Hiking through Africa

This past Saturday I had the best and worst experience while trekking through the African bush; up the mountainside, scaling large rocks and dodging between trees and thorn bushes. My naive friends and I started off this hike thinking it would be easy, a calm walk in the African park, but boy were we wrong. 

The African sun was blazing down on our skin, drying out our mouths and warming our once frozen water bottles to a gross, steamy temperature. Our legs were aching and the sweat was dripping down our faces. To be honest I half considered making up some excuse of an injury to get out of having to complete this awful hike; I'm sure many in my group felt the same, but we soldiered on. We were determined to reach the cool, shaded pools of water that awaited us at the top of the mountain. 

So, after an hour and a half of walking in temperatures of over thirty degrees Celsius, we finally reached the clean, rocky pools that cascaded down from a shaded waterfall and ran from pool to pool to pool until, finally, it tumbled over the side of the mountain and into the unknown. Before anyone could say anything we all ran for the nearest cliff-side that led down into the first pool. 

As I hit the cold water I could feel the air being pushed out of my lungs, making me gasp. For once, it was a welcome feeling. We swam in and out of the sparkling clean waterfall, all posing for photos behind the curtain of water drops. What a fail that was. Between the slipping and sliding and domino effect of people all falling back into the water I think we got a few blurred pictures at best. But what mattered were the memories made, the laughs we shared, and the pure beauty of the African landscape. 

On our way back, after being refreshed and having some time to refill our water bottles from that beautiful oasis, I was really able to really look out at the beauty of the country I am privileged to call home. I took a moment to appreciate the scorching hot sun, followed by a cool breeze blowing through my wet hair. The wildlife of buck, birds, and who knows what else that accompanied us on our hike, and the clear memory of the waterfall rushing through the mountain. 

This was a day of memories made....