The longest walk: Kunene hike, day 2
The day of the longest walk started with a spring in my step and the sun at my back. Unbeknownst to me at that early hour, I would walk and walk and see my shadow do the ‘dance of the sundial’. And that by the end of the day, I would walk into the setting sun like Lucky Luke used to ride his horse, but not steady and no longer with a spring in my step.
The previous day was just a circle route to test out our hiking legs, day two was the real thing. Testing out my hiking legs, was nothing like doing some ‘real’ hiking, the 25km that we expected.
Early birds
The day started with a breakfast in the dark after which we filled our water bottles and packed our snacks. We stuffed our stuff in bags and headed out leaving Omujandi expecting to walk more or less West along the Kunene for the day. After admiring the beautiful deep pink morning and the 2 bright stars, we set off westward.
We were just summiting a hill when we turned around to see the sun follow us out of the pink morning glow and we pretty much followed our shadows until lunch.
Off the beaten track
In the cool morning, we made good time. We ventured off the road and found ourselves thoroughly in the middle of nowhere. We were mostly surrounded by nature with the sound of the river never far of, the sound of leaves rustling in the breeze, but mostly by the silence that can only be found far away from man-made things.
But this place was not entirely untouched by man. Ever so often we would walk past a Himba hut and children playing or working. We would walk past fenced-in millet fields and goats and cows and donkeys. I think it is very rare to see people still living in their own traditional way. It is like a snapshot of a point in time. A time where everything, even though it is a hard life, is uncomplicated and straightforward.
Tea time
It was still early and cool, our shadows still long, when we had finished about 10 km and made a ‘tea time’ break. Without tea, but with a lot of H2O, we sat down in the shade next to the river. We listened to the water rush by and scanned the horizon for crocodiles. All were in good spirits and eager to explore this place that is so far divided from our normal everyday lives.
This rest stop was just a little less than halfway. I thought that we would be at camp tjop-tjop. I was underestimating the hike at that moment in time and should have been more ‘get your game on’ because the day would test me.
After about half an hour or so, we started walking again, it was slightly warmer, but the scenery was so pretty that I did not really notice it getting warmer. I loved the Makalani trees popping up more and more. It is so different to see the actual trees that the seeds come from, rather than the annoying Makalani sellers in the tourist towns. They are relentless. They will even carve your car’s registration into the seed so that you will feel obligated to buy it. But the trees have the opposite effect. They made me feel as if I was walking on some beach on an island somewhere.
Anyway, as the sun rose in the sky, the pace wound down and by lunchtime, we were at about the 18km mark.
Lunch- magie vol ogies toe
We had a brilliant lunch and an afternoon siesta next to the river under a canopy of trees. By the time we had to get going again, I was super lazy. Imagine a Sunday lunch….. Would you like to go back to work after eating until you were stuffed and had a quick rest? I can’t think of anybody who would volunteer.
So that was how I felt. Lazy, full, tired and comfortable under the shade of the trees. So it was quite a shock to go back into the sun. It started to feel like I was walking through molasses. But it was just about 5-7 km more. The mind over matter part could handle 5, 7 or even 8km. But it was not to be an easy afternoon because it would be a little farther than that…..
Afternoon ‘vasbyt’
During the after-lunch period, we had our first evacs with the kitchen bakkie because of bubblewrap type blistered feet and knees that were done for the day. I was having a tough time myself, especially when I could not keep up the pace. To me, the pace felt like Olympic speed walking, a skill that I do not have, and it was not long until me and myself were alone in the middle of nowhere. So I lost the rest of the group and when a fork presented itself in the road, I had to wait for the last man to come by. I had no intention of going on the wrong route and then having to backtrack. No intention, no energy, no willpower.
There, at the fork in the road, my mind started to go ‘under the matter’ instead of over it. And when my mind went ‘under’, it signalled to my knee to start protesting. It was the knee that had the face to face with the boulder the day before. I started walking like a pirate with a wooden leg. The fact that I was walking with my tekkies might also have had something to do with it. My hiking shoes started coming apart at the seams the day before, so I gave my tekkies a go. All was fine until the latter part of the day. The heat, together with the stones were not exactly what one would call a ‘hot stone massage’. Every piece of gravel felt like acu-‘puncture’, ‘Punctures’ which left me with the wind out of my sails. Man! What a day so far!
Almost there
And so we came to the 25km mark. We all held the 25 km point in high regard because that was where we were supposed to call it a day. Before that 25km mark, I just kept telling myself. 2 more km, 1 more km. Any second now….but all that came was more road. It is amazing how your body can hit a wall when the mind is made up to do 25km. I had a lot of trouble getting myself forward after the 25km mark. And every turn, every gate, was the endpoint, but it never was.
The rest of the group seemed to have gotten a second wind or they smelled blood because they were off once again at a pace that this sissie could not keep up with. My ‘radio’ and I dragged our feet along the stony path. By that time, everything was giving up on me. My feet were burning on the hot road, my knee was killing me softly and for some or other reason my hammies were hamming up. And my mind had left me. I believe at that time I was looking like an idiot wandering the desert, dragging my knuckles on the ground.
Finally!
At long long last, 5 km more and 36 degrees later, with the sun almost setting in front of us, our shadows long and behind us, the gate appeared. A mere extra 5km one would think. If you ask me to hike that now, I will tell you ‘I will be right back’. But that extra 5, was like 50 to me. Never has a road been endless like that. All in all, we did almost 30km that day.
I stumbled into camp and made my way to the group, all of them in various stages of rest and rehab. Feet on bags. Bums in chairs. Close-eyed, wide-eyed. Some looking a little crazy, like me.
I fell down on the tarp, tore my shoes off and lay there like a ‘vrot vel’. While I was trying to get my ‘varkies op hok’ again I heard that something else was going to make our day even longer. Our bags were missing in action and our water truck had a leak and was empty. That would explain some of the crazy eyes that met me on arrival. And so we waited. Sitting or lying down on the tarp next to the river, doctoring blisters and cooling our heels, literally and figuratively.
Our excellent cook came to our rescue about an hour later and provided us with a dinner for kings. We ate delicious food after which we went back to our ‘tarped porch’ and a fire was started. Somewhere in the dark of night, our bags came, and it was as if a black hole had sucked everybody in. One second everybody was around the fire, the next everyone was gone (cue the X Files music).
Getting to know one another way better
After getting my stuff I decided to wash the dust and heat of the day away. What an interesting experience the ablution facilities were. It was just one room with 2 showers and 2 loos. No doors, no curtains and no electricity. That makes for very interesting ‘sightings’. At least the ‘no electricity’ thing would ‘soften the blow.’ But there was no way that I could not at the very least rinse off, so me and some people got to know each other really well. Better than after a whole day of talking while walking.
But the water was hot, and at the end of the day, that is all that is needed to ‘reset’
After the shower, I hobbled to my tent dreading what the next day would hold if this first one had me ‘kruppel’ and sore. I hoped that I would sleep off most of the niggles away and that the blisters would not blister and that my peg leg would once again be fleshy. And I was not walking in my tekkies again. The plan for the next day was to strap my hiking shoes with the so-called ‘indestructible’ duct tape and while I was at it, to strap on my big girl pants…..
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👇Below are some of the previous posts on the Kunene hike, or at the very least the run op to it.
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