25 September 2009    to      26 September 2009

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After almost two months it was great to get out again. We had wanted to do the Uitsoek trail for a long time already again, as the first time eight years ago turned into a bit of a disaster. The public holiday on the Thursday lent itself to a great opportunity as we could leisurely drive there on Thursday, start the hike on Friday and finish on Saturday while only returning home on Sunday. The trail is almost 30km long and the second days hiking is very long, so we did not have to tackle the drive back to Joburg the same day again.

This time the weather almost played along when we left.

A large part of the first day goes through pine plantations.

Once you leave the plantations there is a climb over and across some grass covered hills.

At this point the wind was howling.

Eventually one descents steeply into a ravine.

Time for a stop in the indigenous forest at the bottom of the ravine.

Thereafter there is a steep ascent out of the ravine before entering some pine plantations again.

A km or so through the plantations and...

...the overnight hut is finally in site.

The hut is quite nice but basic. In other words no water, which you have to get in the stream below and the toilet is located some distance away in the forest. Otherwise it contains bunkbeds for 12 people and there is plenty of firewood for a braai in the evenings or just to sit around.

The next day is more scenic than the first but quite long at about 14.5km.

There is a steep descent down to the stream far below.

At this point Silvia ended up on her rear end. At least further down there are some pine forests with plenty of pine needles to cushion the fall.

Once you get to the stream at the bottom the trail winds its way through indigenousness forest for quite a few km.

There are plenty of interesting plants along the way and the trail crosses the stream many times with the aid of small bridges.

There's quite some big trees on this part of the trail.

A great lunch spot is at this waterfall. It's quite impressive. From here its still quite a few km back to the base camp and the vegetation gets a bit thinner. We managed to get back to the base camp by about 3pm and were very glad to be able to relax awhile there before heading back to Joburg the next day.