I slept very well and was very snug in my sleeping bag with thermal and silk liners. John slept well but was identified as the snorer who had kept others awake for a while!! That said he was not the only one as when I went to the loo different noises were ringing out from several different places.
The air was very nippy and I could see frost on the ground - this made making my peanut butter, banana and jam sandwiches more of a trial than normal. As it was cool we decided to eat breakfast inside.
At 8.05am we set off for our 18km walk - we walked to the highest point - over 1800metres before slowly descending to 1500 metres. We went through sweet smelling pine plantations, and saw the loggers resting having breakfast and then spent most of the walk walking through indigenous forest. We crossed and recrossed the river many times using bridges of differing 'ricketiness'.
We saw signs of bush pig who had been digging up roots, a leopard print - indicating a leopard crossing the track, a long crested eagle, circling over head an emerald cuckoo, a large female locust with three males attached (one mating with her two hopeful he would run out of steam - today's photo!) several knysna turaco,with the last sighting being the best, and likewise samango monkeys with really good views as we approached our hut for the night - called de Hoek.
We arrived at 3ish and Admire had the kettle on for tea and biscuits. At 4pm most of us went to see the Debegeni Falls while John stayed behind to shave and shower ( shaving in peace being his life saver!) The night arrangements were the same as last night except John opted for the bed in the conservatory on his own - he had a very good nights sleep and disturbed no one so he was very happy - it was however my turn to snore and Val( one of the ladies in our room woke me to turnover! )
After a very warm day the evening was much warmer so dinner outside was very pleasurable- it was topped off by a birthday cake for Maggie - who let out to her room mate that it had been her birthday yesterday - our thoughtful guides decided a cake in retrospect was apt - and it was much appreciated. As it was pitch black - albeit there were plenty of stars - a mixture of darkness and the energy consumed by the walk meant most of us were in bed and asleep by 9pm.