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The weather was great and only left Thendele camp at around 10.00 am heading, out on the Devil's Hoek trail. The trial ran alongside the Devil's Hoek River for some distance before switching back and heading left. The trail crossed this river and headed upwards and around the base of an adjoining mountain and then crossed a second river before rising sharply. It was here that a troop of baboons was encountered and they crossed the trail within meters of me.

The trail then followed a line through particularly long grass rising gradually until passing under the Policeman's Helmet. The final summit to the peak involved circling back and up a wooden ladder after which a rocky path led to the rocky outcrop itself. The drop-off on both sides of the ridge were very steep and in bad weather should be considered quite dangerous. The view was spectacular and the walk to get there took almost an hour and a half.

Going back down was much quicker as it was downhill most of the way. Again I ran into the troop of baboons but the most exciting part of the return hike was just before the second river crossing where I encountered a puff adder (snake) crossing the path ahead of me. This is an extremely dangerous snake and is responsible for more fatalities than any other African snake because as a species it accounts for 60% of all recorded snakebites. It is not the most venomous but is particularly dangerous to hikers because of it sluggish movements and usually it gets stood on by mistake which causes it to strike in self defense. If such a bite is not treated very quickly it will cause death after 26 hours so it's not a snake to be messed with!

All in all it was a wonderful hike to the Policeman's Helmet and should appeal to everyone.

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