Hiking in Hogsback

This weekend was quite an adventure. From taking a wrong turn and creating an extra 2 hours for our drive to swimming in a waterfall, I could not have asked for a better weekend!

Lucky Find

The 9 of us piled into 2 cars for what should have been a 3 hour drive to Hogsback. After having to stop for groceries, gas, lunch, and bathroom breaks (where there was only ever one toilet so everyone had to take turns), we had already increased our time to get there. We then took a right instead of a left on a road after we had lunch and didn’t realize it until an hour later. We had to backtrack and find the correct road. The drive was beautiful, so it didn’t hurt to go back and look again. Plus we also had the chance to stop at a random huge pineapple building and take some pictures, which was especially exciting because we had watched a documentary that featured it. We bought a pineapple from there and it was delicious!! The drive ended up taking us 7 ½ hours. But it was worth the experience!

During the drive, we saw some of the most amazing views yet of South Africa! We were in the mountains and with the towns nestled in the valleys, it offered some amazing scenery. Especially by being from Minnesota, the hugeness of mountains still amazes me! Hogsback was given its name because on the top of the mountain, there is a strip of rock that looks like the hair on the top of a hog’s back. We village that we stayed in had a population of 300. Away with the Fairies was the backpacker’s that we stayed at. I will let your imagination run with that one.

Hogsback Mountain

We went for a mini hike that afternoon before it got dark. It was a good thing we did because we determined all of the wrong paths to take which made it much easier the next day to find the correct one. That night we had a braai. A braai is basically the equivalent to an American BBQ, just much, much more popular in South Africa. Seriously, everyone goes crazy for their braai! I was given some lessons on the way to have a good braai and was able to show off my skills. We (or at least I) called it an early night before our big hike the next day.

Madonna and Child Waterfall

Saturday morning we woke up and had a filling breakfast. It was misty and foggy, giving us the perfect weather for a hike. We hiked through the woods in the mountains for about 5 hours that day. We had to climb over rock scrambles, swing on tree branches, and hop across streams. We saw two very big waterfalls! They were beautiful! We even got to swim in a swimming hole and under the waterfalls! It was such a great experience!

We headed home in the afternoon. On the way back, we stumbled upon the University of Fort Hare and walked around the campus. This is the school that Nelson Mandela attended. It was also the only school for blacks in South Africa at the time that he went to school. It was really neat to walk around the campus that we knew that Mandela had been at. It was a beautiful drive home once again, and this time it only took us 3 hours to get back.