Dare to Wonder (and Wander)

By Loganne (Nursing, ’28)

Not all days go as planned, this being one of them. Our group left Project Gateway in the morning to begin our journey to the rock paintings in uKhahlamba Drakensberg National Park. The drive was long with winding bumpy roads, but nothing compared to the many hours of travel it took to get to South Africa. Once at the park entrance we were informed by a worker that we in fact were not near the painted rock trail, and would have to drive another 2.5 hours to the other side of the park if we wanted to hike the trail. The decision was unanimous with everyone agreeing that the painted rocks would not be visited by the 2025 Viterbo South Africa study abroad members.

This unfortunate circumstance led us to explore new trails, allowing us to test our map reading skills - which turned out to need some work. We first decided to try a trail that had a suspension bridge, that would lead us to a beautiful waterfall. We began our journey ready to face the unknown, even to our professor, Matthew. We were warned that the suspension bridge would only be a few minutes into the hike, however ten minutes went by and no bridge, then twenty minutes went by and no bridge, then I bet you can guess it… thirty minutes went by and no bridge.

At this point in our hike we stopped to reevaluate our situation. Doing so we realized that we had taken a wrong turn at the first split in the trail. We retraced our steps, and with the help of race volunteers who just happened to be on the trails today. However, they warned us that the waterfall would be about 8 kilometers into the hike which equates to roughly 5 miles in one direction. Again, our plans changed, with many mentally underprepared and unwilling to complete a ten miles hike in the heat. They enlightened us, by informing us that there were deep stream pool-like areas where the river opened up for us to swim in. So ,our plans changed again, and we decided that our new goal would be to make it to the pools. We made it to the suspension bridge and for some the suspension bridge was a worrisome endeavor, but everyone made it to the other side one way or another.

The river was chilly, but that didn’t stop many from jumping in to relieve the heat of the hot day. While our initial intention for the day was never to end up swimming in the river, for many it was an exciting day, with all expectations erased as we would all be experiencing something new. Which goes to show that while plans may be made, if they need to be modified something wonderful can still come of them.