What you’ll need to take with you

• Wine (lots, preferably red: it’s quite hard to keep drinks chilled) • Head torch • Ear plugs (you sleep very close to one another. Snoring – need we say more?) • Hat, sunblock and lip balm (your lips will be very dry, not just from the sun but from the wind too) • Good raincoat (boy, did we need that) • Two pairs of shoes (one person in our group lost the sole off her hiking boot on Day 1, just as we got to the top of the mountain. Amazingly, she had another pair in her daypack – but it could have been disastrous) • At least three pairs of proper hiking socks • Ugg boots or similar soft shoes (my Uggs were an absolute joy at the end of every day – totally worth the space they took up) • Cozzie, kikoi and towel • Clothes you can layer • Snacks for your daypack (cheese, biltong and energy bars all worked well) • Water bottles • Food • Soft warm scarf/ woolly hat (these saved my life on those chilly days) • Hiking sticks. I am a total convert. I don’t care if I look like a prat; they really work. • Small light binoculars – there’s a lot of wildlife to watch