Hikers
I have been writing this story about the Kunene hikers in my head for weeks, never quite getting to the part of putting pen to paper. But that is what load shedding is for…, and here I have a few words on the proverbial paper.
Since I mostly travel by myself, I have never had the need to write something about others. But, after my hiking trip in May, I wanted to write about my travel companions as they were as much part of the hike as the nature that surrounded us.
People can make or break an experience and in the case of the Kunene hike, they made it. When I think back on the hike next to the mighty Kunene, I will never be able to think of the river or the Makalani trees in isolation because the people were part of the package. And if one is lucky enough to get a good group of people together, it in itself can be sort of a vacation. Some say that vacation is just a change of scenery, but meeting new people, hearing their stories and sharing an experience with them can be seen as a ‘change of scenery’ so to speak.
Our group of people came from all walks of life, different countries, languages and experiences. And during our long walks, and sometimes a little suffering, we got to know each other in a way that you would not normally happen. Quick and meaningful. Sometimes there were some niggles, but those were quickly forgotten when we had to put one foot in front of the other and of course when push came to shove. Lets just say that blisters and sniffles were the shoves….
So I though about writing a little something about the ones I spent most time with and the ones who put me to shame 😊. I won’t mention names, but if they ever read this, they will know who they are.
The Western Cape-ers
These ladies were the seniors of the group. Two of them well beyond the age that I though people will be able to hike. So when I saw them on the bus, I thought to myself, did they read the description of where we are going, this was to be a tough hike. Man was I wrong!!! I quickly found out that these ladies meant business. Their business was hiking and entailed them walking and me trailing in their dust. That is pretty embarrassing on my part seeing as I was the youngest. They are what everybody should strive to be at their age, healthy and active and ready to face a challenge head on even if it is in the scorching sun in the middle of nowhere.
After our third day of walking in the scorching sun, it was decided to cap our walking days at about 12:00 so that we stay out of the sun. That cut down on our distances significantly, and I remember one of them saying ‘ but I can walk 10km in my sleep’. Here us younger folk were welcoming this change, and she was ready to keep to the original plan. Furthermore, to add salt to wounds, they never had blisters or shoe issues and never seemed to have the aches and pains many of the rest of us had.
Then there was the third, a foreigner from way up North who has found her forever home in Cape Town who loves the starry starry nights. ✨ On our hike there was a beautiful planetary display and it was the first thing that she looked for on the dark mornings when we headed out for breakfast by headlamp. And then she took the most beautiful pictures as the sky turned red and the 2 stars were on full display. I have to just add, the brake of dawn and dusk were beautiful and I have never seen a pink sky like that.
One of our conversations will always stick in my mind. It was about dentistry in her home country. As someone who intensely dislikes, and fear dentists , her story had me breathless. She told us how she had to get a root canal without anesthetic. She explained how they poked for the nerve in order to know where it was. I can still see where we were walking when she told us her story. Obviously we talked about other things as well, but the tooth story, man, it is way up there for memorability.
I want to call her a professional hiker and I love seeing the beautiful pictures that she takes on her very regular, and also very early morning hikes. Especially the sunrise and dawn pictures. That is something that we have in common, a love for sunrises and sundowners (and not necessarily the drinks) that can make a person stop dead in their tracks. I hope to one day join her on the mountain to watch the sun come up. I will take my dassie. 😊
The Gautengers
Gangster Paradise also produced a few Kunene hikers. The first hiker that I met, was one of the Gautengers. She stood there in the dark outside the lodge waiting for our bus. I was immediately intimidated. She looked like she meant business with all her gear. I soon found out that 2 of the Gauteng hikers were the pace setters, and they paced me right out of the running,…..or walking for that matter. I wonder if running from ‘gangsters’ has prepared their pace🤔.
And then there was the 3rd,…..Don’t Ig’nor’e h’a’ar, the lady who could not be ignored😉 because a song was triggered by almost any phrase, item or action. Because the door of the bus needed to be slammed in order to be closed, the Peacemaker became the theme song for the bus. Lets just say this song had a tendency to become a ‘Ohrwurm’👂🐛🎶
After a few days’ worth of song, I told her that she should consider trying out for Noot vir Noot, to which she replied, she had been on twice! Then I wondered if I ever did see her on the show, and how weirdly life can unfold. You never know who you are going to meet. If I did see her then, I never would have thought that that I would one day meet this ‘Tannie’ and that we would spend hours taking in the dessert sun, or that she would save my life with tissues and Allergex. And just by the way, a tissue is a luxury that I cannot be thankful enough off. I haven’t had hay fever that bad since I was a small kiddy forced to run through fields of grass full in seed all in the name of summer athletics.
So if you are in the middle of nowhere and your own tissues run out, I hope you also find a friend who has tissues galore and who can be your FM stereo. Tjorts my mede ‘ Nam hybrid’ 🥂
The professional traveler– neither here nor there
Then there was a lady who is now a ‘professional’ traveler and seems to live in no-land. Most of us envy the freedom, and guts that she had to make that her reality. She has the spirit and energy of a much younger person and she made us all remember the song Manuel Goodbye (which was originally a German song might I add and which became the theme song for……you guessed, it Manuel). She was also our ‘drug dealer’ , if you needed ‘Med Lemon’🍋 or something stronger than ‘Allergex’ to stop the sniffles, you would go knock on her tent.
And then the bug, that shall not be named, got her under the weather (which is an understatement). Did she remain in camp to sleep it off? No. She said she would need to be unable to walk before she would forgo on the day’s hike. Tough cookie.
I also want to credit her with something else: beautiful pictures. I don’t know if her phone is on steroids, but the pictures that I saw that she took, during the hike and on other adventures was something else. Her pictures are those that speak a thousand words.
The natives
About half of the group was from Namibia. We had the 2 ‘third daughters’ (of which only one was), there was the singing banker, the Camino veterans and the ‘vet’, the ‘angry bird’🐦 and the blister ‘tannie sister‘👩⚕️ from whom I learned what Omatakos were. She is also a survivor off a whole different kind, she and one of the Capetonians, which just goes to show that sometimes fighting is the right thing to do.
Our singing banker.
The lady with a smile on her face and a song on her lips. She sang with blisters on her feet, with water in her hair and everywhere else. One day she was singing praises in the scorching sun to be able to put one foot in front of the other after her shoes ‘broke’ her feet. Another evening, she was singing praises in the shower. It was beautiful, unfortunately the other campers did not think so and someone was sent to ‘turn the radio down’. So from there on, we only had quiet ‘private shows’. Through it al she had a smile on her face and ready for a laugh (or a song), even through the already mentioned blisters and later on the flu. She had a genuine concern for others and helped pray me through the border (which is a story for another time).
The actual third daughter
The one who actually is the third daughter is my oldest friend, not in age but in years. She is also definitely not the tallest😉 She is however the bravest person that I have ever known with a fierce love for God. She would probably pull everyone to heaven by the hair if she could .
The un-third daughter 🙂
This lady made a big impression because she showed me what a person should strive to be like. I saw this mostly through her actions, especially those that she did not intentionally let others see. I admired her actions and it is a kick in the pants when I saw, that I am not (always) doing what I was called to do, and that is loving my neighbor. And what I saw her love, was not just the ‘neighbors’…..
Least of these
One evening, I came into the ablution facilities and she was trying to save a huge frog🐸 that got lost inside the labyrinth of toilets, showers and other things. She was not just shoo-ing it towards the door, she was trying to catch it in her hands. (If you know me, you will know that I have a soft spot for animals, but although I would try and save a frog, I will not save it by hand. I ‘grill’, You might also remember another frog story, which was by no means as ‘graceful’ as this one and ended with both me and the frog being traumatized). Anyway , she caught the frog, talked to it as if they knew each other and then set it free under the stars.
And it was not only Kermit that got saved. A day or two later it was a ‘koringkriek’🦗. Although this was a ‘nice’ looking koringkriek, me and the ‘corn hoppers’ ,as we like to call them back home, don’t jell that well. We also don’t have a good track record The last time that me and these pesky corn hoppers looked each other in the eye, one was eating my tjop!! There is no love lost.
This lady on the other hand even has compassion for ‘goggas’. She came running and saved Jiminy. Again by hand, and asked that nobody would kill it, so it lived to maybe eat someone’s meat another day.
Saving little creatures makes me think :least of these. And although I don’t think that the Bible verse meant animals specifically , I always take it to imply it, and so that verse came to mind : ‘inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these , you did it to Me. And is a korinkriek not the least?
Loving the neighbor
When she was near, little creatures were loved, but then also the so-called neighbors. She always showed compassion to everyone. The friend, as well as the stranger. I saw her giving her whole lunch away to a stranger in need and lending out her boots to a be-blistered friend. She prayed over toes and feet.
She got really sick towards the end, but this did not stop her from doing another selfless act. A part of our bus broke off, and while we were hiking, she stayed with the bus to try and recuperate. Someone came to fix the bus and she paid them out of her own pocket for their help, and she even helped them a little bit. Of all the flabbergastingly (i dont think that is a word 🙂 ) good things that she did, this was the one that stood out to me because firstly, that was not her responsibility and secondly, she was sick. If it were me, I would have stayed curled up in the fetal position in the bus and ignored the reparations.
When I got home, I was looking for her on Facebook so that we can remain in touch. because who does not need a friend like that ? I did not find her, so I googled her and first hit that I got was a newspaper article of her doing good deeds. She was doing this, minding her own business, when passersby saw her, took some kiekies and a story was published. So it was not just her acting good during our trip together, it seems to be the way she lives her life. She is this person :for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.
She has inspired me to love my neighbor better, but I have to confess, it is easier said than done many days.
The guidelines
There was the man with the plan and the Exit.
The first always seemed calm no matter the situation and made plans to keep things running smoothly when smooth was not the way that things were going. He was last to eat and first to rise and I bet he had a good night’s peaceful sleep when we left. And he still keeps us updated on ‘alleged’ crocodile sightings.…. 🐊
The second guide blew my mind when he explained that he did not carry water because of his ‘day job’ and when he saw a puffadder in a tree that we all walked past in ignorance. He had an eye for all things nature and always wanted to take care of the groups feet while he himself walked with no socks and normal shoes.
The rest
So this is what I have for now. I learned a lot about some people, while others I regrettably did not. Everybody had different conversations and ‘pace partners’ and it would have been very interesting if everybody could have written something about the people that they spend most of their time with, it would fill the ‘people gaps‘ that I have here.
So that is what I have about the hikers. More can definitely be said, but this is what I have for now. It will probably take me a few more weeks of mulling over words and having load shedding time😉 before adding to the Kunene story
If you want to know one reason why I mentioned that me and Koringkrieke have no love lost between us, you can go read here how they tried to eat my braaivleis.👇Also below are the previous and next hiking writings
