Dispatch 14 - Dinosaurs amongst the yellow cliffs
What an eventful day. So much crammed into so few hours. We all meet at a ceremony with the Batlokoa paramount chief. The mountain bike team are back having collected water from the lip of the Tugela Falls high up on the Drakensberg escarpment, just a few thimble-fulls of high altitude water to be added to the historic calabash we are carrying across the continent in a Boundless Southern Africa journey to link, 30 nature and game reserves, 9 countries, 7 transfrontier conservation areas and the communities adjacent to these areas. My highlight for the day had been meeting Johan Taljaart, director of the park, at the place in the Golden Gate National Park where the oldest dinosaur eggs in the world have been found. Amongst the golden yellow sandstone cliffs, and using the Land Rover bonnet as a table, Johan scribbles this message in the Boundless Expedition Scroll of Peace and Goodwill for conservation that we are carrying across Africa&
Apart from the obvious tangible opportunities conservation creates there is also the sublime, beauty, tranquillity, enjoyment and the starting to understand why we are and who we are... As the sun sets in the late afternoon, the majestic sandstone cliffs of Golden Gate Highlands National Park changes to portals of brilliant hues, offering, for the short moment it lasts, a gateway of gold to the opportunities that lie beyond&
The Batlokoa gathering is delightful. Backed by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, our expedition has been the catalyst that has brought about the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Mr Glynn O Leary of the private sector and the Batlokoa community to develop the old Witsieshoek Resort into the aBatlokoa Mountain Lodge. This will create jobs and opportunities for the Batlokoa and the opportunity for adventurers to climb the chain-ladder (installed by the Natal provincial authority in 1930) to the very top of the Amphitheatre, to quench one's first from the tiny springs at Mont-aux-Sources that give birth to the Tugela and Orange and then the excitement of standing at the very lip of the 850m high Tugela Falls. The peaks, valleys, rivers, streams, mountain passes, Basotho villages, the Maluti's and the Drakensberg escarpment have been our mountain home for the last 12 days. Tomorrow we head up the coast of KwaZulu, Place of Heaven - We'll keep you posted.
