I hope you have all
enjoyed your supper and are now adequately fortified to cope with the business
on hand.
Welcome to the 11th AGM. The Midlands Hiking Club is becoming quite
well known now, and we have frequent enquiries from people wanting to
join. At the end of July 2004 we had
133 paid up members. Our youngest
member, Heidi Gevers, is 11. She
distinguished herself by doing a write up for the newsletter on a day hike at
Mboyti in April. Our oldest member is
Jack Long, who at 84 is still able to keep pace with most of us. Aris Hofland, who celebrated his 80th
birthday in June, demonstrated his fitness and agility during a day hike at
Highmoor last weekend. It is
encouraging for us all to realise just how many more kilometers of hiking we
still have in us, as long as we maintain a high level of fitness through
regular hiking.
In between the oldest and the youngest members
are all the rest of us – a motley bunch, most of whom intend to do many more
hikes than we actually get around to doing.
The day hikes are probably the most well attended hikes, followed by
cottage weekends and camping weekends. Cave and ‘berg hikes are still poorly
attended, and usually it is the same hard-core group that benefits from these
magical outings. Many of these hikes
are led by Dave Sclanders, and are enhanced by his contagious enthusiasm for
the outdoors, his understated knowledge of all aspects of the Drakensberg, and
his patience and concern for the hikers in his care.
Five of our leaders are accredited Rock Art
Custodians for the Drakensberg.. They
are Dave Sclanders, Warwick Keating, Selven Nyker, Graham Cullinan, and Keith
Ashton. It is illegal to visit any Rock
Art site without a custodian, so we are fortunate to be able to call on their
knowledge in this area. Dave Sclanders
and Keith Ashton are still members of KZN Wildlife Hiking and Mountaineering
Liaison Committee.
MHC members have been very active on the Whale
Trail, three different groups enjoying this unique trail over the past 12
months. Perhaps we should try to book
more of these formal trails for club participation.
To all our leaders, thank you for volunteering your
time and effort in order to provide entertaining outings for our members. Thank you for willingly accepting the
responsibility for the hikers in your care.
Thank you also for all the added extras you provide for the benefit of
club members, which make hiking and camping comfortable and fun.
Our Christmas Party held at the Keating’s lovely
home was once again a very festive occasion, enjoyed by all. Thanks Warwick and Brenda for your care and
hard work.
We have also been very fortunate this year in being
able to experience vicariously other wonderful hikes through cleverly put
together slide shows. Brian Henwood
showed us the inside story of his Whale Trail.
Backpackers very kindly allowed us to borrow the CD of their 2003 Grand
Travers, which was led by Jenny Owen.
Brian set the slide show up on his equipment and produced a wonderfully
entertaining show. We are hoping to use
a social evening soon to invite someone to teach MHC digital camera owners how
to create their own slide shows with subtitles etc and set them to music, so we
will be able to watch more of these shows.
Thanks Brian for allowing us the use of your equipment.
The Back Packers Leadership Course was held over 3
days at Shongweni, and provided insight into hiking safety, navigation, bush
craft etc. Several of our members
attended this year and found the course to be enjoyable and useful. It will be repeated next year.
In spite of the major changes in Rod Hart’s life he
has maintained if not elevated the high standard of the MHC web site, keeping
it well up to date with entertaining photographs, and including interesting
links as well. This site is well worth
a visit.
Every couple of months Noël Harper has
conscientiously, with no fuss (and the absolute minimum of much deserved
nagging) put together and distributed an interesting and varied
newsletter. For many of our members
this is the only form of communication with the club, and is a vital integrating
factor. Many thanks Noël!
Quite unexpectedly but very wonderfully events in my
personal life this year seem to have overtaken me and forced a redistribution
of my time. I have not been as active a
member or as involved a chairman as I would like to have been, and for this I
apologize. My very grateful thanks go
to my committee, for their understanding and willingness to fill the gaps:
Vice-Chairman Dave Sclanders, Secretary Merle Brett, Treasurer Pat Kirby, PRO
Margaret Ashton, Activities Selvyn Nyker, Editor Noël Harper, Web Site Rod
Hart, Member Warwick Keating. I would
also like to thank Keith Ashton for his unfailing support and enthusiasm for
everything pertaining to the Midlands Hiking Club.
Please do not hesitate to volunteer your services as
a committee member. The work that needs
to be done is not arduous, and there are always many others to help, advise or
step in if needed. Only one person is
required to take responsibility for each portfolio, and with 133 members to
choose from we should have many more volunteers than we can use.
Finally to all the members who have enjoyed hikes
over the year, Thank You! This, after
all, is the sole purpose for the existence of the Midlands Hiking Club, and the
more members who hike the better we have done.
Mary Clover
It was good to see such an excellent turn-out for
the AGM. Members crowded into the
venue provided by the Hilton Hotel and were treated to a tasty Finger Supper
followed by the business of the evening.
The Chairman read her report, as above, and our Treasurer advised that
the Club was solvent. Members were
however urged to be more pro-active regarding attend-ance at various Day Hikes,
Caving/Camping week-ends and Trails.
It is essential both from a financial point of view and organizational
aspect that your Committee/Leaders are advised timeously of attendance, payment
made, if required, and are made aware of what members actually expect of their
Hiking Club.
The following
members were elected to serve on the Committee for the year 2004/5 : Chairman – Dave Sclanders; Vice Chairman – Brian Henwood; Secretary – Keith Ashton; Treasurer – Ossie Deysel; PRO - Margaret Ashton; Activities – Irene Dickin; Newsletter –
Noël Harper; Webmaster – Rod Hart; Member – Warwick Keating.
To our retiring committee members we convey our
sincere appreciation for their services during the past year: Chairman – Mary Clover; Treasurer – Pat Kirby; Secretary – Merle Brett and Activities –
Selven Nyker. Thank you for your
efforts on our behalf.
Welcome to Angus & Heather Anderson, Chantel
Beattie, Fiona Bell, Michael Bennett,
Clive
Frank, Paddy Holman, Dian Mackenzie, Molly-Anne McCord, Trish Middlebrook,
Alison
Potgieter, Christina Timmermann, Teresa Whitfield and Mark Wisdom and welcome back to the fold Penny
Duffield. We hope you all enjoy many
happy hiking hours with us.
To Bushy Kirby we
wish a speedy recovery from his leg operation and hope to soon see him once
again hiking our hills.
Members are reminded that annual subscriptions at R40 single and R60
per family for the year
1 August 2004 to 31 July 2005 are now due and payable. Those of our members who have not as yet
renewed their subscriptions are requested to either pay by cheque to the
Treasurer,
Ossie Deysel or by direct deposit into the Club’s Bank Account at
Nedbank Hilton Branch,
Account No 1519007299 with a copy of the deposit slip, including your
personal details, faxed to 033 330 3763.
SOCIAL
EVENINGS
At a recent meeting of your committee it was agreed that we should
reinstate our monthly social evenings.
The next social evening therefore will be on Tuesday, 19 October at the
Hilton Hotel and thereafter monthly with the exception of December when we all
gather to celebrate the year end with a Christmas party on 4 December. Full details of Social Evenings on the
Hiking Schedule.
CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY
The annual Christmas Party is scheduled for Saturday, 4 December, at
Mark Nellist’s farm “Chiarella” in the
Karkloof area. Activities will
commence at approximately 11:00 and members are requested to bring a picnic
lunch, a small gift and, if they have one, a gazebo for shelter from the sun
and hopefully not the rain. Full
details of this event will be published in the November Newsletter. In the meantime note the date in your
diaries.
This
month we feature a campsite close to home, Hermits Wood situated at Garden
Castle. It is sited on a grassed bank
next to the wood in the Mlambonja River Valley and provides a superb view of
Garden Castle peak to the south and Rhino Peak on the Northern escarpment. There are ten sites, some of which have
concrete slabs suitable for caravans, stainless steel braai areas at each site
and benches on which to sit out and admire the view. A small ablution block with hot and cold water, toilets,
showers and wash-hand basins as well as washing up facilities for dishes, etc.
is located at a convenient mid-point to the campsites. Gas stoves for cooking and lighting need to
be included in your equipment as there is no electricity. A small shop which carries basic
essentials is at the Reserve Office.
29/30
May 2004
A party of Warwick (leader), Brenda, Campbell, Lorraine, Merle, Clive,
Keith and Margaret met at the campsite at Weenen for a social gathering with
little emphasis on hiking. After
setting up camp part of the group took a walk to the dam and enjoyed viewing
the bird life.
Lunch over at the campsite the group boarded vehicles to view the game
on the way to the start of the Beacon walk.
Vehicles parked we headed for the 45 minute hike to the beacon and
enjoyed the spectacular vista over the Bushmans River and Weenen town. On the return enjoyed a glorious sun set
over the berg.
The evening camp-fire was interrupted by a cold wind
sending the party to the comfort of their sleeping bags.
Morning dawned bright and beautiful with a
magnificent bushveld sunrise. After
breakfast it was decided to explore a new road along the old narrow gauge
railway line between Weenen and Estcourt.
Apart from the fresh evening wind, we enjoyed
glorious weather, moderate viewing of game and hospitable camping, a most
enjoyable week-end.
Warwick Keating
6
June 2004
Three members – Leader Graham Cullinan, Morris & Noël Harper plus
two visitors Lorraine Welch and Ivan Frommurze met at 09:00 outside Game at the
La Lucia Mall for a walk up the coast.
It was a slightly overcast day, warm, with a gentle breeze just enough
to keep the walkers cool as they wandered through the bush and onto the beach
before heading north in the direction of Umhlanga Rocks. Those brave enough lost the shoes and
paddled along in the surf.
Near Umhlanga we moved off the beach, along the
paved walkway which meanders through indigenous gardens past holiday flats and
hotels until we found a patch of lawn near the lighthouse on which to sit for a
tea-break. One or two considered taking
a dip in the ocean but the board said “Rough seas” - a good excuse to give that one a miss.
On up the walkway for a distance before descending
to the sands once more to continue
north past the Lagoon – no nudists in sight – following the white foam
line for another couple of kilometers to a patch of rock pools where we once
more took a break and watched children frolicking and family pets splashing
around in the many pools. There were
any number of fisherman who did not seem as much concerned with actually
catching fish as they were with enjoying the warming sunshine.
On the return much excitement for Ivan who spotted a
Kourie shell washed up in the waves, small but completely undamaged. Back along the beach, past the men’s
“Nudist Beach” this time populated by a few brave souls who watched our
progress with some interest or maybe it was trepidation, before we headed up
into the shade of the indigenous coastal bush. The sounds of the birds and the river were all around us
occasionally interrupted by the sound of a passing motorist higher up the hill.
Through the bush to some benches where lunch was
unpacked and the inner man replenished
ready for the walk back.
The route continued along the paved walkway, on up a
road into the village where the intrepid hikers managed to locate a soft serve
shop –Graham had been hankering after some the whole day. Having satisfied Graham’s sweet tooth
craving we headed back down to the walkway for a spell before returning to the
sands and surf going south to La Lucia.
A lovely walk thoroughly enjoyed by the five of
us. Those of our members who for one
reason or another were unable to join us really missed out. Thank you Graham for a fantastic day.
MAKULUMANE COTTAGE
Friday 11th June
Everyone arrived at Mary's cottage just before dusk. Joan and Andrew Templeton, together with
Casper Labushagne, who they lifted from Dragon Peaks, where he was able to
leave his vehicle under cover at a minimal charge of R10 per night, Graham
Cullinan and Grethe Simkiss who also cadged a lift with Mary.
As we neared the cottage, the filtering rays of sunset over the
Cathkin Mountain range were breathtakingly beautiful. Mary's cottage is very comfortable and can sleep up to 20. A most welcoming fire was made by Andrew
whilst we busied ourselves lighting candles and setting about getting our
respective suppers.
The following morning we were woken to a most amazing red sunrise
just peeping over the horizon, and in no time at all it was quite blinding,
indicating a promise of good weather.
Thandi made a huge pot of mealie meal, just in time for Brian Henwood,
who joined us for breakfast, having left Pmburg at 05.45. At 10:00 we set off for our hike - leaving
our cars in the capable hands of "Karel" and "Sarel" our
newly appointed cars guards a.k.a. Casper and Andrew who elected to breathe in
the mountain air and get down to some serious reading. Venturing out via the Steilberg route and
crossing the Makulumane stream our party proceeded along the contour, when who
did we come across?, none other than Johan Marais - no "water
blommetjies" though! and a friend of his from Zimbabwe. They were staying at Dragon Peaks and were
on their way down from the top - just goes to show what a small world we live
in - only people hiking in the Berg? - Midlands Hiking Group (Who else!!). Having detoured to avoid a fallen
landslide, and bundu bashing up a steep incline, (not for the faint hearted)
literally, hands and knees stuff! we reached the top where we were afforded the
most magnificent views of the Cathkin Valley,
the Drakensberg Sun, and Bell
Park Dam. We carried along the top
passing the beacon and decided to stop for lunch where we were rewarded with
the most majestic views of The Bell, Cathedral Peak and espied Ntunja. Brian rustled up some most welcome tea -
and even shared his "Dirkie" with all of us!.
After this little break, we decided to start our descent which led
us through a wonderful indigenous forest where we saw the most
"humungous" cabbage and assegai tree (cryptocaria)and noddy
florawoodringtonia (indigenous cyprus)(some of us even came back intelligent!)
and beautiful cycads, ferns etc. though disturbing to note was the debarking
for "medicinal purposes" that is being done. A little off the path and back tracking up
again is a lovely cave, which we have elected to name "CLover Cave"
where one could experience a magnificent sunrise and lovely views!
Eventually we were on a solid path again and with the help of
modern technology were able to assess that the Rugby Match between Ireland and
S.A. was 11 all! This being 5 mins to
half time! Fuelled by this knowledge
Mary and B.B.C.(a.k.a. Bundu Bashing Cullinan) hot footed it back to the
cottage so as to be in time for the second half of the game! only to find one of
our car guards (no names mentioned -
sporting an Ireland Peak!( He insists it wasn't intentional! - but his
favourite peak! ) listening to the commentary via portable radio!) Lucky for him S.A. won.!! After our supper Mary taught us a new card
game - think it was called Tricks/Trumps - sometimes you just can't teach an
"Old Dog" "New Tricks"!!
Awoke to another glorious sunrise, had our "brekkie" and
set off for Sterkspruit Falls at 10:00 as we wanted to be back at the cottage
for lunch with an expected departure at about 14:30. Mary's ridgeback "Chinta" the most well behaved canine
ever, couldn't believe his luck, he was being allowed to join us! We passed a plot where an unfortunate owner
once had a home, and which is no more - having been razed to the ground by
lightning!. A very real threat if you
have a thatch roof.
After another clambering descent (short-cut?) through this lovely
forest we followed the path to the top of the Sterkspruit Falls. A very narrow path veering to the right, affords
one a different view from another angle.
Quite a majestic sight!
Crossing the top of the falls, Mary tried out the
"waterproofness" of her new boots, and seemed to be pleased with
the result! We sat down to enjoy a water break and "sip" from the
mountain stream and "chew the cud" - Graham couldn't resist the
chance to do some horizontal P.T. (such a laid back bunch I thought) and
couldn't resist but to sing this little ditty which has now been slightly changed, depending on the geographical layout one
finds oneself. It goes like this
"Way up the river, where nobody goes - is a big black momma washing her
clothes!! With a rub-a-dub here, and a
rub-a-dub there, that's the way she washes her clothes!
We all drank deep and filled ourselves.
I have said this before, and I say it again, Some of us are very
blessed to be "able bodied" to be "able" to enjoy these
simple pleasures.
Mary thank you for your heart warming hospitality and
thoughtfulness. For affording us the
opportunity to share your delightful cottage and to experience and enjoy the
beautiful Cathkin Valley, we all had a wonderful weekend. Thank you.
Grethe Simkiss
9 – 11 July 2004
It was the thought of exploring the little-known
Ongoye forest that prompted me to join the group that booked in for the weekend
at the Shangri-La Holiday Resort.
This neat little resort, located at the mouth of the
tranquil Umlalazi lagoon just north of Mtunzini and close to the small village
of Port Durnford, offers three types of accommodation. They have a couple of cottages, ten
fully-equipped tents each with six beds, and about 20 campsites. Our group of nine chose to take along tents
and we set up camp on three adjoining grassy sites tucked away behind the sand
dunes and beneath the canopy of the indigenous coastal forest.
It is a mere 20 minute drive from Shangri-La to the
base of the Ongoye mountains, then it is a fairly steep ascent along a narrow
track to the edge of the Ongoye forest.
Unfortunately this access road is in poor condition and really only
suitable for 4X4 vehicles. The route
is also not well sign-posted so don’t try it without a good set of
directions.
Ever since it was proclaimed many years ago the
Ongoye forest reserve has been managed as a conservation area, first by the
erstwhile KwaZulu Government and now by KZN Wildlife. It is located a mere 15 km north of Mtunzini and is surrounded
by a large tract of state-owned land occupied by scattered rural communities. Though KZN Wildlife charges an entry fee of
R10 per person, there are virtually no facilities whatsoever.
The 3 000 ha forest that blankets the Ongoye mountains some 1400 m
above sea level is interspersed with massive granite outcrops and grassland. The tracks across the open grasslands and
through the forest lead to various vantage points from where you can park and
walk. The best option is to walk along
the track through the pristine indigenous forest and look out for the rare bird
species. You cannot get lost as there
is only one track through the forest.
We have subsequently learnt that if you follow a cattle path through the
grasslands you are very likely to pick up a few pepper ticks. Nevertheless the elevation of the forest
reserve provides scenic views to the coast and inland for as far as the eye can
see.
The weather on Saturday was perfect for hiking but
surprisingly we were woken in the early hours of Sunday by rain. The wind came up and with intermittent rain
it was only possible to take a short walk along the beach on Sunday morning.
This venue and the hike through the Ongoye forest
makes for a good weekend getaway and we will certainly return to do it again!
Brian Henwood
26/27
July 2004
A party of ten –
Keith, Margaret, Merle, Clive, Campbell, Lorraine, Graham, Grethe, Warwick and Brenda drifted into the
campsite from 08:00 to 13:30. Having
set up camp the early birds took a 2 hour hike along the western side of the
valley, returning in time for lunch to meet the Cullinans and Ashtons. The afternoon hike of 2˝ hours was to the
base of the main waterfall.
Sunday morning was again a beautiful veld sunrise,
and after a rather leisurely breakfast the party hiked to the eastern edge of
the krantz above the valley of 1000 hills were lunch was taken. The return was via a shorter route through
the canefields. This hike is about 14
km in length, and we arrived back at the campsite mid-afternoon, in time to
decamp before a change in the weather.
Beautiful weather, a very comfortable campsite, and beautiful views.
Warwick Keating
A
Committee/Leaders meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 2 November, at the Hilton
Hotel. Members please note that in
future notice of these meetings will be included in the Fixture List.
HIKE
|
1
|
Very
Easy
|
PRE-HIKE / TRAIL
PROTOCOL
|
GRADES/
|
2
|
Easy
|
As
always a gentle reminder in order to assist our hiking club leaders, please
adhere to the following procedure when intending to join hikes.
|
RATINGS
|
3
|
Moderate
– physical fitness
advisable
|
Day
Hikes –
Please try to inform the relevant leader a week, or at least a few days before the hike of
your intention to participate. Weekend
Camping/hiking or over-nighting in Caves – Please try to inform the relevant
leader 2 to 3 weeks before departure date of your intention to participation. |
|
|
4
5 |
Moderate
to severe – physical
fitness
necessary
Severe – physical fitness essential |
Long
Week-end Trips & Longer Trails – Please contact the relevant leader
as soon as possible after publication of the hike in the Newsletter
Hiking Calendar. The above is to
assist the leaders in making or confirming the necessary arrangements, some
of which have to be made and paid for by the Club a long time in
advance. The leaders have to put a
lot of effort into hiking arrangements.
|