BEAUTY AND THE BEST
Claire Keeton goes hiking in Swaziland with a novice and Africa’s most celebrated climber. Pictures by Marianne Schwankhart
SIBUSISO Vilane — the first black man in the world to climb Mount Everest and walk unsupported to the South Pole — and I met for the first time 10 years ago.
I wanted to profile him ahead of his expedition to Nepal, where I joined him at base camp to report on his Everest ascent for the Sunday Times.
When Sibu, Marianne and I decided to go hiking in Malolotja Nature Reserve in Swaziland last month with our friend Dudu Mathebula, we were returning to the origin of Sibu’s Everest dream.
Working as a ranger at Malolotja in 1996, he encountered then-British High Commissioner John Doble and volunteered to guide him around the reserve when off duty. The vision of scaling the world’s highest peak arose out of this enduring friendship.
Following his successes on the north and south ridges of Everest, Sibu climbed the highest peak on every continent, a feat known as the Seven Summits. He has reached the top of Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, 17 times so far.
Despite a decade of extreme adventures and fame, Sibu looks virtually the same as when I first saw him — he is as modest and his laugh is as buoyant.
His exuberance at hiking once again in Malolotja and Dudu’s delight at sleeping in the wild meant we had a memorable experience.
Surely this must be one of the first guidelines for overnight trails — choose good company or appreciate your own? — unless you’re on a high-speed mission, which we were not.
Dudu, the photo editor at the Sowetan newspaper, had been hiking once in the Drakensberg before our outing.
Before we left Joburg, Marianne lent Dudu the essential gear, such as a backpack, and I had a tent big enough to sleep three of us.
The drive from Joburg to the
Oshoek/Ngwenya border was easy.
Sibu was waiting for us on the Swazi side when we entered around noon. As we approached Malolotja in northwestern Swaziland, we could see the mountain ridge of the reserve unfolding into green hills.
The staff at the visitors’ centre were friendly although vague about the condition of the trails —which cover about 200km and 17 backpacking camps in the 18 000ha reserve.
Luckily, we had Sibu with us. Given that we had only five hours of daylight left to reach an overnight camp, we were keen to take the right path.
From the visitors’ centre, we headed downhill through the main camp site. From here we walked up a hill onto a ridge and down the other side, through pristine terrain.
Spring flowers in yellow, orange, pink, purple and white adorned the grassland and a stripy snake slid away from us.
The trail down the other side towards a stream was steeper and we stopped for a drink on the bank before hiking uphill again.
On the plain at the top, the signs were unclear but, following Sibu’s advice, we started down towards the Nkomati River.
The rocky path wound through forest, a patch of which had been blackened by fire. After crossing another stream, we descended in fading light towards the river.
Sibu and Marianne were confident we’d reach a camp before dark and the coming rain. They were right and we found Camp Nine in a river glade with soft earth, under giant matumi and waterberry trees, to be sheltered and pretty.
We put up our tents as the sun set and made tea on a gas stove. Fires are illegal even though the clearing has a fireplace with stones around it.
Over a dinner of ravioli, pesto and chocolate — much more exciting than the 6l of olive oil Sibu had to consume in the South Pole — we swopped stories.
Sibu loves mountaineering and exploring and is undeterred by hardship. For example, in Antarctica he spent 65 days on foot, dragging a 130kg sled for 1 113km through snow and ice.
In July this year, he climbed the Mittellegi Ridge on the Eiger in France and last year he climbed the 7 100m Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan.
He has met famous adventurer Ranulph Fiennes and Queen Elizabeth at a reception in Buckingham Palace.
To sponsor his dreams, Sibu does mountain guiding and inspirational speaking, and has written a book, To The Top From
Nowhere . Lulled by stories and the river, we all slept well.
Waking to birds the next morning, we started to hike.
The first section followed the river upstream towards the Malolotja Falls and I swam in a rock pool. We saw large Barberton cycads along the trail, which crosses the river several times.
Sibu found the steep path back and we walked uphill until we got to a viewpoint where we could see two waterfalls — the Malolotja and the Majolomba falls — on whose cliffs bald ibises nest.
The views compensated for the steepness but after a few hours Dudu was feeling the gradient and weight of the backpack. Sibu assured her that the hiking on Kilimanjaro is no more demanding than this.
We got back to the visitor’s centre towards late afternoon and celebrated with litres of water.