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Hi everyone

I had to return from this weekend's hike a day early because of: you guessed it- theft.

I took a party of 18 friends from Witsieshoek to Ifidi on Friday, 21 March. The weather was a bit on the bad side and we woke up to some more of that on Saturday. Since about half my group was inexperienced and sore, cold and wet from the previous day, I decided to stay there for another day. Our camp was next to the river, about 1km from the escarpment edge inside Lesotho.

At 23:00 on Saturday night, one friend's shouting woke me up. A Basutho had cut their tent at the exact location where their backpacks had been and had pulled one out. Soon afterwards, someone else realised that 2 pairs of shoes were stolen from another tent, also with exact precision. This all had occured during a vicious thunderstorm. In the extreme cold we found some footprints, all barefooted- unbelievable considering the icy cold weather!

An interesting observation: they cut the only 2 tents which didn't have flysheets all the way round. They also knew exactly where everything was in the tents, even though it was impossible to observe this from the outside at any given time, even during the day when they must have been watching us. I have attached a picture of the cut tent.
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Overall, the loss wasn't too bad considering we were 18 people, but still it has become rediculous. We took every precaution, stored everything inside, took a large group etc. We set guard duty for the rest of the night, and I can honestly say that doing this was absolutely terrible, and I would never have done this as a precaution. I took the first shift in the rain and even my old faithful (and excellent) Capestorm Monsoon Jacket and Pants were battling to keep the water out. When I took the last shift at 04:45, I almost froze to death, again even with my Capestorm Devil's Tooth, Cape-to-Rio and Monsoon Jacket on. It's absolutely crazy and one can't expect to post proper guard duty if everyone doesn't have the best gear. To stay awake inside a tent also won't help, we wouldn't have heard a thing in the rain.

I spoke to the KZN Wildlife guards back at the carpark. Apparently the night before, they couldn't even stop them with an R-1 rifle on the Amphi. I think I'm going to find a new place to hike. It's a sad day, because the Drakensberg has always been my passion and I've hiked there since I was 9 years old. I saw on 50-50 that they want to establish Lesotho as a buzzing hiking tourist location, I'll write them a letter and tell them the truth about the real problems. Maybe we can go hiking in safety in future, wouldn't that be great?!

Cheers

Emile

Hi Emile,

I'm totally distraught to hear this!

Really sorry you guys had to go through that, especially after you've been so careful and so aware of the security issues. I totally understand that it puts you off the Berg.

Where exactly were you camping? Was it along the the river that starts at Ifidi Pass and eventually joins the Khubedu? I know that there are kraals where these smaller valleys join the main valley. If you could post a GPS co-ordinate it would be very helpful and I'll update some of the info on this site.

The shepherds in that area have become experts and are very aware of where stuff is stored in tents and how to get it out quickly and quietly. The Easter weekend is a weekend that they capitalise on every time. And the weather doesn't stop them - even in snow!

They must have spotted you during the day after the first night whilst shepherding, as it's unlikely that they would routinely be prowling around in that area at night as they do along the Tugela. It's a pity you had to stop, as it might not have happened if you had moved on (not that there was anything wrong with the decision to let the group recover and get dry).

You did the right thing by posting guard duty! It's a total drag doing it, I know (done it several times).

I'm saddened that it's becoming so bad, and that even after taking all precautions one is still not immune. The Khubedu valley area is seriously bad and it's spilling over into Ifidi and Icidi.

I hope that you can find it within yourself not to give up on the Berg!