Drakensberg Wilderness Hiking South Africa - Mountain of the Dragons - Where Adventure beckons.....: CHAPTER 25 - The last word

Quathlamba

“A mass of Spears. Named thus by the Zulu warriors before the white man came. Today called the Drakensberg, Mountains of the Dragon. Evocative names, both equally applicable to South Africa’s mightiest mountain range with its spear-like peaks – reminiscent of the saw-toothed spine of a gigantic dragon.”

“Listen to the streams as they gurgle from their cradles and you will hear the story of the mountains. You will hear fascinating tales if only you listen! Lie next to a stream and listen to the song of the mountains. The smiling faces of the flowers, dancing in the wind. Venture into the remote valleys or stand on a peak at sunrise or sunset, after snow has fallen, and you will hear a song that you will never forget - the Song of the High Mountain".

DRAKENSBERG WILDERNESS PHOTOS © WILLEM PELSER

“SOMETIMES DREAMS CAN BECOME REALITY. IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHETHER WE HAVE THE GUTS TO ACT OUT OUR DREAMS.”

Willem Pelser

CHAPTER 25

The last word

Born at the wrong time

(The last chapter from my book ‘Drakensberg Wilderness – A Solo Journey through Paradise.’)

Writing this book brought back many memories, all of them special. I would love to have all those moments and discoveries all over again. I have become a wild man at heart, at peace in the wilderness.

The Drakensberg Wilderness holds no fear for me; it is my sanctuary, a place where I do not have to pretend. I belong there, part of a life far removed from civilian life.

Solo hiking a wilderness means that you rely on your-self and your capabilities. Your longevity depends entirely on what is between your ears and in your backpack. Hiking a wilderness is also not about survival; if you have to ‘survive’ it means that you are in trouble, that you did something cardinally wrong. I live in the wilderness, I do not survive. Respect for the wilderness and for the force of Mother Nature and being well prepared will always prevent you having to ‘survive’.

Childhood dreams of becoming a wilderness explorer came to fruition, although very late in life. My dreams have not told a lie, but proved to be even more than what my wild-est imagination could come up with. How I hate those wasted moments and years in between. But, I am still alive and I am breathing; that is enough to act on my dreams which have now become a reality. For me it would be the ideal world if, one day, when it’s time for me to depart this world, that at the instance of my last breath, I will be able to close my eyes in the wilderness I so love, my last image of life one of spectacular beauty; that my last breath will escape from me and softly disappear over the long grass of a hill in front of me. That the last voices I will hear will be the song of the mountain which I have heard and listened to on so many occasions during a hike.

I do not hike the wilderness just for the beauty of it, for the splendor, for the photo opportunities or to prove how strong I am, how far I can go; there is a deeper meaning, a spiritual connection, an unbreakable bond. Very few people will understand what I am saying, but they are there; those who trespass in the wilderness and experience a unique life.

Today, in the modern age, we humans are just trespassing in the wilderness when we hike, and we have to leave again. Hopefully when we leave, we leave only our footprints behind. Gone are those days when earth was mostly a vast wilderness and man could find paradise, built a shelter and live happily ever after. Man very early on started off on a path of destruction, greedily exploiting the resources of earth which took millions of years to be created. The more we had the more we wanted. Our vast intelligence was never used for protection and preservation. Even today, knowing the consequences of our actions or of an action, we still go ahead and do it. How on earth did it happened that wilderness areas had to be proclaimed as parks or reserves, fenced off and some even having armed rangers to protect it from no less than other intelligent humans? It makes no sense at all.

Today, as have been the case for many years, people still hunt, mostly for trophies in this modern age or for “fun”. Why? All you have to do is to go to the nearest supermarket or butchery and you can get all the meat you want at less of an effort than hunting. Hundreds of years ago man domesticated animals to feed themselves and to have an easy meat supply. Today, there are millions and millions of cattle, sheep, and pigs’, there is no shortage of domesticated animal meat available anywhere in the world, yet we still have to hunt down wild animals. Trapping animals for their fur still carries on to this day, why? Man has the machines and technology to make available a similar looking piece of fake fur with no effort. Yet we have to hunt down and kill a fur bearing animal with no mercy at all. What does it do to a person to drape a piece of fur around them, is it a feeling of power? Is it a feeling of ‘I am the greatest being in the world’? Or is it simply that deep down his little brain acknowledges that one day it will die and what happens to earth is of no consequence at all, I will be dead in any case? Somebody once said that hunting is not a sport, for it to be a sport; both sides should know they are in the game. Can you imagine what would happen if we look after and care for the wildernesses and wild animals in the same way as we look after our gardens at home and our domestic animals?

Once man moved out of the wilderness and started living in cities, and his life no longer depended on the preservation of that wilderness, his psychological make-up changed. Today man gets up in the morning, moves out of his 4 square walls of a home, get in his car, travel to his workplace, and sit between four walls for the day. Once the day is done he gets back in his car and travel home where he spends the night be-tween four walls and so he will repeat the process day by day. Weekends will have you stay between four walls for 2 days. It is therefore no wonder that man has become this opinioned, frustrated, and destructive force. Because life has now also became very easy; food can be had anywhere, man no longer have to walk anywhere and shelter can be paid for and comes in all shapes and sizes, nothing else in lives matter anymore. They have become lazy and suffer all sorts of ailments because of it. The human body was never designed to sit for 24hrs a day. Should calamity one day strike earth, very few people will be able to survive; they just do not possess the inborn capabilities to survive outside of civilization.

Humans are unexplainable beings. They use their intelligence in a very counterproductive manner. He has become this sensitive insecure person whose well-being depends on the opinions of others. It so happens that those who are strong, independent people, going about their own business; are normally the outcasts from society as they do not fit into the acceptable norm. Society views those who are strong enough to stand on their own and who do not have to be part of a group or cult with great suspicion. They are labeled anti-social and become outcasts. The irony is that to those ‘lone wolf’s’ it does not matter as they do not need society. There is a saying: “No man can be an island”. Really? I totally disagree; a single man can be a continent.

Not only does man harm the wilderness and wildlife, but seek to destroy the well-being of fellow humans.

In some people however, deep inside of them, you will still find the adventurer, the explorer, the protector of nature. There is this age old voice which calls to them and most will heed the call.

Life in a wilderness, even though it is for just a few days, is a totally different experience to today’s civilian life. All of a sudden all your senses start to operate again, you can breathe again, and we use our bodies for the purpose it was designed for. Walking in the wilderness you can feel life cruising through your veins.

The Drakensberg Wilderness was created millions of years ago. If today it is paradise, imagined what it looked like then. Again, because of the actions of man it is a sliver today of what it was then. Nature is one thing man cannot create. He cannot even recreate it. He can only conserve and protect it. One need not destroy in order to protect. You can only really enjoy it if you are appreciating the wilderness and appreciation is inextricably linked to conservation.

I so envy those who first set foot in the Drakensberg hundreds of years ago and found paradise, a place rich in plant and wildlife. What was their reaction when they first said foot in the wilderness? Was it one of awe and inspiration? With the arrival of the Voortrekkers and the Settlers we now know through historical accounts that it was one of greed and destruction. Granted, a few people did appreciate and acknowledge the beauty, but they were the minority by far.

Today the Drakensberg Wilderness is still an exceptionally beautiful place. It is one of the most beautiful places in South Africa. It has it all; mountains, peaks, valleys, forests, its own weather system and the song of the mountains. It is rugged and remote. In winter she puts on her robe of white, in summer she paints it all green and flowers burst forth and clad the hills in a riot of color. Rivers and streams dance through the lost valleys, finding their way through rocks and boulders, singing an age old song as they go along.

The Drakensberg Wilderness has become my place of refuge; a place where humans and their iffy self-created problems and opinions does not matter at all. I can disappear for days into this wilderness and have it all to myself, living an uncomplicated life.

Once I started walking the Drakensberg Wilderness, doing the day walks only, I dreamt of long solitary hikes, where I could make my own way and rely on myself. I acted out that dream and I found Paradise. Paradise is indeed a place on earth. I still dream today. I still dream of lost valleys. I still dream of lofty peaks and the lairs of Dragons. I can see the fairies, trolls, and angels in the little Gardens of Eden’s deep inside a secret forest. I still dream of days gone by hundreds of years ago.

When I first heard the song of the mountains during my first solo long range hike, I was convinced that there were people around me somewhere who were doing the singing. I soon realized however that it was the song of the mountain, clearly audible, a companion. Today, sometimes when I sit between my four walls at home, staring out the window, I can hear that song again, softly singing to me, calling me, and I feel that stirring in my soul, responding to the siren call of the Drakensberg Wilderness.

Many a time I have sat on a rock after a difficult hike, ravenous, tired, my strength exhausted, but blissfully happy. It is that feeling which drives us hikers ever and again for-ward into the wilderness, remote from all life; which impels us to undertake the most fearful exertions, and which drives us far beyond the narrow confines of this world.

I like the taste of freedom in the Wilderness and her mountains, the smell of danger. Sometimes the smell of fear……….

The End.

Safe Hiking.