Climbing Kgale

An easy hike. A slight incline. This is how our student guide, Anesu, described the climb up Kgale Hill (one of Gaborone's most famous landmarks) when he generously offered to lead our group of Penn students to its summit to watch sunrise.

By 5am this morning, we were awake and ready to go. We excitedly squished ourselves into 3 cars, drove to the base of Kgale Hill, and began our climb. Still quite dark outside, we had an amazing view of Gaborone illuminated by buildings and street lights and a crystal clear view of the stars above.

As Anesu effortlessly maneuvered up the hill, the rest of us struggled to keep up. The terrain become increasingly rocky, and we had to strain our eyes to find solid footing as no one had thought to bring a flashlight. The incline became extremely steep toward the end of our hour-long hike, during which we reached an elevation of 4,222 ft above sea level. Though everyone was slightly out of breath, the view that greeted us at the top of Kgale Hill was even more breathtaking as we watched the sun creep up over the horizon.

After sitting and enjoying the view for over an hour and letting our tired legs rest, we headed back down (much more quickly than we had come up as we were able to see where we were going).

Climbing Kgale Hill to watch sunrise was an amazing experience (not to mention a great workout). The pictures below really don't do it justice, and many of us are hoping to go again before we head back home.

Entrance to the hill 

Sun just beginning to come up 

View from the top