Sleeping in a Cave

Had a week off to go hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains. It came at just the right time as i needed to recharge my batteries and what better way than to go hiking for 8 hours a day!! On the first night, myself and 2 other docs hiked to a cave on the side of a mountain and then set up camp. With our fire going well and having swum in the 'Marble Baths' we were ready for anything and then witnessed an amazing electrical storm which passed through the valley. Thunder and lightning whilst sitting in a cave is definately a one-off experience for me! After an early morning swim we hiked back to the cabins with a troop of baboons eyeing us suspiciously on the way. Erstein is a Norweigan doc about to go to the Antarctic for 3 months, who has a fascination with bird-watching. I learnt loads from him over the week but it reiterated to me that i am not that interested in the feathered type of birds (...and have been very disappointed with South African women so far!).
For the second half of the week, we went to the 'Ampitheatre' - a section of the mountain range which separates South Africa from Lesotho. If you ever get the chance i would highly recommend this as one of the most stunning views in the world! Each night as i supped a Hansa beer and tended to the braai i was in awe....a drop of Amarula made it even more amazing!!

The weekend before i'd got drunk round a logfire at a backpackers we stayed at and observed some racist Afrikaner kids until 4 in the morning. It took some restraint not to tell them what racist pigs they were...but they were much bigger than me. The obvious thing to do the next day on 4 hours sleep and a hangover was to run a 10K race through a game park!! Having seen a rhino, giraffe and wildebeest from the start line i was a little nervous, fortunately none of them appeared out of the bush whilst i was running. By that evening i was so tired that i didn't care that England lost the Rugby World Cup final....