Doug and Kerry Hudson in the Drakensberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

World Trip >> Africa >> Kwa-Zulu Natal >> Drakensberg

Breasts. Breasts everywhere. Big ones, small ones, round ones, flat ones. Every direction we turned there were teenage African girls wearing nothing but skimpy skirts. What on earth was going on? They all seemed to be heading somewhere for some kind of celebration or festival. It looked like it was going to be one hell of a party…

We had just had a brief day visit to Giant’s Castle in the Drakensberg range of mountains, just two hours from Pietermaritzburg, and were on our way south to Lotheni for the second half of our long Drakensberg weekend. And now we had reached this African village and the most unlikely obstacle was holding us up:

A procession of topless teenage girls!

We never did find out where they were going. Maybe they were off to Swaziland hoping to become the King’s eleventh wife.

We were both very excited to be back in the Drakensberg. We always get a little thrill of excitement as we drive along the long, straight road that leads to the mountains. The jagged peaks and spires seem to rise up out of the rolling meadows of the foothills. The Zulu name for these mountains means the Barrier of Spears, and this expressive description always seems to be appropriate.

We hadn’t been there since our honeymoon, and it brought back many happy memories of those three days spent in sublime luxury at the Cathedral Peak Hotel. This time however, we were comparatively roughing it at the self-catering hutted camps in the Royal Natal National Park and the Lotheni National Park. Our first two nights were at Royal Natal, so called because it is in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Queen Elizabeth went there once, back in 1947.

Home for us was to be a comfortable and clean little thatched hut in the Tendele camp, complete with fridge, stove, barbecue and a magnificent view of the Amphitheatre. This majestic mountain dominated the camp, a rugged cliff rising up to nearly 3000 metres and curving around us, bracketed at each end by the Eastern Buttress and the Sentinel. When we arrived, storm clouds were crouching over the mountains, and there were ominous rumblings of thunder.

Despite the threatening weather on the afternoon of our arrival at Royal Natal, we felt so elated by the majestic mountain scenery we couldn’t wait to get our boots on and get out there to experience it. So we set out on a short walk to the Tiger Falls. Our path was lined with wild proteas, lush grass and beautiful Natal Bottlebrush trees. The little waterfall was quite pretty too, and we spotted some baboons on the way back. Our first day in the Berg ended in superb style with a braai and some ice-cold beer as tame guinea fowl skipped around our chairs pecking at the bird food. We had an early night, as the next day we hoped to walk the epic Gorge Trail.

The next morning, Doug was up at 4:30 for the sunrise, and Kerry wasn’t far behind either because it was such a beautiful morning. The thunderclouds that had crowded around the Amphitheatre the previous evening had dissolved away, revealing the Berg in its true glory. The sunlight was just stroking the tops of the mountains, casting our whole valley in a warm glow. We had a hearty breakfast then headed out on our mission of the day: to conquer the Gorge Trail. Very early on we were treated to a splendid view of the hutted camp where we were staying. A little further round we had an excellent view of the Policeman’s Helmet, a rocky outcrop resembling just that. We nicknamed it "Bobby".

After two and a half hours of walking, we were in the Gorge, a narrow canyon with the Tugela river rushing along the strewn boulders. It reminded us of the Zion Narrows in Utah, except that we were completely alone. We hadn’t seen anybody on the trail all morning. Bizarrely enough however, we did see a crab. This struck us as strange, given how far away the sea was. Later on, the Zulu ranger told us of a particular African tradition that says if a man sees a crab while his wife is pregnant, then he knows the baby is his. However, if he does not see a single crab during the pregnancy, he is perfectly within his rights to banish his wife and newly born infant, saying "Sorry, but I didn’t see any crabs." Kerry was not pregnant, by the way!

At the end of the gorge, it got really narrow, and dark too as the canyon walls arched over our heads. This section is imaginatively called The Tunnel. Just beyond, you get into the Amphitheatre, but it remained tantalizingly out of reach, as the water was too deep and fast. We headed back to the camp and arrived absolutely exhausted, having walked a total of 24 kilometres. It was just after midday, and six and a half hours had elapsed since we’d set out. We were back just in time too, because just then the heavens opened and the clouds that had been steadily building up all morning unleashed a furious hailstorm. All those other hikers we met on the return journey ("How much further is it?" and "Blimey, what time did you get up?" being their most frequent questions) must have received a thorough drenching.

We spent the rest of the day recovering and nursing our poor aching feet! We had another wonderful night’s sleep in the complete and utter darkness and silence of the mountains.

We had to check out the next morning, so we decided to visit Giant’s Castle during the day on the way to Lotheni National Park. They have a bird hide there where you can watch lammergeiers feeding. These mighty birds of prey, also known as bearded vultures, drop bones onto the rocks from a great height in order to get to the marrow within. By the time we arrived there, having negotiated a very windy and rough dirt track to get there, clouds had descended meaning all we would have seen was grey murk. So we turned around and continued on our way to Lotheni. And this was when we encountered the fantastic procession of African girls. If anyone can suggest an explanation, we would love to hear it!

Our accommodation at Lotheni was another thatched cottage, again with a wonderful view of the mountains. It was even more basic, with electricity for lights between 5pm and 10pm only. The generator seemed to be struggling with the demand, as our lighting that evening was similar to a submarine on silent running. Dim and red, just one notch above complete darkness, it made having a bath quite an entertaining experience. Reading would have been out of the question, had they not provided us with a candle. We told you it was basic! But that was part of the fun, and once again we enjoyed a lovely sleep in the total darkness and silence.

The next morning we were up fairly early again, and set off on the Jacob’s Ladder Trail. Our reward at the destination was a series of waterfalls, one cascading into the next, all very prettily nestled at the end of a valley. We spent quite a while there, but soon it was getting too hot so we headed back for a cold drink. A little while later we wandered down to the river to eat our lunch and watch the birds. Doug took some photos and Kerry took some photos of Doug taking photos. It got very hot down in the valley, so we wearily wandered back up and had a snooze. We roused ourselves to visit the Settler’s Homestead museum before returning to light the braai for our delicious dinner of lamb ribs, baked beans, sweet corn and salad.

Kerry scattered some of her breakfast cereal on the grass and we sat back to watch a feeding frenzy as a mass of brightly coloured birds descended for the feast. Squabbling weavers, timid sparrows and haughty pied starlings all fought over the deliciously sweet puffed wheat. This was a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

We returned to the Drakensberg in January 2003, when James and Martin came out to South Africa for a holiday. We stayed at Giant’s Castle, where we walked to the big cave where you can see San rock art. Apparently the shaman used to go into a trance and then paint whatever his dreams showed him. The San disappeared from the Drakensberg over one hundred years ago, driven out by the aggressive Zulu and white men who objected strongly to their farm cattle being hunted.

World Trip >> Africa >> Kwa-Zulu Natal >> Drakensberg

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006