A Proud Moment in the Drakenburgs!
The Northern Drakenburgs, KwazZulu-Natal (May 9-15)
Initially I had only planned to stay 4 days in the Drakenburgs, but when my safari to Kruger National Park fell through (Damn you, Baz Bus, and your limited tour space availability!), I found myself with a few extra days to fill. And what better way to twiddle your thumbs than in an area of great natural beauty with hiking opportunities galore?! None, I do declare! Thus, my stay at the 5-star Amphitheater Backpackers Lodge near Bergville in the Northern Drakenburgs ended up lasting one glorious week!
The Amphitheater Backpacker Lodge's grounds are extensive, to say the least. It covers 300 hectares with the Mpande River running through it, and one is free to take a safe, leisurely stroll in any given direction. The facilities at this place are pretty rocking (as they would have to be in order to garner that 5-star rating, eh?) and include a fair-to-midland restaurant, psychedelically-decorated bar with large video screens and a mixture of trance/70's classic rock music constantly streaming through the speakers, a small but adequate sweaty sauna, outdoor swimming pool where one can cool off with a watered-down cocktail, and even a large JACUZZI for all those weekend orgies (I am so kidding about that last one,hee)!! But its main drawing point has to be the tons of activities one can book there such as hiking, rock climbing, abseiling, or going on a day trip to the nearby mountain kingdom of Lesotho.
Being a self-declared goddess of hiking, I chose to do two all-day hikes. The first was the 12-kilometer Amphitheater hike to Tugela Falls (947m), the highest waterfall on the continent of Africa and the 2nd highest in the world after Angel Falls in Venezuela. Mind you, the "waterfall" was more of a disappointing trickle seeing that it was winter time which is the dry season in this part of South Africa. But the lack of a waterfall did not detract from my overall enjoyment of this hike for the views of two mountain peaks - the Sentinel and Eastern Buttress - are beyond incredible. My fear of heights did make a brief reappearance once I reached the top of the Amphitheater escarpment for it is a one kilometer sheer gulp-inducing drop down. In fact, I was informed that one poor, unfortunate hiker fell to his death when he attempted to photograph the drop. Apparently, he stepped a tad too close to the edge and then a gush of wind came along pushing him over. Yikes! Here I am taking two ginormous steps back, thank you very much.
My second hike, ascending Cathedral Peak (3004m) was a doozy - both physically and aesthetically. And I have to admit, it was probably my proudest hiking moment as I managed to accomplish what 3 other hikers in our group, all considerably younger than me I might add (and just did), could not. This 10-hour hike is/was grueling; it is 19 kilometers long and there is a 1500m elevation gain which is incredibly difficult to ascend for most but was excruciating for yours truly on the way back down, even with the assistance of my walking stick. The hardest section of the hike is known as "Bugger Gulley" for it induces many a hiker to shout out, "Bugger this!" while they are traversing it. I didn't use those exact words but did utter a few not-so-ladylike words while going down this section, but hope you can still respect me. Yes? No? Bugger that.
We did have a wee bit of reptilian drama while doing the hike for we ended up seeing not one, but 2 DEADLY POISONOUS SNAKES!! One was definitely a puff adder lying directly across the trail; the other was either an adder or a rinkal, but it slithered off into the tall grass too quickly for a final determination to be made by our guides. Yet, the scariest part of the day for me wasn't actually the snakes, but the rock scrambling during the final stage of the ascent. In fact, there was one fleeting moment where I felt myself starting to mentally panic because I couldn't see where to place my left foot on a rock, but once I relaxed and actually started listening to the advice pouring out of the mouth of our lead guide, (Yoh!) Adrian, I managed to find my footing and continued onwards and upwards to my crowning moment at the summit.
The third excursion I chose to do was an all-day trip to the landlocked country of Lesotho. I had previously placed my feet and parked my ass in this country via the majestic Sani Pass border in 2009 and was quite eager to return. I honestly have no idea at which border we crossed this time around nor do I know the name of the village we visited, but what I can tell you is that it was incredibly picturesque albeit sad due to the ample poverty on display. However, for all the comforts of life with which the Sotho people must do without, rarely have I have seen so many smiling faces packed into one single place in all my travels! The cherubic children, in particular, were positively beaming and I witnessed multitudes of them enjoying themselves whilst engaging in football (of course), attending mathematics classes, playing "simple" games with a bunch of small rocks or just lying in the grass of the schoolyard with their arms draped round one another. Wow. Just wow.
During my week in the Drakenburgs, I had the pleasure of spending some additional time
Upcoming...my penultimate South African entry in the urban jungle of...Johannesburg!
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