Mountain Climbing

There is a mountain at the edge of town. The top of the mountain (called Kgale Hill, pronounced kahl-ay) stands at 1280 or so meters above sea level. That is pretty high except that most of Botswana sits on a plateau averaging about 1000 meters. So, the 'mountain' is about 900 feet tall. The urban areas of the southwestern part of Gaborone run right up to the base of the hill. You can see the popular 'Game City Mall' in the shadows of the hill below. The hill itself is protected as a vast park area.

It is well known that there is a trail to the top of the hill. In fact, there is a cell tower's red light that acts as a beacon at night. You would think the bulb burns out from time to time. There are many legends and stories about Kgale. For one, security types warn of robbers waiting in the bushes ready to take everything from unsuspecting climbers. Amy's security briefing at the Embassy last year warned of this and stressed not to go there: "A while back a couple drove to the foot of the hill. Husband says 'lets go', wife says 'no'. Husband goes up. Husband comes down in nothing but boxer shorts." Also, there may be man-eating leopards. Officials from the United States (even Peace Corp) are not allowed to enter the area. This of course made finding a way to the top even more intriguing... I (Ted) should bring some of the kids too. To complicate things, the girls' school is nearby. Everyday I dropped off the kids, Kgale would taunt me.

The next round of US expats that went through the Embassy briefings early this year heard of no such warnings. Also, we found out that Kgale groupies scale the peak every Saturday and Sunday morning as the sun rises. Taking the Embassy's silence and the safety of groupies into consideration - I made a plan. A nearby family from Iowa has two girls about Eden and Hope's age. With the increased security of the 'buddy system' we could not fail. Early one Saturday morning (about 7am), the girls and I set off with the family from Iowa. I had enough granola bars and water to last a week in my backpack.

This was the sign at the parking area (one of the lower lower peaks in the Kgale area is an aggregate mine):

There were several dozen empty cars in the parking area, so we figured they had pressed on in spite of the warning. We noted it was Saturday and they likely were not using dynamite on the weekend and started our climb...

The trail is worn and well traveled. The climb is a mixture of large boulders, rocky-rough terrain, sandy trail, and some paved pathway. You start by scaling a lower peak and then back into a valley before scaling the Kgale peak.

In the valley between the two peaks, we saw a troop of Chacma Baboons. They were curious and watched us closely.

The old, grumpy, leader of the troop was hanging out in the shade along the trail. I would like to say his 3-inch canines were safely far away and behind a strong fence, but he was not. He sat less than 20 feet away. We could smell him. By this time, though, we had seen more than fifty climbing groupies heading back down the mountain. The baboon was probably already full of tourists by this late in the morning.

After about an hour, we reached the summit. A bald expanse of an area where groups mingle, rest, and take pictures. We were no exception.

This view (above) looks to the southeast over the main highway 'A1' and the Gaborone Dam. The highway is the main route south and leads to the villages/towns of Otse, Labotse and Mokolodi (the subject of previous posts). Otse is where the mountain cliffs that house the Cape Griffon vultures are located. This is the highest point of Botswana at 1500 meters. The Gaborone Dam is the source of drinking water for the capital city. Gaborone was selected almost fifty years ago to be the capital of Botswana in part because the water supply was considered more reliable. The lake created by the dam is considered more than 110% full this season. The summer rains have been plentiful.

Here are Eden and Hope at the top. Note the power line to the cell tower light in the background. I checked, the bulb was burning brightly.

The trip down the mountain is almost more challenging than the climb up. The rocks are very loose and you really need to concentrate on each step to avoid a spill. Once we returned to the bottom of the mountain, ours were the only cars left. We headed off for breakfast.

We enjoyed the climb so much, we returned a couple of weeks later with the visit of my Aunt Alice. She is well traveled but this was her first time in the Southern Hemisphere. On Easter Saturday, we climbed the 'Sleeping Giant' (what Kgale means) again in spite of the many dangers.

This time, we did not see any baboons. I picked the picture below because of the near-complete green landscape it shows. It is the end of summer now in Botswana and the entire area has exploded with vegetation. When we arrived almost nine months ago, everything was brown and dusty. Local residents say that Easter usually marks the end of the wet season. It will now be dry and near cloudless until October. In that time, the landscape will return to brown, dusty and parched.

Finally, we met a couple of dogs at the summit the second time around. They were traveling with a South African family who do the climb often. The dogs were happy to see us and rested with Eden and Hope.

As Aunt Alice and I caught our breath, wiped the sweat from our face and revelled in our accomplishment; we made a discouraging discovery: The dog pictured above had made it all the way up the mountain - hopping on three legs. Even with a head start, we couldn't beat them back down the mountain. Next time, less granola bars and water bottles in my backpack.

[Footnote: This blog post is dedicated to George, one of our most loyal followers who has been subtly reminding us that it has been a very long time since our last post - even sending suggestions for how to overcome bloggers' block. So, we sincerely apologize for the long delay in posting, if we even have any readers left to apologize to...]