Kikelelwa or bust!

7/10 Second full day - Second Cave to Kikelelwa Cave.

Did NOT sleep better, only got three hours. Stepped outside the tent at about 1-2 AM (to pee, of course) looked up at the clear sky. Stars and Milky Way from horizon to horizon - AMAZING, AWE-INSPIRING, BREATH-TAKING, WOW! (Class 1 on the Bortle scale.) Unfortunately I was a little too cold to pop back out with the camera, it was so unbelievable.

However, I did have to go out to avail myself of the 2-step potty - not a fun prospect IMHO. (https://youtu.be/M2UI_2ugx5I if you are really interested in how to actually use one.) Imagine, if you will, balancing on one foot, pulling my pant leg and shorts off the other leg then aiming my foot back into the waiting shoe. Then it's a shuffle backwards (still holding the pant leg, etc. off the floor) to get into the 'bombing' position and the bombardier sights aren't quite accurate from this elevation. BTW, since I haven't milked cows in many decades, my ankles can no longer bend such that my feet are flat on the floor and directly under my CG! To top all that off, the 'product' was (much) less than solid. The new diet, including millet porridge in the morning, may not be helping. This was my actual first time using one of these. In my prior trip to the Magic Kingdom I was able to avoid these completely, finally caught up with me.

Today we split paths with Angel & Benjamin, apparently they are taking the 5 day route. (This morning she said she didn't sleep much but Ben slept like a rock.) I gave him my business card, I hope they get in touch.

So, off to the next camp, tough hike (for me) up ridge, down to the gully, repeat. "We're almost there." was a lie! HaHa. Finally we sight camp, ~1/2 mile away and Ngomu says, "Five more minutes." Another lie! But, twende, pole-pole (twen-D, pol-E pol-E) which means "Let's go, slowly-slowly.", we made it. Along the way my allergies were acting up. We were hiking through moorland region today. Saw lots of evidence of buffalo - they are bulldozers. Lots of fresh wild dog scat and something our guide called dika-dika poop as well. Saw a couple little lizards, not much else in terms of fauna.

This morning we had woken up inside the clouds. It was cloudy and sometimes nasty all day. Only two small breaks of sun. At camp it was 46°F, 77% RH, 19.7" Hg. Took some allergy meds and lay down for a 2 hour nap. Now it's almost suppertime. (We had lunch when we arrived at camp.) We are certainly fed well and enough.

Here's a bunch of pictures, enjoy.