Epic hike for local brothers

The Giokos brothers, Konstantino and Alexander, from Clansthal on the mid-South Coast have done themselves and the country proud by successfully completing the incredible Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

This is considered as one of the most epic and toughest hikes in South Africa, and is around 250km from the border of KZN and Free State which is at the Sentinel car park to the border between KZN and Eastern Cape which is near Bushman’s Neck.

The brothers, who attend Treverton College in Mooi River, completed this hike with three other learners, Karijn Kooy, Georgina Thompson and Daniel Jonck together with their principal Kean Broom and staff members Derek Brown, Channelle Oosthuizen and Shaun Robertson.
Konstantino, who is a Grade 12 learner, explained that the team did a variety of training exercises to prepare for the hike.
“We also did some mountain runs in the school’s wildlife area,” he said.

The team set off on March 25 and got to the Sentinel car park and after 13 days arrived successfully at the Bushman’s Neck car park on the Eastern Cape border of KZN.

Konstantino said that there were many challenges faced during this hike.
“My most challenging moment had to be knee and hip pains during the big descents and general sleep was a problem as my mattress broke on the second day and I had to sleep on the floor for the first few days until I could get one from the food drop when they came up to drop off our food resupply,” he added.

For his brother Alexander who is a Grade 11 learner at the same school, the most challenging part was sleeping.
“My muscles would always be sore at night and I’d toss and turn for the most of it,” said Alexander.
“This was the worst part for me as sleeping was very important for recovery, whereas the best part for me was definitely the burger I had when we stopped by the Sani pub. Food had never tasted so good!”

Konstantino said that the highlight for him had to be the bright sunny day when they were ahead of time and had the chance to take a break by the Senqu River (the source of the Orange River).

“We spent around 30 minutes there and swam in the cold water shower in the mini waterfall and finally got to clean ourselves.”
The trip was expected to take 15 days, however the team managed to complete it in 13 thanks to putting in a few extra kilometres at the end of each day. They climbed about 11 700 vertical metres and faced lots of cold weather.

This was definitely a bucket list experience for the entire team and each hiker is thankful to every individual and company that supported them and helped make the trip possible.

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