Well, not really...five of us met at Nottingham Road SPAR at 8am, on Saturday 15 January 2011 for a hike to Mckenzie’s Cave for the weekend. We took the road to Loteni and 35 minutes later we arrived at Mkhomazi Parks Board office. The park rangers very kindly allowed us to leave the vehicles in a lock up garage. It was a short hike to the cave, but boy was it steep! Farouk Omarjee was leading and he was the only one in our party who was fit – the rest of us were a little out of shape to say the least! The start altitude was 1585meters, and we reached the highest point at 2290 meters. Thankfully, we had great weather - sunny but overcast with a welcoming cool breeze. We struggled up the long 5 kilometre ascent which took us a good five hours. But I have to add that we stopped regularly along the way – at the first stream for a quick break and at 12h30 we stopped at a beautiful waterfall for lunch. With the recent rains, there was plenty of water everywhere, all the streams were flowing fast.

The   last kilometre to the cave was all downhill; it was great to finally get there at 2pm! We spent the afternoon exploring the area and taking in all the breathtaking views from the top of the hill. Mckenzie’s is a great cave with a field in front of it, quite different to other caves that would normally have a dramatic drop close to the mouth. The field also serves as a catchment area where all the runoff water collects into a strong flowing stream with a great pool to wash in; about 100 meters from the cave.

After a refreshing bath in the pool, it was time for a Whiskey and a chat with our fellow hikers in the cave. Dinner was served at about 7pm and by 8pm everyone was fast asleep! During the night I woke up to see a very bright moon shining directly into the cave like a huge spotlight! A few hours later, the moon was replaced by a starry sky....where else in the world would we rather be – absolutely nowhere! What freedom we have to sleep under the stars like this!! What a beautiful country.

The next morning someone started stirring and by 5h30 we were all up and about – the sun was already high in the sky, another beautiful day. Breakfast was soon over and then the packing up started. Since the party was so small, we were all set to go at 7h15! We took a different route back and it was beautiful to see the mini Agapanthus with their lilac flowers in bloom all over the fields of grass. We groped our way down a short bit of gulley and then joined the path that we followed up the previous day. It was very hot, so we stopped to swim in the stream just before reaching the car park. Almost exactly 24 hours after we started our hike, we were back at the Parks Board office! What a magnificent hike – so glad we were able to test our fitness before the next planned hike! Thanks to Farouk for leading a great hike!