Two friends summit last mountain

Burns Maclear (67) and Koos Bouwer (66) summitted Mafadi Peak in KwaZulu Natal on May 17.

Mafadi is the highest mountain in South Africa.

The friends had undertaken the Nine Peaks for Northfield, a fund-raiser for the Northfield Methodist Church in Benoni.

Their mission was to summit the highest peak in each province in South Africa.

They were previously accompanied by other climbers Trevor Long (72), Rob Beardsley (66) and Fred Ashton (72), who had to withdraw due to health reasons.

For their final summit, Burns and Koos left Injisuthu Camp at 8.30am on May 15 to start their walk towards the foot of the mountain.

The 10km stretch to Centennial Hut was a tough walk and it took them seven hours.

They were accompanied by two guides, who carried most of their equipment and prepared meals.

Northfield Methodist Church’s administrative Pastor John Roux joined the pair in their last venture.

The scenery was beautiful and they stopped along the way to have lunch before reaching the pass.

Burns points out that there are many rivers in the Drakensberg, all of which make for stunning views.

When they left the base camp at 8am on Sunday, they realised it was their last summit and decided to enjoy what was left of their journey.

They claim it was the toughest of them all, and they were very emotional when they reached the top at 11.45am.

While on top of the mountain, they raised the SBHS flag and a flag reading ‘By the grace of God we summitted…’

They spent five days and four nights on the mountain and camped in tents.

Burns says the nights were bitterly cold.

It is not know how much money was raised for the Northfield Methodist Church.

Koos Bouwer (left)