This past weekend, I took off with Jordan (another Teaching Fellow) and several ALA staff to the Drakensberg Mountains, down on the Lesotho border. We took off from campus around 6 am and started the long drive to the mountains. About an hour into the drive, we realized all eight of us were Americans - pretty astounding considering how multinational ALA is - I guess Americans just like to hike.
The Drakensbergs were beautiful, a mix of the golden hills of California and the rocky mesas of the American Southwest. We set out on a 5 hour hike that took us up to the top of the ridge and actually into Lesotho!
The final climb was a 90 foot ascent on a series of two ladders stuck against the cliffs, a little hair-raising (especially going down!) but well worth it - the view from the top was stunning. The top opened up into a giant high-altitude plain - we walked across until we reached the far edge and and could look down the cliffs to the valley below.
That night we stayed at the home of this incredibly kind lady named Lilly. She lives out in a valley beneath the mountains and is hoping to start a bed and breakfast. Here place was gorgeous, the hot shower was great, and her food was amazing - for dinner, a spread of salad and bread and wine and chicken stew, and for breakfast, more fresh-baked bread and a South African dish that mixed eggs and bacon and onions and tomatoes - yummy!
At Lilly's advice, we spent the morning at a falcon show and were in awe at the performances of falcons and eagles and owls. (It's a bit of a rush when a falcon zooms by just inches from your head!) After another short hike to a waterfall, we packed up, said our goodbyes to Lilly and headed back to Johannesburg. It was really good to have gotten away for the weekend. I enter the week ready to dive back into training.
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