Drakensberg Mountains
Because of the limited bus service through this part of the country (3 times a week from Joburg to Durban) I had to stay for at least 3 nights in the Northern Drakensberg. Nothing wrong with this except that without your own transportation here the only interesting things you can really do during the day require going on a tour run from the hostel, more money. I don’t think I’ve ever paid for a tour just to go hiking in the mountains before, but that’s how I spent the first full day. Ah well, at least it was a good hike.
The hike was to the 2nd highest (in terms of the vertical drop) waterfall in the world, despite the fact that it’s the dry season here now and there was only a trickle of water going over the falls. That didn’t take away from the hike at all though, the mountains here are awesome.
Usually climbing to the top of the “ampitheatre” peaks takes 2 or 3 days, but the tour guide took us on back roads to a remote starting point 2500 meters high. We hiked up to about 3100m at the top and then back down in a loop. The weather was perfect, clear skies, great visibility and not too cold. The hike itself was easy for the most part, the only semi challenging bit was scrambling the last 250m up over rocks with no real trail. Nothing serious though.
The panorama from the top was fantastic.
Tugela falls, with a distinct lack of water.
On the way down, it was mostly gradual decent except for 2 chain ladders on sheer rock faces. One was 15 meters, the other one 25 meters. These had been hyped up by other people, but were very anticlimactic, too easy guys!
We were hiking for 5-6 hours in total and the view changed several times on the trail. Standing on top of the shelf with a 1km drop-off right next to you and the whole mountain range stretching in front of you is quite a sight.
Tags: South Africa, Travel
Adam
Beautiful. By accident I stumbled upon these photos and although the Tugela Falls is low I still cant help feeling I wish I had been up there to enjoy those views. You certainly chose a perfect day.