I am crazy, but I’m not stupid

Hi, unfortunately it seems as though I did, which is unfortunate, however it can't be proven that I did but due to its onset it does point that way.
I have had many a litre of berg water over the years and never had a problem, and even the guys on my hike, didn't have a problem either, but according to my doc he says I was the unlucky hiker.
I can assure you that it won't stop me hiking nor drinking the water,

@Fitness: Sorry to hear that. Hope you are better now.

@ST & mnt_tiska: I was also not feeling well on day 2, we only did 4km and on finding a good camping spot I promptly lay down on the ground for an hour which was followed up by throwing up about 6 times - thats before setting up my tent or anything (on the bright side, every time I opened my eyes I saw Popple covered in snow!) I think I probably got rid of the parasites when throwing up (or most of the contaminated water anyway), after all, Fitness and I drank water from the same source on day 1. Not sure how Mike didn't have any issues though...

I think the Giardia would take several days after drinking the water to present itself as an issue. I've had that bug several times now and have gotten to know its story quite well. One of the times was in the southern Alps in NZ. Wasn't expecting the bug in those rivers....

While on hike the nausea and headaches were from dehydration but my giardia symptoms started 5 days later, which is within the time frame, they say normally 7-10 days,
I'm not for one minute saying it is the berg and like I said in an earlier post I can assure you it won't deter me from drinking the water,
There are numerous other possibilities,
All I can say is that thank goodness it is over as it is not a nice feeling at all

@fitness Sorry to hear that you were not well. Gippo guts is not good, top or bottom. It would be very sad that we might have to start carrying filtration systems in the Berg.

What would be interesting though is to plot on ge (you might have the gps plots) which rivers and spots you drank from and try and work out if they are down-stream of permanent habitation. If there is a continuous source of the problem, then that particular river or stream could be avoided. If there is a permanent settlement u/s of the water source, and anyone in the ve community has access to a testing lab, water samples could be taken at a later date if someone was hiking in the same area.

Well done mate!

There are plenty more up there. Apparently some goals need to be set though!

As to your illness - AMS (acute mountain sickness), obviously aggravated by your exertion. There are very few places where one can leave home at 0+ a bit meters in Durbs and be over 3000m the same afternoon. Even if the very next day, it sometimes affects us negatively.

Nice images.

Can this virus be picked up by infected cutlery perhaps too?
Had gippo guts once in the berg for a whole 3 day trip. Came to the conclusion that it could've been from cutlery that wasn't properly washed. You know how it goes...you rinse with water only, come home after a trip, pack it away, use it again next time...

@Plouw, it is highly possible, it can also be from food that isn't cooked properly also bad toilet hygiene, that's why I said in an earlier post that its highly possible that I caught it from another source rather than the water I drank in the berg, I'm hoping its not the water.
Needless to say I have made sure my hydration bladder is completely free of any of that water just in case and that all my eating goodies have been cleaned properly, ready for my next hike.

I was thinking about it - there were 2 spots that everyone got water from (the stream at 2500m on Gypaetus Pass and the escarpment stream that runs next to Gypaetus Point in Lesotho). I doubt it was one of those (although I maintain that the water we got at 2500m was dodgy - it definitely made me feel sick and I am sure it was the reason I threw up).

@Fitness: correct me if I'm wrong - you only got water from 2 spots that neither myself nor Mike used, the stream by the Bushmans River right at the start (the most likely culprit) and that stream one ridge before Bannerman Hut. Both of these are water sources I have used more than once in the past, so it would be a shame if some of them went bad. Maybe the cause of me throwing up at Bannerman Hut in April last year is spreading. After this I am definitely considering getting those non-toxic water purification pills for use in all Berg rivers.

@Plouw: you should have seen the lack of effort I put into washing my cutlery on GT! I washed the food out/off of my dishes and used my hiking towel to dry them - I was actually quite surprised that it didn't make me sick Admittedly, both before and after every hike I wash my dishes thoroughly...