Although I swore I wouldn’t be traveling anymore, following my wallet-killing spring break trip, I was convinced otherwise. Myself and six other girls went camping this weekend — very Into the Wild . Ironically, three of my girlfriends attend Emory.

Our location of choice was the Cederberg mountains and nature reserve, about three hours north of Cape Town. To get there, we rented a small Toyota mini-van and squished as much as we could in it.  I must confess, I had the largest backpack and largest hiking boots, but it all worked out fine.

On Sunday, we hiked and even saw rock art painted over 1,000 years ago, while on Monday we went on another long hike before heading back to Cape Town.

Posing with ancient rock painting

My favorite part of the experience? The stars. I have never seen such a clear night sky as I did Saturday night. Star-gazing can be fun anywhere, but being so far from light pollution really makes a difference. I set the shutter speed on my Nikon to the slowest shutter speed — eight seconds — and captured a few shots, but they don’t do it justice.

This camping trip was the last real break I had before crunch time, and it was well worth it. I only have about a month left in Cape Town, which is incredibly sad and exciting at the same time.