OMO

Operation Mountain Outreach (OMO) commenced on Friday, December 5th 2008. I'll admit that the backpacking trip was dreamed up long before the HIV Outreach component was integrated into the plan, but having the goal of talking to isolated herd boys along our journey ended up being incredibly rewarding. So Pam and I traveled for two days to get to the boundary of Sehlabathebe National Park (see the map linked below; the area of Sehlabathebe isn't marked on the map, but it's East of Qacha's Nek and directly south of the "r" in "Drakensberg. Also note that in Lesotho, the Drakensberg range is called the Maloti Mountain range), joined by Christina and Chris in Qacha's Nek town after our first 6 hour taxi ride on day one. After listening to two nights of storms - thunder, lightening, intense wind and rain - prior to setting out on our journey, we were convinced we'd be spending the trip wet and miserable in tents that had seen better days. Much better days. Our 5 day hike ended at Sani Pass (also visible on the map).

http://africa.theworldatlas.net/lesotho/map.html





But our first day of walking dawned clear and cool as we set off from the "Hut-tel." Think hotel but instead huts with very basic accommodations (the staff did heat a bucket of water for us to bathe with, however, so no complaints here). We traveled on the outskirts of the park and walked several kilometers until the dirt road ended and our real adventure began. The first of what would be many river crossings was successful and after an early lunch, we arrived at our camp in the afternoon just as the clouds began to roll in. It wasn't until the following morning that we were able to see the view from our tents in the steep valley - a photo that I don't have because I - in my infinite coordination and concentration - dropped my camera ("The new one??" says mom) in a river while rinsing dinner dishes. All photos here are taken by Pam. Just to give credit to her and her amazing photos - and blame to myself.






















Day Two was short. After a steep climb over our first ridge (3100m) and past some spectacular waterfalls, we walked down to a beautiful mountain stream fed by drainages we'd trudged through above. Rather than push for an additional 10km or so, we decided to call it an early day (8km only) and played in the river instead. Freshwater crabs and beautiful wild flowers kept us entertained all afternoon. We hadn't seen any shepherds since leaving our camp first thing in the morning which was, for me, unheard of in Lesotho. You always see people and/or villages when you hike, but the next person we encountered wasn't until the following day. The route we were following was once a fairly well traveled trail but without our set of topo maps we'd have been completely lost - the trail was intermittently visible for only a few segments of the trip.
















So Day Three was when our outreach project really began. That afternoon, after a steep morning ridge climb and several river crossings (one of which got the better of me, but having no operational camera to get wet and my sleeping bag doubled bagged in waterproof sacks, I wasn't phased) we climbed up above the Mashai River and walked along the top of it's gorge for several kilometers. As we finally headed over the pass we met two shepherds on their way to the "cattle post" (their allocated grazing area) and our conversation actually turned almost naturally to HIV after talking to them about what we do in Lesotho over a shared bag of trail mix. When one of the two boys responded to our question "how do you find HIV?" with an indication of breathing and wearing a mask to protect yourself, I immediately felt a surge of confidence in our "mission." Maybe we didn't change his mind about it, but then again, maybe our frank conversation made an impact on one or both of them. The rest of our day went something like this and by the time our 18 km ended on the outskirts of the only village we would pass during the journey, HIV outreach seemed like a really good idea.




















Day Four started with a side trip into the village of Majoe Matso (Black Rocks, which were not to be found despite the name of the area) where we met the village chief, Maxwell, and talked for a little while about our jobs in Lesotho and why we were traveling through the area. Because the group was a variation of ages as well as both sexes (and people from the same families), we didn't talk about HIV for fear of creating substantial discomfort. But seeing such a remote village - at least a day's walk from any sort of "road" - was a real treat for all of us. We continued to talk to shepherds we met along the way, some who knew about how to prevent HIV ("you condomize!") and some as young as 12 and 16 years old. It was our longest day and at the end of 20 kilometers we all stumbled onto a lumpy camp site and I slept better than I had since leaving Ramabanta a week before.





Day Five was a cake walk. After walking a few kilometers - at most - we came upon an unfinished lodge and it's owner, who invited us in for coffee, biscuits, and stories. Roy and Priscilla, born in South Africa, had intense and fascinating stories about South Africa during Apartheid and it's eventual collapse. But Roy also talked about his grandkids, the building of the lodge outside Sani Pass where we would finish our trek, and offered us a second breakfast of eggs which we had to fight to turn down. We reached Sani Top (over 2800m) for lunch and a beer at "the highest bar in Africa." Christina pointed out that there's probably many small home brews and local shops serving beer well above that elevation, but this was a "proper" bar with hamburger's on the menu - one of which I devoured. 70 kilometers, 4.5 days, up and down mountains and through rivers ended here.





The following day we hired a guide named Adolf to show us to the top of Thabana Ntlenyana ("Good Mountain"), the highest point in southern Africa. The peak itself was incredibly unremarkable and appropriately anticlimactic. We did see the rare bearded vulture, however, along with occasional jackal buzzards and red-hot poker flowers. Adolf - named after Adolf Hitler, he told us, though why we were never really able to understand, had been completely sauced the night before when we met him to arrange the hike. Although he's been guiding for 8 years, he spoke minimal English and on the day of the hike up the mountain he was movin' pretty slow. But he got us there and back (a 15 km day round trip) and gratefully accepted the R150 fee once back at Sani Lodge.





Pam and I continued to have great luck. Not only had the weather held for all 6 days of our journey despite our fears of lightening strikes and being washed away down the mountain, we found a lift from the Lodge all the way to Maseru for the following day. To attempt to describe the painful trip on public transport that we would have had to endure - not to mention taking two days instead of 7 hours to make the trip - would be futile. Carl is my new best friend. And not just because he lived in Houghton-Hancock for the better part of a decade or likes to rock climb.


So, OMO was a success. Not only did I enjoy a spectacular backpacking trip over mountain passes, above the clouds, through alpine wetlands and streams and along steep ridges, but we were able to work - and effectively - while we wandered.