The Drakensberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

The majestic Drakensberg is South Africa's most impressive mountain range. At it's highest points it exceeds 3 000 metres. The Zulus call the Drakensberg, "Ukhahlamba" or" the wall of spears". In Afrikaans it means, "the home of the dragon". The Mountains provide a magnificent semi-circular border between KwaZulu-Natal and the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Most of the villagers living around the Drakensberg are not Zulus but are Sotho.

The basalt peaks divide the rains and snows, some flowing westwards over the alpine plateau of Lesotho towards the Atlantic Ocean, and some down the frequently vertical slopes into KwaZulu-Natal, towards the Indian Ocean. The Drakensberg range is the source of the Tugela River, the largest river in the KZN, and it plunges some 2 000 metres over the edge of the Mont-aux-Sources Plateau in a spectacular waterfall. This waterfall, called Tugela Falls, is the second highest waterfall in the world.

Most of the Drakensberg falls within the Natal Drakensberg Park, a wilderness area with an abundance of wildlife. In the three days I spent walking there, I walked within 10 metres of bushbuck, mountain reedbuck, and baboons. Overhead, as I walked I could see enormous bearded vultures. I went in July and the weather was warm. There are no predators in the park so it's safe to walk through it.

My first day was in the northern berg in the vicinity of the Giant's Castle. It may have been the Singati Valley.

I took my GPS device, which is a Garmin e-trek vista. It came in handy. I decided to leave the trail and head up to the top of the plateau. I then walked to the Lesotho border and back. Unfortunate I didn't take enough water and a got into some difficulty. I was expecting the climate to be cooler than it was. I had just two 500 ml bottles and one ruptured. On the day I went it was extremely hot. I easily found my way back to the starting point but I couldn't get down from the plateau. I found the decsent would shift from a steep 45 degree decline into a sheer vertical drop necessitating a back track up to the plateau. After an hour and a half of doing this without a drink, I decided to walk back to the original point where I left the trail. Luckily I had taken a waypoint there. I was getting nowhere going back and forth like this. It was like being on a stepping machine at the gym for ninety minutes. Making that decision was depressing because I had backtrack and extend my walk by about three hours and I was in such a distressed state that I started to lose my peripheral vision. But there was clearly no way down.

My feet were really aching and felt like mush. When I finally got back to my car I slumped into the seat and sat there exhausted. I waited as long as I could, trying to muster the energy to drive to the visitor centre. At about ten to five I realized that the visitor centre was about to close so I drove there and bought some water, beer and an ice cream. I skulled a litre of water in about ten seconds flat and then I started on the ice cream. I couldn't even remember eating it, I just remember taking off the wrapper and then shortly after holding the wooden stick in my fingers.
Funny thing is that after I consumed the ice cream I felt a lot more energetic. But it was probably the water. My face looked like I had powdered it with flower and it was white from the salt streaks. I drove back home to "Little Switzerland" with my beer and spent the night recuperating. When I took my boots off my feet were't in bad shape at all. I didn't have any blisters but three of my toe nails were coming off.

I reflected on my many stupid mistakes. Mistakes I would never have made if I were hiking back home. The first was going alone in an unfamiliar area. The second was not bringing enough water, the third was leaving the trail and the last was walking too long than was feasible for a day trip. Normally, the hotel runs hiking tours but they need five people to make one worthwhile, and no one else signed up. So I had no option but go alone or lose the opportunity. I know it was foolish but I reasoned that would I probably never be able to see this place again.

This Drakensberg is incredible, it a world heritage listed site and has some of the most magnificent scenery you'll see.
I don't quite remember the name of the walk I did.…I'lI have to post it on later. Believe it or not, the next day I felt much better and drove to do a hike in the central berg. I secured my toenails back on with band aids. I went alone but this time I didn't leave the trail. I only went for a three hour hike because my joints, especially my knees where aching from the day before, especially on the desent.

Pictures: 1.Valley Vista 2. The Ampitheatre, 3. Drakensberg Panorama, 4. Sotho Village, 5. View from the Top, 6. No Way Down. Click on image to enlarge.