Photo Album: Along the Drakensberg Range
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Three days after leaving the coastal Garden Route from Port Elizabeth, I reached the Northern Drakensberg, a range of mountains shared by the small, but mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho.
Early the next morning, quite chilly, a few of us boarded a small van, and headed in the nearby Royal Natal National Park, and hiked up to the majestic Sentinel Peak.
It took a good 3 hours of walking on some narrow ledges, and some scrambling up and down boulders, surrounded by majestic panoramic views. But the view at the top was even more epic at 3200m elevation.
And we were very close, if not over the border with Lesotho. These horses were from Lesotho.
As an aside, to demonstrate the "close" relationship between South Africa and Lesotho. Right at the moment we were hiking, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa was in Lesotho sorting out a political coup in the capital. Apparently, overnight, 85 refugees from Lesotho were seeking asylum on this side of the border, most of them, the family members of the just deposed Prime Minister. It's all too complicated, but probably just a storm in the tea cup !
After absorbing the epic views at Sentinel Peak, we took a different path to descent, and it is absolutely exhilarating. Couple of our hikers had to be strapped with safety ropes before daring to attempt this two sections of steep ladders totaling 40 meters or more. I just took it a step at a time, leaving the great views behind my back.
And some eerie path as we walked further.
But it was all a memorable experience with a lot of thrills and majestic views.
From a geographical perspective, the northern Drakensberg is only about 350 Km from Johannesburg, where I started this trip of the Southern Africa 50 odds says ago, ie about 5 hours away. However, my trip from now would continue south, towards Pietermaritzberg, to meet an old friend from Sydney, on the coming weekend.
I continued to drive south along the majestic Drakensberg Ranges, and tried to explore as much as possible, over the next 3 or 4 days. And I planned another excursion into Lesotho further south.
The next stop was the Cathedral Peak, which I had to travel into the hills from the highway, through a number of local villages. I hugged closed to the eastern edges of the mountain range. Most parts of the feeder roads are now dirt road, especially those long roads leading into the mountains.
Given the short time and the long distances involved, I was unable to do much hiking other than to look from a distance on a short walk. Hiking would have to be left to another future trip.
There are quite a few remote villages, perching on the mountain sides as I traveled close to the mountain walls.
By the time I reached Champagne Castle Peaks, it was already late afternoon, again, no time for any hikes, but just watching from a distance.
After an overnight stay at a lodge just next to the Champagne Castle Peak, I continued the next morning, driving south and westwards into the Giant Castle Peak.
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| Giant Castle Peak |
It was a long and winding dirt road for the final drive to the foothills of Sani Pass, where I would settle for the night, before a 4x4 trip into Lesotho up the steep and winding Sani Pass the next day.
It appeared that the "storm" in the Lesotho capital has been smothered by the South Africa Presidential contingent.... so Lesotho was back on the plan, albeit only in a tangential way.
Finally, at the friendly Sani Lodge Backpackers, enjoying a fireside sunset through the windows.
The only problem was, I forgot to order my dinner in time, and the kitchen staff has left by the time I reached the restaurant at just before 7 !!! So it was back to apple and breads, and hopefully, a big breakfast in the morning, before the 4x4 excursion into Lesotho from here.
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