ESCAPE: Solo on the Baviaans Canyon Trail — five days slack‑packing

My lungs were screaming, I had no fuel in my tank, and I felt woefully unprepared. I was still getting used to my hiking boots, and I felt about as agile as a panda in bubble wrap. A five-day hike through the Baviaanskloof became a lesson in what to carry – and what to leave behind.

By Jaqui Hiltermann