DURBAN - While you are relaxing at home this weekend, four men are out in the cold, hiking the 230km Drakensberg Grand Traverse.
They are doing this to raise awareness of wildlife, specifically the plight of rhinos and elephants which are threatened by poachers at the national parks.
The climbers are Jeffrey Mathabela from the Drakensberg, KZN SANParks honorary ranger Grant Melville from uMhlanga, mountaineer Ian Shooter of Pietermaritzburg and Robert Schmidt, a hiker and adventure guide from the Midlands.
Today marks their 10th day in the mountains since they started their trek last week from the Sentinel car park in the Free State, and today they will get their only re-supply at Sani Pass.
Melville described their journey as incredible, enormously gruelling and brutal.
“The route takes us up and down peaks and valleys and I am definitely feeling the strain in my body. However, we’ve been lucky with the weather.
“There is some snow around, the Senqu River had ice on its banks when we stopped to take a quick and freezing dip, and there was thick mist at Roland’s Cave. But the views are just fabulous,” said Melville.
Shooter, Schmidt and Mathabela all packed and ready at the start of their 230km journey through the Drakensberg.
All proceeds from the climb will go directly to the SANParks K9 anti-poaching units.
Since 2012, specially trained K9 units have reinforced the efforts to combat rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park and beyond.
“I set out on this expedition hoping to raise R500000 for the amazing work of the SANParks anti-poaching K9 units working to keep our wildlife safe. That may be ambitious, but if 2000 people donate just R1 per km of our trek, we will be able to meet the most urgent needs of the K9s,” said Melville.
Pasta, biltong, soup, sausage and cereals have been part of their daily meals. “Luckily there is clean water in the rivers and pools in the Berg. Ian and Jeffrey know where to camp to have good access to water, so we only need to carry one to twolitres with us.
“This helps, because our backpacks were already heavy (about 35kg each) at the start of the climb. Now the load is lighter as we eat through our food, but we are carrying all of our rubbish so we can dispose of it safely,” he said.
Their hike ends at the Bushman’s Nek resort near Underberg next week.