The hardest part

One of the routes for the 2010 adventure.

There are many things about Cederberg that are hard. You have to be fit, because you're going to be hiking up and down mountains, with deadlines. You have to be prepared, because lots of unexpected things can happen, and you have to come to terms with the fact that you won't be able to attend all the bases.

The hardest part, from my experience, is choosing which of the thirty odd bases you won't be attending.

All this happens long before you get into the mountains. You sit down as a group, and find a way to decide which of the bases you want to go to the most. Tally that up, come to some consensus, and then try to work out an itinerary that most closely matches your wishlist. They've simplified it a lot in recent years, it seems. When I was doing it, there were literally 50 itineraries in the booklet, and you put down your top 3 in the form, and if you were lucky (and quick to return the paperwork) you'd get the one you wanted.

For our group, some of the choices were easy. Everyone wanted the water activities (Parasailing for the win). Diving and Rock Climbing were close contenders, and paintball was a definite yes. It was much harder finding an itinerary that matched our wishes. We gave up things like Archery so we could fit everything we had to have in.

The first time around, we did the water activities near the beginning. The second, we made sure that the water activities were near the end. It's pretty much the only bath you get in the ten days you're there...
The problem is twofold. You only have ten days, and each base takes a goodly amount of time. The Water Activities base, for instance, can only handle about two patrols a day. There are 50 patrols. Some other bases, like paintball, accommodate two patrols at a time, for 4 patrols a day. And others can essentially take care of any amount, limited only by the number of helpers.

Combined with some low-throughput bases being very popular (Electronics, Water Activities, Rock Climbing), this makes for an exciting and tense time from when you send in your paperwork until you find out if you hit the jackpot and got the itinerary you wanted. I think our first time we got our second or third choice, and the second time we got our first choice. We knew what we were up against, and we planned ahead.

In the end, it doesn't really matter which bases you go to. They're all interesting, and you're guaranteed to get a few amazing ones in any route. Some of these will stick with you forever. You may not remember the names of the people you went with, but you will remember the things you did.