The Meander to the Drakensberg

We were up at 6:30am and while I was drinking coffee I was joined by somebody’s fat Labrador who just plonked his fat arse down next to me staring and begging for food. I was not impressed.
By 7am Ellie had packed the bed up and then I went back in to the tent to pack up all the electrical stuff.
Once we were washed we started packing the tent up. We have now got it down to about 30 minutes for everything without rushing.
By 9am we were pretty much ready to roll and Ellie headed over to the office to settle up and our host just charged us £13 for the 2 nights which is amazing. We also said goodbye to popeye the dog who looked very sad until I gave him the last piece of my drywors.
We headed up the farm track out of the campsite and then onto tarmac. We had 70 miles ahead of us and we drove the entire length of what is known as the Midlands Meander passing quaint little coffee shops and arts and crafts places, it was a beautiful drive with rolling hills becoming higher and higher as we entered into the outskirts of the Drakensberg National Park and an area called Monks Cowl. We drove until there was no more road and at the end we came to Monks Cowl Campsite. This is where we would be spending atleast the next 2 nights and once we booked in we realised we were the only ones here.
We waited 30 minutes for the last couple on the campsite to clear out and passed the time talking to a couple from Norway who wanted to look at our setup. Then once the last couple had driven off we drove into there pitch and we have the best view in the whole campsite. We have green mountains and hills in front of us and behind and there’s streams and waterfalls nearby, it really looks like hobbition from lord of the rings and we expect to see hobbit houses carved into the hillsides.
By 1pm we were all set up and at 2pm I suggested we do our first hike and once I’d downloaded the route we signed out of camp giving a time we would be back and then set off to Nandi Falls.
It was 3.6km to get there over rolling terrain jumping over small streams and climbing the next hill until finally we came to the falls. They were wide falls with a lot of water coming down into a pool and you could just feel the weight of them even though they weren’t that high. We did have the chance to go skinny dipping as there was no one about but we had forgotten the towels and we didn’t want to walk back wet so we gave that idea up.
On the way back we came to 2 huge packs of black baboons and we had to scare them off by talking really loudly and clapping our hands. Most just ran off but a couple of bigger ones on the ground gave some growls before they turned and ran away.
We got back to camp at 4pm and while we had a cup of tea we watched black clouds forming over the mountains where we had just come from. Then we had dinner which was quick because it was salad and the thunder started and once dinner was done the weather opened up.
We could literally see the rain coming towards us and everything was disappearing as the rain got closer and the thunder got louder and the wind picked up and then the storm really hit. The rain was so hard we couldn’t see past the awning. The water coming down was unbelievable and within 5 minutes a lake had formed at the bottom of the campsite. Our new pole we had just had made for the awning started to bend under the weight of the water and I rushed outside to tip the water off but it must have weighed over 100kg. I pulled the new post out before it snapped and then the water poured off the roof in a torrent.
I managed to straighten the pole and then got back into the tent. There was nothing more we could do but sit and wait it out and hope it didn’t get worse.
After 10 minutes the wind dropped off and the rain eased but didn’t stop and I had the chance to get out and totally empty the awning. The tent had done well, except for some minor water seeping through the zips on the upper windows which was hardly surprising considering the battering we just had, it had stayed dry and protected us.
By 7:30pm it was still thundering and lightning but the rain was now steady so we could relax. Next time we think we’ll get the awning away before it rains heavy. Czytaj więcej