Breakfast at our lodge and then collected by Oxalis for our safety briefing.
Did lots of re packing, gave our overnight clothes to the porters and climbed into the van for the drive to the park.
The start of the walk was downhill through jungle for about an hour, and then through river beds until lunch with a local family.
There were 3 puppies in the kitchen, all in degrees of starvation. I fed them as much meat as I could sneak from the lunch bit it disturbed me the rest of the day. It was certainly the thinnest dog I've ever seen. Too sad to photograph.
The walk was beautiful, following the crystal clear rivers with green jungle cliffs either side. The deepest rivers we crossed were about waist height which was nice and cooling. The weather was just right for walking. Soon the huge entrance to the cave was visible although not where we would enter it.
First we would visit a smaller cave. We left our day packs, put on our helmets, torches and life jackets and walked a leech infested path to the tiny entrance. I removed 3 leeches from my shoes, then wages into the river and once about shoulder deep in water we had to squeeze through the small opening, keeping our head above the water. After about 2 meters it opened out and we swam another few metres and waited for everyone to stove before heading further into the cave. Once we'd gone as far as we could, we took some group photographs using Roy's slow exposure as well as switching off our torches to show how dark it would be. Annetta, our guide, had mentioned that you couldn't enter this cave is the water level rose...I was hoping it wouldn't rise while we were inside!
Walking back from this cave, being wet already and bag free, we jumped into the river and let the flow take us back to where our bags were. Far less leeches and quicker that way.
We reached the entrance to Hang En by about 4 o clock and crossed the shallow river into the cave, then over rocks and back down the other side where we crossed the last river before our camp site. We could smell dinner from the entrance which was alluring after a day trekking.
First chore was getting the wet clothes off, then having a hot coffee. Roy and took the tent on the end and hung our wet clothes over it. I'd carried a bottle of red wine (from Cape Town) and we enjoyed that with dinner which was very tasty. I snuck as much meat as I could into a Tupperware for the village puppies the next day.
After dinner we sat around the coals and chatted. Unable to drink the rice wine which was all that was available...Roy cane up with a great idea for me. I put some in the sachet coffees and it tasted almost like an Irish. I went to bed slightly drunk which was a good thing...I'd nut felt such a hard mattress since touring China! Lots of sore backs come morning.
Did lots of re packing, gave our overnight clothes to the porters and climbed into the van for the drive to the park.
My anti leech attempt
The start
The start of the walk was downhill through jungle for about an hour, and then through river beds until lunch with a local family.
Halfway down
Lunch
There were 3 puppies in the kitchen, all in degrees of starvation. I fed them as much meat as I could sneak from the lunch bit it disturbed me the rest of the day. It was certainly the thinnest dog I've ever seen. Too sad to photograph.
The walk was beautiful, following the crystal clear rivers with green jungle cliffs either side. The deepest rivers we crossed were about waist height which was nice and cooling. The weather was just right for walking. Soon the huge entrance to the cave was visible although not where we would enter it.
First we would visit a smaller cave. We left our day packs, put on our helmets, torches and life jackets and walked a leech infested path to the tiny entrance. I removed 3 leeches from my shoes, then wages into the river and once about shoulder deep in water we had to squeeze through the small opening, keeping our head above the water. After about 2 meters it opened out and we swam another few metres and waited for everyone to stove before heading further into the cave. Once we'd gone as far as we could, we took some group photographs using Roy's slow exposure as well as switching off our torches to show how dark it would be. Annetta, our guide, had mentioned that you couldn't enter this cave is the water level rose...I was hoping it wouldn't rise while we were inside!
Walking back from this cave, being wet already and bag free, we jumped into the river and let the flow take us back to where our bags were. Far less leeches and quicker that way.
We reached the entrance to Hang En by about 4 o clock and crossed the shallow river into the cave, then over rocks and back down the other side where we crossed the last river before our camp site. We could smell dinner from the entrance which was alluring after a day trekking.
First chore was getting the wet clothes off, then having a hot coffee. Roy and took the tent on the end and hung our wet clothes over it. I'd carried a bottle of red wine (from Cape Town) and we enjoyed that with dinner which was very tasty. I snuck as much meat as I could into a Tupperware for the village puppies the next day.
After dinner we sat around the coals and chatted. Unable to drink the rice wine which was all that was available...Roy cane up with a great idea for me. I put some in the sachet coffees and it tasted almost like an Irish. I went to bed slightly drunk which was a good thing...I'd nut felt such a hard mattress since touring China! Lots of sore backs come morning.
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