Winterton Drakensberg

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I eventually managed to convince Matt and Dave that a daytrip out towards Drakensberg was well worth doing.
Drakensberg or Drakensbergen is Dutch for 'the Dragon Mountains'
Its an impressive mountain range of peaks and hills aplenty, great for exploring, camping and hiking.
The problem was getting there
We made the mistake of deviating from the M3 (Freeway) after Pietermaritzburg.
We learned the hard way, that travel on 'light coloured' roads on a map in Africa is best avoided for future reference. The road deteriorated from paved, to gravel, to dirt, to rock, to.. well, near dangerous.
From a positive perspective, it took us through small villages, and a winding pass through the hills that few had ever seen.

At a time, it had us on a thin dirt road, travelling 20km/p hr, on a winding elevated road, where you could see no sign of civilization.
The negative side of things meant that by the time we eventually found our way to Cathedral Peak in the Drakensberg, it was 4pm, and there was not enough time to do anything.
We walked around the hotel and entrance areas, but were advised to do little else, with light dwindling. It was a teasing ordeal of epic proportions. I couldnt help despair at how beautiful the place appeared, how nice the hotel was, and how fulfilling it would be to spend DAYS there, hiking, exploring, and sightseeing.
Alas, I managed to snap a bunch of photos, and we had to be on hour way. Tragically, it took little over 2 hours to get back via the highway, as opposed to the 6 hours it took getting there...
It was a place id truly like to come back to for a few days, next time I'm in Africa.Read more