My Kgale Hill Climbing Experience

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Monday October 18, 2010 00:00

Situated just behind the popular Game City Mall, on the western edge of the city, the baboon-infested hill has over time earned quite a reputation as a fitness hub amoung fitness enthusiasts from greater Gaborone. Even though the majority of the individuals go up the hill for fitness purposes, some just go for leisure as well as to get a feel of the outdoors. Even fitness clubs around town have included the tackle of the rough and rocky terrain in their training programmes.

Being a fitness enthusiast myself, who longed to go up the hill since 2006 when I was still at school I could not manage to do so during this time because of a tight schedule. After all this was nothing like the small hills of my home village that I had often climbed. City Gaborone, a close friend and football player did not however give up constantly challenging me to take up the task.

As fate would have it I soon got the chance to do so. Desperate to shed some kilos after an inactive winter season, I have become a regular at the gym in the past month. Just last Thursday instructor and fitness guru Thuto Thuto challenged us to go up Kgale. He told the entire gym class that when he was my age, he used to go up and down that hill in half an hour. I was about to laze again and go home the following day after work when the idea of taking up the challenge clicked in my mind. Without exactly planning for it I immediately phoned my friend Gaborone to find out if he could accompany me. Fortunately he was more than willing and eager to prove to me that going up the hill is tough. I had my training gear with me and went to pick up my friend at his place. We managed to manoeuvre quickly through the traffic on the Western By-Pass. By 5.30 we had parked at the foot of the hill near the Kgale quarries. I felt the usual adrenaline rush prior to any exciting and new activity.

Uphill, the journey started, there were not too many people as it was a Friday. As we began to climb, we met two women who asked us not to move too fast ahead of them as they fear the hill's rude habitants, the baboons, which I came to understand can be very rowdy, especially towards the female gender. Very soon we were trotting up the hill, the terrain becoming more rocky as we went up. After about 10 minutes I started feeling a sharp pain in my chest. My friend was gaining momentum and I had no choice but to keep up with him. It was tough and once in a while we climbed past a couple going up slowly. Not one to give up easily on this task, I kept going. We reached the summit of the first hill after about 15 minutes. My thighs were aching I could feel a sharp pain in my quadriceps. Relief that soon we would be descending.

My guide told me that we would now climb the last hill, which was higher than the first one. We reached the hill bottom quickly as we were going with gravity. By then I had regained some strength and feeling less tired. I rejoiced when I noticed there was a concrete slab on the second hill, so the terrain would not be that tough. We started jogging again, increasing the speed as we went up. Some people were already coming down from the summit, and I used some of them as a barometer to gauge my strength and this gave me hope. I now believed I would definitely make it to the summit. All the energy was gone, only the desire to reach the top was left. My guide kept on encouraging me to keep going.

Surprisingly, the slab-paved terrain was more difficult than the natural one. I realised it was more steep and constant unlike the rocky terrain, which was flat at intervals.

Finally we arrived at the summit to find a group of people exercising with an instructor. We decided not to join them, but rather did some quick uphill sprints. We stretched and did a couple of exercises. From that height there was a magnificent view of the city, to the north and the Gaborone dam on the eastern side. I felt relief as I was now familiar with the route and we started descending downhill. The trip down was much faster although it requires more caution than going up because there is the danger of falling on the steep surface and getting injured. I also realised shoes with a good grip for hiking to avoid injuries was the perfect way to go. It was already dusk when we got to the car.  Exhausted, I emptied a whole litre of water into my mouth. Slowly we drove back to the noisy and bubbly city life. I was really tired, but the experience was worth it. Besides physical strength, going up the hill for the first time also needs mental strength to be successful. And yes, the health benefits are immense and it is naturally a refreshing experience. I will go back again.