At some point in time you have to realise which mode your body activates first – fight or flight. This is important for times in crisis when you need to decide quickly on which option will actually save your life so you can get used to choosing the one your body goes against more often in order to excel in both options when desperately needed.

But when you are targeted by baboons, each option seems impossible to conquer. Fear takes over the nervous system faster than lightning and your heart rate increases to a number beyond triple zero. How does one end up in such a situation?

Hiking. Hiking is how I ended up in that situation. It was bad enough that I had to walk through a (beautiful) forest full of Orb-Weaver spiders, which I had actually grown used to from frequent hiking during weekends, but stumbling across baboons was not something I considered to be a possibility or something that should be expected unless you have fair warning and go ahead anyway.

The worst part of it all was that specific hiking trail was not even my idea or my suggestion, it was one of my friend’s! He had come along with me on all the previous hikes and we eventually started taking turns choosing locations and his was Piesangkloof, which is actually on a camping farm in South Africa, in the North West, near Hartbeesport – basically the middle of nowhere in SA.

The situation upon discovering these baboons felt even more intense when I remembered it was only two of us, rather than a bigger group of people. The location of these baboons was also not the most pleasant or easy to escape. Climbing an old, dead waterfall. Imagine going up the steepest, longest slope of smooth rock, your calves screaming at you, your heart rate accelerating from all the endurance and then you realise you are not alone, that there are other dangerous creatures watching you. There weren’t even other hikers around.

So, no one around, nothing to protect ourselves with and trying to climb a large, dried-up waterfall. I think fear was allowed to overtake.

This took place at the end of January and we are now edging towards the end of July and I can say that I remember the feeling of terror slowly rising in me when I started to notice the baboons. I was hoping they were ordinary, harmless monkeys that lived amongst the mountains and had no ill-will against humans but I was sorely wrong when my nerdy friend corrected me and told me they were baboons.

He ended up staying more calm than I did and explained a little bit of how they work in terms of being threatened and if one makes eye contact and all the rest of it. I began to climb that rocky slope faster than Lara Croft. It’s amazing how you can suddenly do things better or faster when you feel adrenaline rushing through you from pure terror. You’d think my nerdy friend could see my fear growing stronger and shut up about all the wonderful facts about baboons, but no, not only did I have to worry about them, I had to listen about them as well. I felt like a guest star on National Geographic.

I kept nervously asking my friend if he could see them still and if they were still following us, as I had decided to try and pretend they weren’t there while stealthily climbing the steep slope. They were still following.

The good part of most of this was that they were on the opposite side of the old waterfall, not on the side we were climbing. My guardian angels were clearly on the lookout for me. Still scary though, as I have already mentioned about a hundred times.

Luckily we made it, to the top of the waterfall, where there was an amazing view. My friend took a bit longer to reach the top and I had to keep stopping and waiting for him to catch up (some people’s calves end up dying instead of only screaming). The fear briefly subsided when I was joyous over the fact I hadn’t managed to slip down the waterfall and even more so when I realized the baboons ended up not attacking us.

The hike was still tough and quite long, but in my mind we had made it through the worst part. It was a very unique hike and a memorable experience. At the very top of the mountain we were lucky enough to see two amazing sights.

One was an eagle or a hawk circling far above us but close enough for us to see. The bird was so beautiful, elegant and free. He represented everything I crave; freedom. We don’t see those kinds of birds in the cities or on many of the other hiking trails, so I made a careful note to remember which hike I was able to witness the gliding of the amazing bird.

The second miracle was very interesting and almost difficult to describe. We were walking, walking, walking after seeing the eagle zoom further away from us until I looked up directly above us. There was a circle in the sky made up of rainbow colours. That is the simplest description. It was in the middle of the day, in the middle of the hiking trail, spotted on a high mountain and with no one else in sight to explain what we were seeing. It was another beacon of hope to me, at the time, when I was struggling to find work on a yacht and I felt a little lost in life. I wasn’t sure of the science or possible explanation behind it and even the nerd was stubbed and lost for words. All I knew was that we were witnessing a miracle, a sign of hope and a gift from the Universe.

I hadn’t forgotten about the baboons. In fact, they were in the back of my mind for the rest of the hike, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as it usually is but the sights and the amount of exercise we did was incredible. I was delighted when we were starting to reach the place we had begun our hike and even happier to go home alive and unharmed by baboons. If I am not mistaken, we ended up doing the 10km trail.

Would I recommend this hike? Yes, I would, with a few exceptions. Make sure you go in a group bigger than two people, carry along with you some sort of protection and just be aware of the resident baboons who could attack at any time. Apart from that, incredible, amazing, spectacular with a lot of beautiful and natural scenery including stunning (actual) flowing waterfalls and rivers to walk along. It is also definitely challenging if you are an avid hiker and would like to extend to more difficult terrain, especially if you are a foreigner ready to tackle what Africa has to offer you.