Alison’s exciting four day Drakensburg trek
Local resident takes on the Mutter Trail, which starts from Bushman's Nek to the St Bernard's Peak Mountain Lodge via the Eastern Cape Ridge.
FOUR days, and traversing a 61 kilometre trail of the Southern Drakensburg with a 20 kilogram pack on your back. It sounds like something out of an episode with adventurer and survivalist, Bear Grylls. But Durban North resident, Alison Chadwick, recently completed the feat with seven other hikers.
The octet took on the Mutter Trail, which started from Bushman’s Nek to the St Bernard’s Peak Mountain Lodge via the Eastern Cape Ridge. The Mutter hike derives its name from the word ‘mutter’, as one can often hear a lot of muttering going on, especially when the going gets tough.
It’s a trail not to the feint hearted and Chadwick could attest for this.
“I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2004 and I actually found this trail harder. Very few people have walked this trail and there’s a reason for that. The elements made the ascend quite tough, we had some gale force winds and some bitingly cold conditions to contend with. But on the other side of it, there was such a breathtaking beauty about the mountains and the scenery. The only people were encountered on the trail were local Basuthos.
“We also managed to stay in caves, each of which had some beautiful vistas. There were plenty of eland and I even had the opportunity of spotting a leopard on one of the ridges. You are so removed from reality. I found the whole experience quite emotional, I actually had to take a few days off work when I got back, to settle back into the real world,” Chadwick explained.
Chadwick began her preparations for the gruelling trail in January.
“Carrying 20kgs on your back is no easy task and even though I had been training for a few months, it was extremely hard to do. I would love to do the trail again, it was by all accounts an epic adventure with friends and untamed nature,” she said.
