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17 August: Haba

The alarm went off at 05h45, we packed and got ready for breakfast and headed down to the veranda where we collected our washing - almost dry. Breakfast was pancakes with banana and walnuts. After breakfast we bought some bananas to sustain us for the walk and waited for the taxi to arrive. It came just after 07h00, later than we had arranged but then again we had also taken our time to finish up. All 4 in, it took us to a small mountain path about 8km away, at least 1 ½ hours walk along the tar road, the mountains on the other side of the gorge were flat plateaus, perfect for landing a para-glider according to Antone. From there we started up the mountain until we reached a small 4x4 track. The road led up the mountain in a winding way for about 2 or 3 km until it reached a small farmhouse, with maize and sunflowers planted all around. Antone asked her for directions to Haba and she pointed us to a small walkway leading past behind her house.

The road quickly turned into a steep walkway up the mountain, mostly with stones, clay and gravel making walking awkward. Often the road would almost disappear under the undergrowth. Just as we were wondering where to go at one of the many splits in the road we met some cattle herders, evidenced by the clinging of the bells around the cows necks. They pointed us into one of the branches and we continued with this pathway also leading through the pine forests up mountains and down into valleys, before starting a new climb. Along the way we found a waterfall and had to cross the river using one of the fallen trees lying across it. From there it wasn't far before we reached a plantation of sunflowers and beans, all of which were enclosed in a 1 ½ m high stonewall fence and then the tar road leading to Haba.

We walked along the tar road for another kilometer until we reached a brick making family business, a young man and woman as well as a young girl were working there. We watched how they cut the clay free before it was molded into bricks and left to dry, before asking for directions to the small mountain pass to Haba. They said we would have to continue a little further until we reached a road leading up, about 500m further we turned up, it didn't look much like a road and by the time we were half way up, we found it wasn't. We made our own road literally climbing and pulling ourselves up the steep incline. At last we reached a canal feeding the local farming community with water for their plantations, logic said the right road would cross it at some point further on. We ate our bananas and walked onwards on the edge of the man made canal, at one point passing a small snake that was unable to crawl out of the canal and had drowned, fortunately Leanne didn't see it.

About 20 minutes later we found a small section where a animal path moved up the mountain. Again we had to make our own path going up the mountain, but this time it was a lot more difficult, the trees had overgrown the pathway and due to the mud it had been a very messy walkway. At last we crossed with a road that was leaps and bounds better than our goat pathway. We followed it up until we came to the main tar road and stayed on it walking down to Haba. At one point we passed a minivan that had stopped in the middle of the road and was parked there where cattle were grazing, we asked how much further, to which he replied 6 km's. He was wholly mistaken and after 2 hours of brisk walking we estimated it closer to 8 km. The fog and rain had covered the whole valley below, we could only see parts where the mist had started moving away. The height was astonishing, one could not even make out cars on the roads below and huge rivers looked like meandering streams. It had started to rain and we were walking with our umbrellas although not really an irritation to us. As we walked down, the mist gradually disappeared and we were able to see the valley below encircled with mountain ranges on all sides, it really looked cut off from the world.

Reaching Haba, it soon became apparent that this little town was totally desolate, almost no one walked the streets. We were led by one of the men working at a mountain climbing agency to a farm house where they showed us dorm rooms available at 20Y each, there were two dorm rooms each with about 6 beds in. We took one room while Antone and Valerie took the other since there were no other people staying there. It was still raining a little, but we were able to each go to the outside showers and return without becoming to soaked. The showers and toilet were in very poor shape, the toilet was situated about 30m away from the house in the middle of the fields, with a very muddy path filled with animal droppings, leading there. It was more of a wooden shed with a dug out part below and two wooden planks to stand on and aim in between them.

We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and chatting, the owner visited us later with a basket of very sour apples. The others didn't like them very much but they were fruit and we hadn't had much of that in the past few days. At around 17h00 we left in search of something more enjoyable to eat, we passed through two or three restaurants that really didn't cut it when it came to cleanliness of food preparation. We found a nice restaurant which also doubled up as a guest house on the edge of town and sat down for another variety of dishes, really good!

After dinner we walked back, stopping at a local pool bar, we played five double games between us before wanting to leave. I had played quite well and one of the locals wanted to challenge me. He broke as challenger, after which I sank the majority of my balls before giving him another chance, he missed his and that allowed me to finish up without him sinking a ball. Next another challenged me, he was better, but I was also able to beat him convincingly even though I had some "Brem" (lucky) shots that shouldn't have gone in but did. Then came the last one, he was good and I had a real challenge on my hands. We played very much alike but I missed a shot on the black and he was able to finish off, happy that their player had won the crowd dispersed and continued with their own games. We walked back, buying some 5 minute noodles and beers at a local shop and spent the remainder of the night playing cards and chatting in our room, before succumbing to the need for sleep.