HUMANOLOTJA

Jack and I joined 10 volunteers over Easter weekend for a hike in Malolotja, a park not far from Pigg's Peak in northern Swaziland. It was extremely beautiful -- and extremely challenging. We are now backpacking hosses. It's official.

Some volunteers have done this in past years with a group of guys. They called in Manolotja. This year, both sexes were invited. We all came with our game faces on and stayed two nights in the wilderness.

Look how excited we are! This was before we actually started the hike and knew what we were getting into. Jack was carrying all of our food for three days, which was pretty impressive. I had the tent and some other cooking items. Both our bags were heavy, but his was definitely heavier.

 Here's the view from our recent hike in Malolotja in northwestern Swaziland. The hike was gorgeous, and it took us about five hours from the lodge to our campsite along the river. The hike was billed as two to four hours, but good lord -- carrying a pack with all your living supplies for a few days changes the story.

 Hikers on the trail! This was the beginning part, which wasn't so bad.

 Me at the waterfall near our campsite! We later had two scary incidents here. One of our Peace Corps hikers slipped while jumping off and came a little closer to the rock wall than was ideal. Then a high-schooler who showed up slipped and went over while crossing. Pretty terrifying to think we might have to haul someone out on a stretcher (or hike two hours to cell phone reception).

By this point in the day, I'd ripped giant holes in the crotch of these shorts. That's unfortunate, given that they're my official hiking shorts. I've since repaired them. It's not pretty.

 Here's the river we camped alongside. It was gorgeous, and the water was cool. Brian, one of our head hiking honchos, hauled in a water filter for the group. We also had iodine tablets to make our drinking water.

 Here's the rock face going down to the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It was pretty intense.

 Beautiful views! We could see into South Africa from the trail, though we had no idea exactly where the country started.

I don't have any photos from the hike back out. We were basically over it by that point. One of our hikers had some problems with her asthma and ended up getting a lift to the lodge (along with the rest of our packs). Three cheers for those kind souls who helped us out. We'd already been hiking steep trails for four hours by that point, so we figured we'd paid our dues.

Lessons learned:

- Oral rehydration salts are super helpful when you're struck by extreme dehydration (and perhaps haven't eaten enough) on the trail. I had some waves of nausea at the end of our hike in. ORS resolved the problem immediately.

- Bringing speakers and music is a great way to keep yourself moving on the tough hike out. Because Mia had the speakers, I wanted to hike behind her. This probably improved my pace big time.

- If you want to take wine, just bring the bag and ditch the box. No need for the extra weight and bulk.

- Tortillas > bread.

- BACON.