Brandberg 2009 Preparation

Andy Chase from Windhoek provided much needed data on routes and water points. Without his help we would have probably had to take a guide which is something our ego's would not have survived.

Everyone trained hard, their credit cards were flexed to get the necessary equipment and we ended up being very well prepared for our 5 day hike through this remote wilderness area.

I have to admit that I was not as fit as I wanted to be. I started out training on my mountain bike with occasional hikes in between. Then I started to train with the 20kg pack which went well and my two dogs enjoyed tremendously. As the big hike came closer I realised I have not yet reached my 'ideal weight' for the hike.

Let me say this, when I was a student 20 years back I went on a 10 day Drakensberg hike. I now weigh more than what I weighed back then with my pack on my back. I had a goal of getting rid of at least 10kg. That did not happen and I ended up starting to panic-jog. This is not a good idea as you will just hurt yourself.

The three weeks before the trip I also ended up in a whole host of deadlines at work. I worked too late in the evenings and my immune system took a beating. I did however had the sense to take the very last week easy by getting some more sleep. Take your vitamins!

On Brandberg your number one concern should be water. The best time to hike would be after the summer rains, i.e. April to July. Then you also have to be sure that it rained enough during the summer. Luckily for us Namibia had exceptionally good rains this summer and the mountain was green with water everywhere.

The next thing to know about the mountain is that it can be very hot during the day as well as very cold during the nights. We felt the heat on the ascent and descent, but above 1800m the temperature was actually quite mild.

We took the minimum clothes, except for Erik who for some reason ended up with a new sequence for every event. He was never like this and I suspect his young bride has something to do with this.

We wanted to be sure that we could reach someone in case of an emergency and carried the sat phone with us - a brick but I guess it could save a life.

We were armed with 1:50k topo maps with possible water points and Andy's previous GPS tracks overlayed on it. These I printed on A3 paper and laminated two copies with everyone's emergency details on the back. I also took the GPS with. I loaded T4A GPS Maps for topo information and as well as Andy's GPS tracks. He frowned upon this, but I wasn't going to get lost.