Tugela Gorge
The Amphitheatre is the most recognisable and imposing feature of the Drakensberg. This iconic wall of basalt is more than four kilometres long and rises a kilometre from the Tugela Valley to the Lesotho plateau, nearly 3,000m above sea level. The Tugela Falls, the world’s second tallest waterfall (and the highest in Africa), plunges 948m to Royal Natal National Park below.
The hike up the gorge is my favourite trail in the Berg. Starting from Thendele Camp, it’s a 14km roundtrip and involves some clambering and wading (don’t attempt it in bad weather when the upper gorge is prone to flooding).
The path leads across protea grassland, then dips into clefts of Afro-montane forest thick with yellowwood and ironwood trees. Baboons often bark at your approach and you might be lucky to see grey rhebok bounding along the slopes, flashing their white tails.
After a section of boulder hopping, the gorge narrows to a corridor of sandstone whose walls stretch to the heavens. Entering a cleft, you wade up an icy stream before emerging into a bowl of rock where the view opens up. Perfectly framed in the gap, the Amphitheatre looms above like a giant altar. It’s one of our nation’s finest vistas.
Stay at Thendele Camp: call 033 845 1000, email bookings@kznwildlife.com or visit www.kznwildlife.com.
Giant’s Castle
Giant’s Castle is a towering massif in the heart of the Berg, and the Giant’s Castle Camp rivals Thendele for its spectacular location beside the Bushman’s River, hemmed in by tall mountains.
Try to set off on the trail up the sleeping valley at dawn when, as a San once described it, “the white bull tears the black blanket of the night with his red horns”. Watch as the tide line of shadow descends and sunlight slowly fills the kloofs and crevices. Cisticolas begin their twitter, a breeze strokes the long grass in waves while the river, far below, offers a gurgling monologue. All the while the Castle towers overhead (3,315m), brooding ethereally in golden light, lord of all it surveys.
The Giant’s Castle area is a rambler’s paradise with more than 25 hikes spread across a 285km network of trails that range from 3km to 30km. The most popular short walk is the Bushman’s River Trail.
An easy amble from the camp brings you to the Main Caves, one of the artistic treasures of the Berg. There’s a life-size display featuring a domestic scene of San figures. It’s a window on their hunter-gatherer way of life, but the real drama is in the rock art in the next cave. The focal point is a procession of therianthropes – half-man, half-animal figures experiencing a trance – that represent a mediation between this world and that of the spirit.
For the more energetic hiker, I’d recommend the 8km Grysbok Bush Trail that follows the same path past the Main Caves, before climbing up to a dense wood of wild olive and oldwood trees, until you reach Grysbok Bush and a gorgeous pool.
Stay at Giant’s Castle Camp: call 033 845 1000, email bookings@kznwildlife.com or visit www.kznwildlife.com.
Rainbow Gorge
Rainbow Gorge Trail offers a three-hour return walk from Cathedral Peak Hotel (5.5km; you can also start at the Cathedral Peak conservation office or Didima Camp) and is an easy ramble for the whole family. This picturesque trail follows the Ndumeni River upstream, winds through lush forest into a gorge, past rock pools, rapids and waterfalls. Look out for the magnificent yellowwood trees growing here.
At the right time of day, water pouring down the sides of the kloof throws up sparkling rainbows that dance in the spray. Even without the blessing of rainbows, this is a spectacular spot.
Stay at Cathedral Peak Hotel, a venerable family establishment in the northern Drakensberg: call 036 488 1888, email info@cathedralpeak.co.za or visit www.cathedralpeak.co.za.
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Photography: Justin Fox
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