is always different from each hike, that always puzzles me. I am always amazed by this, and I try to make sense of it. Best part of it all, is meeting new people and Fabtastic, meaningful conversations. Everything just falls into place; all I know is all these amazing experiences wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for hiking. I learn something new all the time, like this time a learnt about Trig Beacon. I always wondered what are these white concrete poles that I always see high up the mountains. Thanks to Wandile, one of the gentlemen we hike with explained to me. He said they are used to triangulate geographic positions (coordinates and elevation) to determine the accurate location and height for most infrastructure projects. It was fascinating to learn about this, really was, now I know and now you Fabtastic people now know too, Thank you Wandile.

When we started hiking, I was confident that we will finish the hike within 5 hours, which will be record time. It turns out I was wrong; the hike became difficult after 9km. The first 10km were nice and flat, so we paced ourselves very well. When we were still hiking the flat, I kept on looking up the mountain trying to make sense of it all. We were doing well going up even though it was difficult, the air started getting thinner and the altitude was not so good. It was windy, at some point some of our team members struggled with breathing, they had to pace themselves according to how they feel. We all made it to the top, 1695metres high, I was beside myself, the views from up there were exquisite. There is a feeling I cannot put into words that takes over me every time I am at the highest peak of the mountain. There is no way I would get to see all these amazing picture-perfect moments if I wasn’t hiking.

I was looking forward to seeing Vultures as we kept on climbing higher and higher. We finally got to their “hanging spot”, Oh my goodness, they gave us a show. It was a front-line row show, I mean I knew am going to see them but not the show they put for us. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. The video and pictures won’t even begin to explain it all, we were so up close with them I couldn’t believe it. This for me was the highlight of this hike. I forgot all about the thin air and how we still have 12km to go and how painful is it to go down from such steep climb. Like the saying goes; what goes up must come down.

While we were coming down, we got lost somewhere, we ended up doing 27km. I think we were left with 5km when we got lost. You must know that when you tired and hot, 5km feels like 10km. The only thing that kept us going was seeing those signs saying, ” back to VG”(Van Gaalen). We were always happy when we saw such signs along the way. By the way, just by the way, our Comrade Runner ditched us as usual. LOL. He was patiently hiking with us for the first half of the hike and then he disappeared into thin air, but we know he appreciated the team support.

“Out there, unplugged, beauty all around, we can see who we are….our strength, our humanity, our need for quiet calm. Hiking reminds us that life is best lived one foot in front of the other”-Unknown

Resilience was order of the day.

Until next time Fabtastic people.

Moira

I ate my humble pie😊

I always look forward to hiking at the new spot, I get excited for new experiences but more so to experience different scenery.

Let me tell you; I was not prepared for what I experienced at this hike. Pumza told me that it’s a difficult terrain with lots of rocks to maneuver through and loose stones. Pumza is very passionate about hiking, so when she tells you a story about the spot, all you hear is how beautiful the place is, nothing else. She is a good storyteller, so all I heard was beautiful place with breathtaking views, not difficult trail.😁

De Wildt is situated in Magaliesberg Mountains near Hartbeespoort in the North West Province, 30 minutes from Johannesburg and about 40 minutes from Pretoria. The weather was spectacular, it was perfect for such a difficult hike. The place has majestic views and offer different trails up to 21kms, they even have a shooting range. The trails are very well marked you cannot get lost, you just need to pay attention to signages throughout. I wouldn’t recommend one to do this hike during summertime or when it’s raining. I cannot get over what I get to experience and learn on each hike, it doesn’t get old for me.

During the week I asked Pumza how many kilometers we are doing, she said let’s do 15km. I agreed with excitement because I haven’t done 15km in long time. She said to me; I am going to send you the link to De Wildt website you need to fill in the indemnity form otherwise they won’t let you hike. When I heard indemnity form, I knew that I am in for tough hike. When a place asks for indemnity form, just know that all hell is going to break loose. 😂.

We got to a place, and we gathered and did the usual “housekeeping”, and we started the hike. There was a sign that showed how many hours it will take to finish the hike. Ours said 5 hours, I didn’t believe it because normally we do 10kms in 2 hours, so I thought to myself, 3 hours tops will be done. Boy was I wrong, it took us 5 hours instead. Lol. Most hikes you control your pace, this one the trail controls your pace because it is tricky. We were at 1.5km when I saw a chicken run sign. Chicken run is an early exit that you can take if you feel like you cannot continue with the hike. When I saw chicken run sign at 1.5kms, I knew that this is going to be a difficult hike. The picture of a chicken on the sign was so funny, it’s literally the chicken running away and terrified. My imagination was working overtime when I saw the picture. LOL. You don’t want to know what I was thinking. Normally you find chicken run sign from 5km, you can imagine my shock when I saw it so early into the hike. All I can tell you is that 1.5km hike felt like 5km. This hike had no mercy, as soon as we started hiking it was a hectic, straight up climb, one had to already maneuver through big rocks and loose stones. From the beginning of the hike till the end it was just big rocks and loose stones.

The next chicken run signage was at 6kms, this was the last one, we kept on saying ” who ever want to bail out now is the time.” Well, we were all stubborn enough, so we continued with our hike. At this point it already felt like we’ve done 15km, I remember all we did was climbing up and up, hardly ever flat surface. The going down was so painful cause it was a serious slope. Going down was short, while you try to catch breathe next climb starts. There was one gentleman who is preparing for comrades’ marathon, decided to do 21kms by himself, this guy passed us all and finished way before us. When he passed us, he was even running, I have no idea how he managed that. I guess that’s why in August he is running his 17th Comrades Marathon.

The higher we climbed the more majestic it got, we got to see almost 360 views of the beautiful Hartbeespoort dam and the surrounding mountains. No words or pictures can describe the views I experienced; it was insane. The views really make up for the difficult terrain, as much as it was tough hike, I was in heaven, I was happy. At some point we were so high up, the air was thin, cold wind blowing, had to put on my jacket. One thing that De Wildt don’t have is the signage of how many kilometers you’ve hiked. I think they did that on purpose cause it’s a difficult hike. The only time you see that signage is when you have 3kms to go. No fitness app was working because there was no network coverage, you hike without knowing how much more you still need to hike. When we finally saw 3km to picnic spot, I couldn’t believe it, I was hoping to see 1km left. You must remember in this type of terrain, 3km takes you 1hr to finish, I was finished at this point. I was waddling like a penguin, I remember at some point I was concentrating at putting one foot after the other. It was the longest 1hour of my life. This hike really tested my mental strength, I am happy I did it, and I will go back again.

When I saw base camp, I was so happy I felt like a conqueror, it was fabtastic to see civilization. Finally, fitness apps were working, we couldn’t wait to see how far we hiked, we did just over 18km. I was so proud, we didn’t even stop to have a snack, we snacked as we hiked. When we got to the base camp, the gentleman who ran 21kms was long relaxed and still had energy. All we wanted was to get home and soak our feet in hot water. He still said he is going to wake up the following day and run 10km.

On to the next adventure. “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value”-G.M. Trevelyan

Until next time Fabtastic People

Moira

Africaland-Phaladingwe

It feels fabtastic to have a chance to be able to connect with nature through hiking. The places I get to see and the ones I am yet to see; exciting. I am grateful that I can hike and discovered it as a hobby, it is fulfilling.

Africaland is situated in the North- West Province, Hartbeespoort, the hike is just short of 8km, it’s moderately intense and offers spectacular views of the beautiful river, awesome camping sites and surrounding mountains. They offer outdoor activities such as river rafting, camping, abseiling to name a few. It only takes 40 minutes from North of Johannesburg to get to this gorgeous wilderness escape. As you drive into the property, you immediately see beautiful NECSA building (South African Nuclear Energy Corporation). I’ve been to this place before, if you follow my blog, you will remember this is the place, I “survived” the jackal😆. I didn’t get to see my friend(jackal) this time, so I was safe.

Before I talk about the best experience gained from this hike, I need to tell you about this place me and Pumza discovered that sells awesome fat cakes. It is at a garage along the route we use to get to Hartbeespoort. It is now our favorite place to get fat cakes from. Let me tell you, those fat cakes are the real deal. We ‘starve’ ourselves a day before so that we can eat them for breakfast while on our way to our hike. Listen, I speak about these fat cakes to Pumza a night before and I salivate, Pumza says I am corrupting her 😂. She has given up on fighting the craving, she is officially corrupt. This experience (the fat cakes experience) made me realize how even smallest of small things can just bring joy to one’s day. I love the fact that when I go hike, it’s never about the actual hike only, the whole experience just bring joy to me. Who knew looking forward to eating fat cakes can be such fun?

What a treat this hike was, a longtime friend of mine and Pumza was in town. She now lives in KwaZulu Natal, we decided it will be nice to take her for a hike to catch up. She loves nature and outdoors, this was a perfect treat for her. She was very impressed with the location as she’s never been before. While we were walking and catching up, Pumza was trying to convince me to think about climbing Kilimanjaro. I laughed at her and told her that my other friend has been trying to convince me and it’s not going to work. Some things are torture, for me climbing Kilimanjaro is one of those things. Different strokes for different folks. I gave her the same answer I gave my other friend; imagine that someone(potter) must carry portable toilet for me, Eeewww that’s not fair, it’s a NO. So, she said to me, out of all things I could think of, I am thinking about the portable toilet? She continued to say, you do know it’s their job, if they don’t do that, they won’t have the job right? I said I don’t care I am not doing it. She said she is not done convincing me, we shall see. The gratitude I had after this hike was overwhelming. I appreciated the quality time spent with my friends and the love, it made me realize that truly best things in life are free.

I am thankful for my feet, my legs, my lungs and my body for that they able to carry me to climb mountains.

Until next time Fabtastic people

Moira

Against all odds

Modderfontein Reserve is situated in the East of Johannesburg, right in the middle of the Industrial place. When you in the park you get lost in it and immediately forget that it is right in the middle of busy Industrial place. Its flat therefore everyone, kids, first timers’ hikers can conquer it.

Like most Nature reserves, it offers different activities; fishing, running, cycling and hiking trails. The trails are well marked, and what I love about this park is that cycling and walking trails are separated. Best of it all there is a farmers market open on Saturdays. The farmer’s market is truly a nice way to end the activity, most definitely to get some food and coffee. Second time visit and it was totally different experience. If you get there early you get to experience beautiful sunrise and the sun reflects in the river, it’s truly magical.

Well, this hike is for the books. First, I drove us to Modderfontein, something I avoid at all costs. I enjoy being a passenger and I own it. When I drive going to hikes, I don’t wear my hiking boots, I wear flip flops. I have decided in my head that it is not comfortable to drive with hiking boots cause their sole is thick therefore I cannot feel the paddles. This is in my head; I never tested my theory and am not going to test it. Lol. I have concluded that’s how it is, my story and I am sticking to it. 😆. I was hiking with Pumza. So, we get to the Reserve, and I park the car, reach out to the backseat to get my bag and my hiking shoes. All I can remember is getting such a fright, my face heats up and Pumza got a shock. She thought maybe I just spilled something and at that moment I wished that’s what it was. I FORGOT MY HIKING SHOES people, yes, I did. I tell you, after few seconds of shock I turned to Pumza and said, “Pum I forgot my shoes”, we looked at each other and we cracked ourselves with laughter. We spent few minutes laughing so hard, we laughed like lunatics.

While we were laughing, both of us silently knew that no one want to go back home. Are you kidding me? after leaving our warm beds in this cold autumn, on a Saturday, hell no, going back home was not an option. Driving all the way from the North to the East to drive back without hiking, NOPE. So, we devise a plan that seeing that the trail is flat, I am hiking with my flip flops. YES, that was our brilliant plan. My Podiatrist must never find out about this, never. LOL. I do not by no means recommend this to anyone, No, No, No. Honestly, I decided to hike with my flip flops because I knew the trail is flat, if it was by the mountains I was not going to hike with my flops. I guess everything happens for a reason! I guess there is a first time for everything, but this one take cup. Mind you this place is cold, surrounded by the river and its autumn. We start walking towards the starting spot and these two gentlemen come pass us and they notice my fancy shoes. The other one says, “OMG aren’t you cold, why the flip flops? My answer was, do not even ask. They laughed and said how far you going to get with those flops. They said we shall see you on the finish line probably with no shoes on as those might be torn by the time you get to the finish line, and we all laughed.

I had to lift my feet while walking to avoid losing my toenail to stones or trees. Bright side, this was good for my calves. Mind you the hike was almost 12km, my special shoes carried me through the finish line. This experience taught me so much about my character, the fact that this did not deter me from doing what I was there for and still enjoyed myself. I also learnt that I need home foot spa massager so that I can enjoy after every hike. I wouldn’t have thought about the foot spa massager if it wasn’t for this experience. (Friends and family its my birthday next month) 😘😉. It was good that it hasn’t rained for few weeks, the sun was out, we did come across some mud here and there but nothing too hectic. Managed to get to the finish line and my flops still in one piece, afterwards we went to the Market.

Pumza’ s company was great as always, and into the nature we went, I even forgot that I was hiking with flip flops and my feet were hot.

When I got home, I soaked my feet in warm water and bicarbonate of soda, that did the trick. I asked my daughter if she could massage my feet, she gave me the look but agreed to massage me. Ahhh joys of having off spring right!, nope she agreed for a fee. LOL

Life gave me choice, I put my flip flops on, and off I went. Do not try this at home. LOL

Until next time fabtastic people.

Moira

I was invited to a 19km hike, Van Gaalen in Hartbeespoort, North West Province. I have been to this place more than three times but never done 19km. It only takes about 45 minutes to drive from Johannesburg. As usual it was exciting for me because I knew was I going to come back with different experiences, and I did. I always did 10km all the three times I’ve been there. So, I saw a different Van Gaalen on this 19km hike. It felt like I was hiking at a place that I’ve never been before. I saw a herd of Blesboks, which you never get to see if you do 10km. This place is gorgeous, those who read my previous blogs will know, I have written about it. For the sake of new visitors to my blog, let me summarize it quickly. Its privately owned farm, they farm lots of different things, cheese, nuts, different crops. They even have animal stock;cows, sheep, Emus, etc. They have beautiful picnic spots and a restaurant facing gorgeous mountains and dam.

I love how I get to meet different people every time I am invited to these hikes. I just know that it will be an experience of a lifetime, that I wouldn’t have gained if I stayed at home. The reason I titled this piece mindfulness is because, I instantly realized that this hike was going to be feeding my mind more than anything. I began thinking about my surroundings as we started walking, not sure why my mind took me there, but it did. I was thinking about the owner/s of the farm, the thought process that went into putting together this beautiful place around nature, making sure that they enhanced this beautiful wilderness. My mind was working overtime but in a healthy way. As my mind wondered away with this thought, I started having conversation with the gentleman I was walking next to whom was part of the hiking group.

I cannot remember how our conversation revered towards what he does and previously did. He told me he was a professional footballer and then he got injured and had to retire from playing. I immediately got interested in the whole story. Here is the guy who had to retired early from doing what he loved most but he seemed to be doing well. So, he continues telling me his story how after recovering from his injury he started running to keep busy. He said one day his friend said he must join short marathons because he seemed to be enjoying running. Reluctantly he agreed, and he said he actually enjoyed it very much. The next thing he knows the very same friend registered him for Comrades Marathon. This is one of the biggest marathons on the international calendar, 90km run. To cut the long story short, he went to his first Comrades, and he finished in the top 400. As they say the rest is history, he is going to his 18th Comrades this year. I was blown away by this story, purely because I kept on thinking here is the guy who is now so passionate about what he never thought it would be his passion. I started thinking about how I also started my hiking, it was purely by chance and here I am. This got me thinking as well of how many people who now have passion and it really started by chance. Its true when they say, “you never know what you capable of until you are doing it”. I still don’t believe I hike, and I LOVE it, yet I fear anything that crawls, no mater how small. LOL.

I was wowed by this fabtastic Experience I gained from this hike, I was motivated by the conversations we had. I also learnt so much about farming from my friend Pumza, she is very passionate about farming. As we were walking, when we see crops, she will explain to me why they planted specific crops under the trees not by sunshine. I remember when we passed two calves separated from their mom, she told me it’s because they are weaning them off the mother’s milk. I even made a comment that it is the same process as humans. It was truly a Fabtastic day spent in the wilderness, enjoyed every moment of it. My mind was well fed by the time we finished hiking. The 19kms went by so quickly.😀

“Hiking is the answer, who cares what the question is”. -Greta’s travels.

Until next time Fabtastic people

Moira

It was a beautiful day, started a bit cloudy, and progressed into a sunny summer day of December (2021). I went hiking with my work team members. It was our last day seeing each other for the year and we decided to be outdoors, hike, and have a picnic afterward.

Van Gaalen is a farm situated in the heart of Haartbeesport in the North-West Province. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you will know that I have been to Haartbeesport many times. There is so much to see and experience. The trails on this farm cross over 80km throughout the Skeerpoort Valley. They offer mountain biking, trail running, and hiking. The landscape at this place is out of this world, tranquil, I fell in love with it immediately and it is now one of my favorite hiking spots.

They farm different things including making cheese; they offer cheese tours. The farm is surrounded by mountains, overgrown green crops, and tunnels of bamboo, such beauty. It also has a picnic spot under huge trees and a restaurant facing a beautiful dam. I am unable to paint a fair picture of this place, it is Fabtastic and beautiful. We started hiking knowing that afterward we are going to have a picnic, as we ordered a picnic basket prior to our hike. We also came across lots of Mulberry trees, and we definitely ate some. I was looking forward to the picnic, I love my food, correction, I love good food. While I was hiking, I was salivating thinking about that picnic basket. LOL

There was a dog that decided to join us on the hike, it lives on the farm. I thought it was going to walk with us a little bit and go back to the farm. He was so cute, he hiked over 10km with us. I was worried about it, thinking it might not be able to hike for that long or get lost. Everyone kept on reassuring me that he must be used to doing this all the time; that didn’t put me at ease at all. Lol. When we stopped for snacks, we tried offering him water and nibbles, he refused to eat.

We finished our hike, and it was picnic time, we took our picnic basket and went to sit under huge, gorgeous trees by the picnic site. There were birds chirping, and lots of monkeys. The monkeys were totally out of order, they kept on trying to steal our food. We kept chasing them away, they were prepared to get to our yummy picnic basket one way or the other. We continued eating and having lots of funny, serious, conversations.

Remember I told you it was sunny by the time we finished our hike; the next thing I felt water running through my arm and some drops on my lips. At first, I didn’t think about it because we are surrounded by mountains and trees, I thought it was drizzling. The next thing I realised was that it was a monkey peeing on me. Holy smokes: I jumped out of my chair, I was screaming (“monkey peed on me!!) and disgusted. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am loud; The disrespect this monkey had, LOL. He sat right there on the tree and watched me freaking out, the nerve. I was looking for water to wash off my lips, I was beside myself. Meanwhile, my team was staring at me and killing themselves with laughter. I am sure you are wondering why such drama, well, I am clean freak , to me that pee was horrific.

Anyway, after a while, they stopped laughing at me and I was also now calm, we continued with our picnic. So, when we were leaving the picnic spot, we had some food left and I suggested we feed the monkeys. My team said Noooooo(they said it all at once, it was funny), you will be teaching them bad behavior, they will continue wanting to steal people’s food. They also said, in any case, a few minutes ago you were so upset with these monkeys now you are feeling sorry for them. Honestly, they were too cute to remain upset with them.

We left the picnic spot and walked to the cheese factory, it looked incredible. It was my first time seeing so much cheese in one place, it felt like I was on a school excursion

I would not change that day, experience, and memories for anything. It was a fabtastic day to spend with the fabtastic team.

Oh, by the way, yesterday (29/01), I did Van Galeen 2.0, yes I went back hiking there with my Amigos. The experience was totally different from a month ago. It is crazy how I experience the same place differently. My four-legged friend was there again to hike with us, he led the way. I am telling you this dog has energy for days, I wonder how many times a day he goes up and down that trail.

I was telling my Amigos that the last time I was here he came with us on the trail. They decided we give him a name, one of my friends suggested we name him Goat. We laughed so hard, because there is a story behind Goat. Well let me tell you that story; as we started our hike, we saw sheep. One of my friend shouted, “look at the Goats”? We killed ourselves with laughter and told her that is not goats but sheep. Goat became an inside joke the whole time we were hiking. I told her she is not going to hear the end of it as I am writing about it on my blog. So that’s how we agreed that our four-legged friend’s name will be Goat. He responded to the name after few times calling him that; poor dog. Lol.

While we were busy chatting away and walking, another dog came from nowhere and joined us, he lives at the farm as well. Goat was very happy to see him and we all walked together. Guess what we named him? Sheep, yep we named him Sheep, and we started laughing all over again about “goat”. Off we went with Goat and Sheep, after a while Goat abandoned us and we never saw him again until we came back to the farm, and then Sheep abandoned us but came back. We got to the farm sat at the restaurant and had breakfast. Before we left we saw Goat seating nicely on the couch looking tired, we asked one of the guys what are their real names and he told us. We told him we gave them names while we were hiking. As we were telling him this one is Goat and the other one is Sheep, he kept on saying, “ that’s close enough”, he was funny. Lol. It was a lovely, light easy day, free therapy.

As we were leaving we saw some birds and I asked, “are those ostriches”, and one of my friend said Noooo , they are Emus and I said they look like fat ostriches. She laughed so hard, it was my first time seeing Emus up close. We were just about to drive away, when we saw goats, real goats this time😅.Our friend who said sheep is goat was already gone so she didn’t see them. We quickly decided, I take a picture of the goats and send it on our whatsapp group and tell her look we found real goats, but then my other friend said send a message saying ” we found the sheep” 😀😀

Experiences are everything, especially with great people around you.

Until next time fabtastic people

Moira

In the wilderness

I was listening to some podcast talking about good habits that can help one to navigate through this tough thing called life. While I was listening, I have realized that hiking, outdoors, nature, mountains are one of many good habits that help me through any situation. I also had a moment of calmness while I was hiking two weekends ago.

Hear me for a moment, am not trying to turn into spiritual Guru on you at all. LOL. I am in awe of how much nature can just work with you if you slow down, be present and pay attention. I even told my friend about the moment of calmness I felt during this particular hike. My AHA moment was so powerful, I thought about it every minute from when I woke up that morning, from choosing my outfit to sipping on my first cup of coffee.

Funny thing is, at that spot I was experiencing my moment, there was a notice board along that path; it read; quite please owls are at roost. Apparently, there are owls around that path, and that’s where they roost. While I was in the moment, I could here my friend at the back saying; they can’t be serious, we supposed to be quite because Owls are roosting. Someone answered her with an example; he said, imagine you trying to sleep, and your neighbor is making noise with load music or banging something; it is the same. Everything that exists make sense, one just needs to pay attention and be aware.

There is a joke going around my family and friends, they always say what did I bring back from the wilderness, from climbing mountains. LOL. I always laugh it away, but now I have an answer. ” I bring back so much yet is not visible, its visible through my mental, physical and spiritual wellness. I bring back calmness . Well, friends and family, there is your answer, now you know.

Ready and half-way to hiking o’clock

Until next time Fabtastic people.

Moira

One of many of my favorite hiking spots

I’ve been meaning to start blogging about my favorite hiking spots. Groenkloof is the first of many. When I started thinking of blogging about my favorite hiking spots; I realized that there will be many more of my favorites and that’s okay, because there will be different stories to tell for sure. I like this hiking trail because it’s challenging mentally, physically from the word go.

Groenkloof Nature Reserve is situated in Pretoria; the capital city of South Africa. The place has horse trails, Zebras, Giraffes, Ostriches, and a few more bird species. It is well kept, it has braai/picnic spots and hiking trails are marked very well. A friend of a friend introduced me to this trail early in my hiking adventures. It is a hard trail, gorgeous views from the top of the rocky hills, steep, and it is always hot, Pretoria is very hot even in winter.

Most of the time we do 10km, however, there was this one time we decided to do 15km and it was summer. OMG, that was biggest mistake, we were so tired, we drank lots of water but we felt so dehydrated. we now go to this trail during wintertime, lesson learned. We decided that the only time to do over 10km anywhere in Pretoria will be during winter, it is still hot in winter but much better than summertime. I remember I checked my watch and we were into our 9km and I was thinking , what am I doing to myself. At this point I was still an amateur into this hiking thing, still figuring out why am I enjoying this. Anyway, we finished our 15km and we were very happy because that was our first long hike.

A few times we’ve been at this place with my Amigos, and we seem to be enjoying going back, I have lost count on how many times we’ve been there.

As I have said, there is always a story to tell, I specifically remember a particular story about a particular Zebra. We were well into our hiking and it was so hot that day even animals were gathered under trees looking for shade. We walked past the herd of Zebras under a few small trees, as we were approaching these animals we realized that one of the Zebra was lying down and others gathered around it. It seemed like the one on the ground was really struggling, it was not well. All I could think of was as soon as we get to the finish line I am going to tell the animal keepers to go check it out. The way it was laying there you could definitely tell that there was something wrong. If you’ve read my previous blogs you will know that one of my favorite animals is Zebra. I was not happy seeing it that way, I just couldn’t wait to get back and report it. After we passed that spot I would say I forgot a bit about that incident and enjoyed my hike until the finish line.

We got into the car and left the place, Yes unfortunately I forgot to report the incident before I left. I remember when we were driving home, I said to my friend; Oh no, I forgot to tell the keepers about the Zebra. I started thinking all sorts of things, what if it was dying; what if it was giving birth; anyway if it was giving birth that’s okay, which means it didn’t die. To this day I still think about it, this is more than three years later. I try to think that it was giving birth not dying, I guess this is me trying to make myself feel better. I never told my friend that I still think about this incident, I don’t even think she remembers it. Well, she will now when she reads this blog.

Anyway funny story about Groenkloof, so one day we were back again and I saw this beautiful flower and I took it to plant it in my garden. A few weeks later it was blooming and I took a picture to send to my friend to show her how grown it was. She sends me a text that she showed her boyfriend my flower and her boyfriend said; ” why do you all go mess up nature”, safe to say I don’t take plants from nature anymore. LOL

Until next time Fabtastic people.

Moira