Favorite Thing #7: The Drakensberg - South Africa

The rolling hills of Giant's Castle Game Reserve

My extremely talented and smart sister, Mini-Deal, spent the spring semester in Cape Town studying at University of Cape Town and working at the Red Cross Children's Hospital. Since I have wanted to go to Africa ever since I saw one of the greatest movies ever, Hatari, I figured it was the perfect excuse to finally go (blog about Hatari to come...). South Africa is a wonderfully diverse country with gorgeous landscape. In South Africa, there are 11 official languages! South Africa consists of 9 provinces, and each one is diverse. We unfortunately didn't get to visit all the provinces, but I would love to go back one day and see the rest of the country. While I loved every minute I was there, my very favorite place was the Drakensberg. Drakensberg means "Dragon Mountains" in Afrikaans, and the Drakensberg mountains are the highest in South Africa.

Three Rondavels, Blyde River Canyon

After doing some research, I found that the Drakensberg are the remains of an African plateau. The mountains are made up of basalt as the top layer and sandstone at the bottom, which resulted in steep-sided blocks and pinnacles because sandstone is much easier to erode. The picture above is of the three rondavels in the Blyde River Canyon and is a perfect example of this wear pattern. Wikipedia states:"The sandstone layer was deposited as the remnants of a gigantic lake that occupied much of what is now Southern Africa ca 500 Million years ago, whereas the Basaltic layer was deposited ca 220 Million years ago in what many geologists think was the largest volcanic eruption in the history of the world (linked with the splitting of the tectonic plates of Africa and South America). Subsequently, water and wind erosion (principally from the east, facing the Indian Ocean) has cut into the enormous plateau, producing an extraordinary and almost unique landscape." Apparently, the only other mountains in the world formed this way are the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. Because this is such a distinct way for mountains to form, it explains why the Drakensberg is home to very distinctive rock formations like the Three Rondavels above or the peaks at Cathedral Peak seen below.

Cathedral Peak Reserve (yes, I am pretending to be in The Sound of Music. In my defense, this was about 3.5 hours into our hike and I was delirious.)

There are three distinct regions of the Drakensberg (4 if you count Blyde River Canyon which makes up the Northern most part of the range)

Northern 'Berg which is home to Royal Natal National Park and the source of the Tugela River. I didn't make it to the Northern part, but Mini did on her spring break.

Southern 'Berg - I didn't make it here either but really wanted to drive to the top of Sani Pass (this highest pass in South Africa) and have a beer at the bar at the top. Next time I go to SA, I plan on spending at least a week in the 'Berg, so hopefully I can make it up.

Central 'Berg - perhaps the most visited area of the Drakensberg and also features the best hiking. Cailin and I spent all of our time in the 'Berg here (with exception of our visit to Blyde River Canyon. ) This area is home to Giant's Castle, Cathedral Peak, San art and the largest number of hiking trails. It is also home to the longest zip line in South Africa. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not good with heights, AT ALL. Ask Mini what happens when I ride on a ski lift. It's not pretty. BUT, I decided that for her, I would conquer my fears. While I had a tiny bit of fun at first, it quickly was not fun anymore after I continuously had to jump off perfectly good tree stands and zip along the canopy.

I am not excited at all. Also, I just realized I never took my Xanax

It's a long way down!

The view was worth it though

The other highlights of our trip was the short hike (2 hrs) at Giant's Castle through the beautiful rolling hills, and our 5 hour hike at Cathedral Peak Reserve. This was probably my favorite place in all of South Africa. It was so beautiful. I would love to stay right there at the hotel so that I could hike Cathedral Peak. Mini and I had intended to do this, but we didn't get there in enough time. This is also the place where I pissed off a baboon by making him move off the road. I really thought he was going to kill me. Mini has a really great picture of his angry face that I will steal and include in here.

God's Window

Blyde River Canyon - it's the third largest canyon in the world and it was amazing. We drove around and visited all the major sites :Pinnacle, Three Rondavels, God's Window ( where they filmed The Gods Must Be Crazy, one of the funniest movies ever!), World's View and Bourke's Luck Potholes. We stayed in a crappy little hotel, but the town we stayed in had the best craft stores (and pancakes mmmm). This is where a majority of my treasures came from.

If you ever get the chance, definitely visit The 'Berg. You won't be sorry! However, just be forwarned - possible dangers in the 'Berg include:

Cailin was mad I forgot to add the following, so just for her:

However, just be forwarned - possible dangers in the 'Berg include:Falling in rivers, getting stuck in mud, almost getting trampled by cows, slipping and almost falling off the 'berg, trees in your zipline path, pissing off baboons by driving on the road and angry sisters who yell at you for backing up towards a cliff that drops thousands of feet.

poor Mini fell in the river

Mini got stuck in the mud and I laughed instead of helping. Hahaha