Everyone once in a while you take a photo and you think "my god that was worth it!". This is exactly that image for me.
I was out shooting a wedding in Mauritius for a week when I decided that mid week I was going to head up to the highest point on the island located in the Blackr River Gorges National Park. I read online that I only had to ascend 150m to get the peak, easy I thought... I was horrifically wrong!
I pack up and with my bottles of water and take my hire car so the south side of the island, parked my car up at the start of the trail and headed off.
I had to navigate and climb over so many fallen trees and rocks and the ground was completely wet and muddy due to the fact that the trail had very little sunlight due to being so enclosed. A few falls and an hour and half later I was out in the open.
The last part of the hike (when reading online) was an assisted rope climb to ascend to the summit. Apparently the locals had just tied some rope to some trees and that is what people used to achieve the very last part of the journey.
Now I thought ok it can't be that bad and was expecting some mediocre hill that that I could easily pull myself up but boy was I wrong.
This thing was like scary steep... and its just tied to a few trees and I'm supposed to climb up it? Yeah ok, because that looks safe!
So I start hauling myself up this 2 part rope climb. I can see the top, I'm 99% of the way there and I can see victory and my reward would be the most spectacular 360 view of this gorgeous island and it was within my reach. Then all of a sudden...
thud... thud... thud...
I'm thinking, "What the hell is that?"
I turn around and to my horror I can see my phone bounce 3 times and then just plummet off the top of this mountain that I'm currently dangling off. The rope I was using to climb up with had slid up my leg and pushed my phone out my pocket...
I was so angry and I had to access my situation quickly. I can either risk it and continue up this rope climb and claim my reward? Or play it safe and abandon my journey because if anything happens to me, I'm on my own on this mountain, didn't see a single person on the trail or path, if I was to hurt myself or injure myself I'd be stuck here and no one could find me.
I looked at the top, I could see it. My heart sank as I knew the logical thing to do was to just admit defeat and not risk it.
I did manage to grab a few photos while hanging from this ridiculous rope and ultimately I still think the trip was worth it.
Then the realisation set in that I was going to shoot sunset, and that was roughly 50 minutes away. It took me about an hour and half to get to this point... so no sunlight in and I no longer had my phone as a torch to make my way back with.
I have never run down a mountain so fast in my life. Because if I didn't beat the sun there was no way I would of been able to navigate my way back down the paths I came in the dark, I would of been stuck and stranded.
45 minutes of running, falling, and many additional bruises later I made it back with about 5 minutes to spare before it went pitch black.
Moral of the story? DON'T DROP YOUR PHONE OFF A MOUNTAIN!