The Berg - will it leave you breathless?

Buy...

Size matters. If it doesn’t, how else could you explain why the dramatic summits of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg are not better known? After all, there are few mountains on the continent as stunning to look at or as rewarding to hike through, and this range also hosts a variety of compelling wildlife, flora and ancient art. Don’t be too upset about the Berg’s lack of a lofty reputation – it only ensures you’ll have fewer people to share it with. Here, Philip Briggs shows you the ropes. The AmaZulu, who live in the long eastern shadow of the mountains, call them uKhahlamba – ‘The Barrier of Spears’. The first Dutch settlers to trail their ox-wagons below this forbidding outline of jagged basaltic peaks dubbed it the ‘Dragon’s Mountain’, or Drakensberg, likening the gargantuan escarpment to an elongated saurian spine. Today, both names are in official use, but most South Africans simply refer to uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, in unconscious recognition of its singularity, as The Berg – ‘The Mountain’.  Call it what you like, uKhahlamba-Drakensberg is among the most imperious and beautiful of Afro-montane landscapes. And yet it is frequently overlooked as such, perhaps because the sheer height of its numerous peaks is less impressive than its lofty East African counterparts’. Although the dozens of 3000m summits do make the Berg the highest African mountain range south of Kilimanjaro, to appreciate its true immensity, you have to ignore the vertical dimensions and think laterally instead. Pick up a map of South Africa, trace your finger along the 200km international border between the sultry thornbush of KwaZulu-Natal and the cloud-scraping Kingdom of Lesotho, and you’ll notice that even today this ‘Barrier of Spears’ is breached by just one solitary road, the remote Sani Pass. The rest is pure wilderness. The very impenetrability of the upper uKhahlamba-Drakensberg ensures that it remains a less obvious and accessible tourist destination than Cape Town, for instance, or the Kruger Park. But these vast montane vistas offer much to discerning visitors. Scenically, it is truly spectacular, whether you opt to enjoy the view from the foothills, follow one of several overnight trails to the craggy escarpment, or snake a 4WD vehicle to the top of Sani Pass. For rock art enthusiasts, a total of 500 painted sandstone shelters contain some 40-50,000 individual images, providing rich insight into the hunter-gatherer cultures that inhabited the region for at least 8000 years prior to their extermination by European settlers. And while big game is sparse, this most southerly component in the Afro-montane eco-region boasts a rich biodiversity embracing almost a thousand endemic plant species, along with a wealth of rare mammals, birds and reptiles. Amalgamated from a confusing patchwork of provincial reserves and state forests back in 1993, the 2500-square-kilometre uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park now stands as Africa’s largest protected montane wilderness, extending over a greater area than Kilimanjaro and Rwenzori National Parks combined. In 2000, the park was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, one of only 26 such sites to be inscribed for both natural and cultural significance. Arguably the most attractive aspect of the park, oddly enough, is the unusually user-friendly management policy, which stands in direct contrast to the strict regulations and hefty costs associated with most other iconic African mountains. Pitch up at any entrance gate, hand over the nominal entrance fee, sign your name and intended route in the mountain register, and off you go – be it a two hour ramble through the foothills, an overnight hike to any of dozens of sheltering caves that pockmark the sandstone cliffs, or a two-week hike along the snowy escarpment, the Berg is there to be explored. The Berg's Treasures Flora uKhahlamba-Drakensberg is the centrepiece of the Drakensberg Alpine Centre, a hub of floral biodiversity that extends over 40,000 square kilometres into neighbouring Lesotho. Of 2153 identified plant species, 30 per cent occur nowhere else, and more than 100 are globally threatened. Three main altitudinal vegetation zones are recognised. Starting at the base, as most visitors do, grassy meadows are interspersed with fire-resistant protea bushes and dense evergreen forest. Above this, the sub-alpine zone consists of heather-like scrub, reminiscent of the Western Cape’s fynbos, and equally rich in spring wildflowers. Higher still is a bleak alpine landscape of snow-resistant tussock grasses that resembles the European tundra. The endemic Berg bamboo is the only member of this Afro-montane genus indigenous to South Africa. Wildlife Don’t come to uKhahlamba-Drakensberg expecting close up encounters with the Big Five. Elephant, buffalo and rhino were hunted out in the mid-19th century, the last recorded lion was shot in the 1890s, and there’s little evidence to support the notion that a few resilient leopards might still inhabit the higher reaches – all of which, frankly, should come as something of a relief to aspirant hikers. What you are likely to see are troops of chacma baboon, whose fearsome dog-like bark resounds through the cliffs and gorges, and the Cape rock hyrax, a colonial rock-dweller often to be seen sunning on boulders. The Berg is an important stronghold for the spectacular Cape eland, the world’s largest antelope, and bushbuck, mountain reedbuck, and grey rhebok are also frequently encountered. And then there are the birds. Hosting 300 species, including several endemics and other specialties, the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg is an essential stop for serious birdwatchers. It’s arguably the most important site in the country for national endemics, providing refuge to at least 20 species whose range is restricted to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, including southern bald ibis, yellow-breasted pipit, Drakensberg prinia, Drakensberg rockjumper and Drakensberg siskin. The high cliffs form a breeding stronghold for raptors such as the jackal buzzard and Cape vulture, Verreaux’s eagle, and southern Africa’s last viable lammergeyer population. The grassy foothills support the country’s densest populations of blue, wattled and crowned crane, while flowering proteas, aloes and red-hot pokers attract nectar feeders such as the near-endemic Gurney’s sugarbird and magnificent malachite sunbird. Rock Art A rare 19th-century description of a rock art site – the spectacular Main Cave in Giant Castle – talks of “hideous representations, each one more ugly than its neighbour”. Early European settlers were no less contemptuous of the actual artists, whom they referred to as bushmen, and exterminated like vermin. Today, this haunting rock art – ranging from 3000 to less than 200 years old – is the sole surviving legacy of the hunter-gatherer cultures that once prospered in South Africa. Subjects range from monochrome human figures and finely-shaded polychrome elands to bizarre half-human, half-animal creatures known as therianthropes. Once thought to be straightforward visual accounts of day-to-day life, the paintings are now recognised as being spiritual in nature, depicting the ritual trances experienced by shamans and reflecting their complex relationships with revered animals such as the eland. Therianthropes, for instance, represent the transformation of a person into a spirit, while the lines that often connect such figures to eland portraits represent the harnessing of the antelope’s essence as a portal to the spirit world. Exploring uKhahlamba-Drakensberg It’s difficult to get one’s head around the bewildering range of choices and options offered by the Berg. The mountains may form one cohesive ecological unit, but their rugged topography means that they effectively divide into around a dozen different sectors, each a self-contained destination with its own character, set of attractions and access roads. The most northerly and southerly of these sectors lie some 160km apart as the crow flies, or double that using the dirt backroads that hug the lower foothills. Even stringing together the shortest combination of surfaced roads, the journey from one end to the other would take five to six hours by car. So realistically, most visitors will need to restrict their exploration to one sector, or at best two in close proximity. Depending on individual tastes and interests, here are some of the obvious stating points. Champagne Valley uKhahlamba-Drakensberg’s busiest tourist hub is Champagne Valley, which lies between the small town of Winterton and Monk’s Cowl. Overlooked by a trio of distinctive high peaks – domed Champagne Castle, fang-like Monk’s Cowl, and freestanding Cathkin Peak – the valley houses a cluster of upmarket hotels, self-catering resorts and campsites, alongside facilities such as golf courses, stables, shopping malls and craft factories. Ideally suited to families and holidaymakers who want to bask in the splendid scenery without breaking a sweat, Champagne Valley tends to be less popular with walkers and hikers. But if you are attracted to the facilities, the tourist razzmatazz is only mildly intrusive, and it ceases the moment you pass through the entrance gate at Monk’s Cowl, where hiking options range from the 45-minute Mike’s Walk to an all-day uphill slog via Ship’s Prow Pass to the 3337m Champagne Castle. Cathedral Peak and Didima From a distance, Cathedral Peak is easily mistaken for the highest point in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, an illusion created by its location 8km in front of the main escarpment. Enticingly, this striking 3005m peak, which towers above the main skyline like a squatted version of the cow horn alluded to in its traditional name of Mponjwane, is an attainable goal for day-hikers. It’s a tough 8-9 hour round trip from the stately Cathedral Peak Hotel, which can provide guides. Below Cathedral Peak, the Didima Rock Art Centre provides an engaging introduction to the region’s prehistoric rock art using an innovative combination of static displays, multimedia presentations and life-size reproductions of actual panels. The most accessible of the 17 rock art sites in the Didima Valley, which is only 45 minutes’ walk from the hotel, is the Lower Mushroom Cave. It has some excellent examples of eland paintings, and a cartoon like scene of stick men contortedly avoiding the attentions of a marauding leopard. Better still, but more remote, are Botha’s Shelter and Eland Cave, which contain 900 and 1200 individual paintings respectively. To subscribe or buy back issues, click here  Giant’s Castle The most easterly point on the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg escarpment is the 3314m Giant’s Castle, a spectacular basaltic protrusion at the right-angled convergence point of the northern and southern escarpments. Local traditions associate this imposing formation with violent weather: the isiZulu name Phosihawu (shield-thrower) refers to the dark thunderclouds that spill over its lofty peak, while the Sesotho name Thaba Ikonjwa (mountain that hates to be pointed at) refers to a belief that the lightning and storm clouds are invoked whenever somebody points at the mountain with a straight finger, or mentions it in conversation. Giant’s Castle Game Reserve was established in 1903 to protect the area’s dwindling eland population, and it remains a good place to see this stately antelope and other large mammals and raptors. The reserve is renowned for its prodigious rock art: Main Cave, only 30 minutes’ walk from the rest camp, contains more than 500 individual paintings, along with a rather quirky life-size replica of a Bushman family that dates to the 1960s. Kamberg Named after a freestanding mountain that vaguely resembles a rooster’s comb (kam in Afrikaans), the undulating slopes of this reserve were once grazed by the Nyonikayipumeli, a sacred herd of white cattle owned by the Zulu king. The cows, whose odd name actually means ‘restless birds’, are long gone, but small herds of eland and mountain reedbuck still roam the hills, and the babbling streams are popular with trout fishermen. Game Pass Shelter, one of the country’s most important and accessible rock art sites, consists of a beautifully executed main frieze depicting an eland herd together with entranced shamans and hunters. It has been dubbed the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, a double reference to the nearby village of Rosetta and to its significance in helping scholars ‘crack the code’ of shamanistic symbolism that underlies the region’s rock art. En route, Waterfall Shelter is still held sacred by Zulu sangomas (traditional healers) as well as by mystics associated with the Zionist Church, who come here to collect medicinal plants and to be baptised. Royal Natal National Park No single feature encapsulates the majesty of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg quite so perfectly as the Amphitheatre, a towering arc of burnished sandstone that extends for a full 5km along the Lesotho border. Frequently covered in snow during winter, the Amphitheatre dominates the southwestern skyline of Royal Natal National Park. It’s best seen from the Gorge Trail, which is arguably the most picturesque day walk anywhere in the Berg. This flattish 8km trail follows a pretty riverine gorge to the base of the Thukela Falls, which tumbles down the Amphitheatre’s face in five stages to register a total drop of 949m (just 30m less than Venezuela’s Angel Falls). An excellent choice for visitors with limited time, this inspirationally scenic national park within the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg offers plenty of less demanding walking opportunities, and is also quite good for rock art and wildlife. Sani Pass The only motorable track to breach the Barriers of Spears, rocky Sani Pass follows a series of switchbacks up the Mkhomazana Valley to a remote Lesotho border post set at a windswept altitude of 2865m. A wildlife migration route since time immemorial, the pass was already entrenched as the main pack mule route into eastern Lesotho when Europeans settled the foothills in the 19th century, and the first motorised ascent was undertaken in a Willey’s jeep in 1948. Today, several operators run commercial 4WD and quad bike trips up the pass, culminating at the spectacularly-sited Sani Top Chalets, which serves piping hot meals to day visitors and offers comfortable accommodation to overnighters. Scenically spectacular, Sani Pass also offers access to the rarefied alpine zone, a treeless plateau of tussocky grass, mossy boulders and clumped heather that acquires an ethereal beauty in the soft light of dusk. The endemic Sloggett’s ice rat is abundant here, sitting squirrel-like on its back legs to eat, or scurrying frantically between burrows when disturbed. Birdwatchers come here to seek out high altitude specials such as Drakensberg rockjumper, mountain pipit and Verreaux’s eagle, while inveterate peak-baggers are drawn to Thabana Ntlenyana – Sesotho for ‘beautiful black hill’ – which, at 3482m, is the highest point in Southern Africa.

< Previous		Next >