Up early, pack, and a scenic walk through the trees and down from the camp site to the first houses at 1640 m. Great views west and then south to the imposing remote peak.

Toyed with walking another 3 km to Sedze proper, for refreshments, but that would have meant an extra 6 km return to where I was. Hence onwards and upwards though the small holdings. Heard a chigayo and stopped in for cup of water but didn’t ask to fill up all the tanks which I should have done – there was nothing doing higher up which I was banking on before the big push. 5 litres is 5 kg, or even more, going up hill! So I ended up rationing the whole climb up …

OK, this route is a tough straight up and down path – no gentle zigzagging today – just one big slog to the top (2280 metres) with my 12 kg load. Not that much fun, but there was the ‘excitement’ of not knowing how tough it would be at the top.

Well I can now tell you that it is very steep, even with some novel zig zagging for the crucial last ±30 metres of ascent, and the path is full of loose stones/rocks meaning uphill is doable with some scrambling but I’d say going down hill would be a worry about sliding, and there isn’t any margin for error!

Views are striking!

Of course it is ‘as flat as a pancake’ on top, with a lake; it’s not called an escarpment for nothing .