mt. kasigau

friday was meant to be elephant dung paper making but a group of us asked if we could climb Mt. Kasigau instead, the highest peak in the sanctuary. we left at 6:30 and bumped along the 1.5hr drive to the foothills, this time cocooned in our blankets, where we commenced our ascent. the walk started off quite easy, gently sloping upwards in dry scrub and sand.. i was personally pretty excited to do something physical as i felt that since digging the pit toilet nothing had really gotten me to work that hard. after 40min or so we stopped and jane had a migraine and was feeling unwell so her and the "awesome foursome" (miranda, campbell and jasmine) returned to the truck.

we split up into two groups, the faster (which i was in) and the slower, and continued. the climbing got a little steeper and eventually we broke away from the scrubland and plunged into the forest. the path became harder to see and we marched on at a relentless pace.. the air turned cooler and damper, the bushes and trees covered in water that left wet pools against our skin as we'd brush past.. it felt like a scene from the lord of the rings - huge, moss-covered trees tangled up in lianas and carpets of ferns.. each lungful of air so fresh and sweet.

the inclines were soon much tougher and after intense bursts of ascent we'd pause and wait for those behind to catch up, sweat drying on our backs and sending shivers down our spines in the chilly air.. the vegetation grew more wild and at times we had to crawl on all fours to get through brush tunnels or pass over fallen logs and thorny brambles.. despite the ache in my legs i was so content to be so utterly and completely engulfed by the mountain, ipod blaring my own soundtrack to the beautiful visuals all around us. you just reach a point where it's more-so your mind willing your muscles to contract and your body to move forward rather than your legs moving of their own accord.

as we reached the final stretch, the path was just ridiculous.. the incline was so steep we needed to grab onto tree trunks to hoist ourselves up, the ground a black, muddy sludge pit smothered in damp, rotting leaves that'd slip and slide as soon as you put your feet down. i was a little concerned for the camera in my backpack and my fucked up ankle but managed and had a blast at the same time. i've never been on a bush-walk like this and we all thought it was pretty funny (:

nothing can compare to the feeling of reaching a mountain's peak. 3.5hrs later, my legs were shaking slightly from the effort of the climb, my heart hammering, and joe, sam and i (the first three to the top) collapsed into a big, smelly, sweaty victory hug. it was so cold and windy up there but the view was spectacular.. just flat, orange-red plains stretching literally as far as the eye could see. the roads were red veins on the earth's surface, wriggling out to the horizon and we watched patches of cloud-shadow move over the savannah. here also our awful sandwiches tasted like five star meals (:

the others eventually all made it to the summit and we then began our descent. going down the slippery slope of death was interesting.. sam's tactic was to just slide down on his ass and hope a tree would slow him down along the way. it looked like a lot of fun but unfortunately my camera on my back made that impossible.. instead i tried to use the trees and roots as foot and handholds and slowly work my way down. the descent really brought out just how steep some of the slopes were and once we reached the truck, i felt such a tremendous sense of accomplishment (: the four girls had a sort of mental/emotional breakdown at being in the truck alone all day and missing out on the climb and started hysterically crying once they saw us return.. quite confusing and strange..

on the drive home, the silhouette of kasigau growing fainter and fainter was now not just a random mountain but more of a friendly shape.. i've never been more hungry for dinner and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.