TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

Quathlamba

“A mass of Spears. Named thus by the Zulu warriors before the white man came. Today called the Drakensberg, Mountains of the Dragon. Evocative names, both equally applicable to South Africa’s mightiest mountain range with its spear-like peaks – reminiscent of the saw-toothed spine of a gigantic dragon.”

“Listen to the streams as they gurgle from their cradles and you will hear the story of the mountains. You will hear fascinating tales if only you listen! Lie next to a stream and listen to the song of the mountains. The smiling faces of the flowers, dancing in the wind. Venture into the remote valleys or stand on a peak at sunrise or sunset, after snow has fallen, and you will hear a song that you will never forget - the Song of the High Mountain".

DRAKENSBERG WILDERNESS PHOTOS © WILLEM PELSER

“IT WAS ONE OF THOSE WILD, SHINING DAYS, WHEN THE VERY AIR SEEMED POLISHED, A DAY OF FAST MOVING SKIES, AND THE CLOUDS BLAZING, A DAY OF LEANING SPIRES.”

UNKNOWN

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

Summer: Soaring anvil clouds herald the approaching thunderstorms, precursors of lush growth, swollen rivers and rushing streams. Autumn brings forth its golden hues as the time for growth passes. Winter arrives with frosty mornings, tinder grass glistening white. Spring, warmer by the day, sees fields once burnt low flushing bright green, flowers and new leaves abound. Every season in the Drakensberg is special in its own way.

The Drakensberg lies close to the tropic of Capricorn and, in keeping with these latitudes, the climate is generally mild. From time to time, however, there are other factors that come into play, and they make for interesting and, occasionally, even severe weather conditions.

Although the warm Indian Ocean is almost 200km to the east of the Drakensberg it nevertheless plays an important part in the mountain range’s climate. From the coastline, travelling westward, the land rises steadily for about 100km. Here, it reaches an altitude of roughly 1500m and levels off to become an undulating inland plateau, dissected by a number of major rivers. To the south a number of foothill ridges protrude outwards from the mountains well into the midlands, and the topography is more extreme. In the west, presiding over it all lies the majestic Drakensberg Mountain range. More than 160km long, it rises abruptly to a height of 3 000m and more, creating a rugged barrier that affects the local weather in various ways. Be it thunderstorms or cold front, the result is often dramatic, intensifying the beauty and the extremes of nature.

For all but the winter months, the prevailing winds are from the north-east. Warm, humid air off the ocean, on its way inland, is forced higher and higher. When it reaches cooler altitudes, condensation takes place and clouds and thunderstorms form. Nowhere is this phenomenon more graphically displayed than along the Drakensberg escarpment in summer.

Every now and then the highs and lows of the pressure systems cause the wind to turn and blow strongly from the direction of the Antarctic, bringing with it colder weather.

Summer in the Drakensberg is warm, often hot. Mornings typically start with low-lying mist, especially in the valleys, but this soon burns off, absorbed by the heat of the sun. A breeze from the east brings with it more moisture, forming clouds above the peaks. By noon there is a fair chance that billowing cumulo-nimbus clouds, with their distinctive mushroom or anvil shapes, will form high above the mountains. Soon, thunder will reverberate among the peaks and lightning rake the sky. Huge raindrops will splatter the earth. Once on the move, the storm will make its way eastwards down the valleys………… often continuously reviving itself, until dissipating well out to sea, hundreds of kilometers away.

It’s a time of caution and respect for the power of nature! Walking in the mountains during an electrical storm, as spectacular as it can be, is not a good idea. In these mountains lightning has probably killed more people than all of nature’s other risks combined. One should be sure to keep well away from high ridges and not to take shelter under exposed trees. If a summer’s day trek is planned to be a long one, it is wise to get going early, even to start off well before sunrise. One has a good chance of beating both the heat of the day and the afternoon thunderstorm.

The sensations of experiencing a typical electrical storm: The rumble of the storm draws closer. The air, motionless at first, starts to bluster. It has an almost warm feeling about it. The sound of thunder becomes louder, lightning more threatening. The first drops fall. Intermittent at first, each audibly defined. Then the pace is increased, faster, louder, until the combination of thunder, wind and rain is a deafening cacophony. Suddenly the rain can be accompanied by hail. The air is charged and lightning strike the high ground all around as though you are in the middle of a war zone. In the face of nature’s onslaught, you are powerless.

Then, suddenly, as quickly as it arrived, the storm moves on. The sound of rushing water is everywhere. It spills down and off the cliffs to run through the grass, finding its way to the nearest gully. The sky becomes brighter. All around you the rocks and the landscape glistened, washed clean. Cloud, like steam, wrap the peaks, and obscure your view into the valleys below. The air is sweet with the smells of heather and grasses after their pounding by the elements. The rumblings diminish, moving away to the east. And towards the west it is dark and there is another storm forming. Soon, it will be heading your way…………

The region’s high summer rainfall can also create risk, with rivers beneath the peaks very quickly becoming swollen. If one is cut off while out hiking and there’s no alternative route, the sensible option is simply to wait for the flood to subside.

At this time of the year there is something special about the way that there is water everywhere, gurgling, and trickling in furrows and off the rocks beside the pathways. These small beginnings, from the tiniest trickle, gentle rivulet and stream, all eventually combine to form the raging torrents in the valleys below. Streams, often dormant during winter, become vibrant, with spectacular waterfalls appearing in unexpected places. Summer is also the time when wild flowers provide their colorful display and pleasant herby scents of woody fynbos and other sweet fragrances permeate the air.

The End.

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book – Encounters with the Dragon – John Hone

Photos:  ©Willem Pelser

Compiled by:  Willem Pelser

THE BEARDED VULTURES - KING OF THE DRAKENSBERG SKY

Quathlamba

“A mass of Spears. Named thus by the Zulu warriors before the white man came. Today called the Drakensberg, Mountains of the Dragon. Evocative names, both equally applicable to South Africa’s mightiest mountain range with its spear-like peaks – reminiscent of the saw-toothed spine of a gigantic dragon.”

 

“Listen to the streams as they gurgle from their cradles and you will hear the story of the mountains. You will hear fascinating tales if only you listen! Lie next to a stream and listen to the song of the mountains. The smiling faces of the flowers, dancing in the wind. Venture into the remote valleys or stand on a peak at sunrise or sunset, after snow has fallen, and you will hear a song that you will never forget - the Song of the High Mountain".

DRAKENSBERG WILDERNESS PHOTOS © WILLEM PELSER

“ONLY THE MOUNTAINS ARE AWAKE

GUARDING THE VAGUE LOW SKY,

AND A BIRD FOR ITS OWN SONG’S SAKE AND I”.

LEONORA SPEYER

THE BEARDED VULTURES

KING OF THE DRAKENSBERG SKY

“I am so tired. I have been scrambling up this mountain now for hours, climbing severe cliffs, and gaining altitude all in my quest to beat Kwa-Pitole in the Lotheni Wilderness area and sit on her summit. One final push up a 20 meter cliff and I am close to the summit. Standing on top of the cliff, I had the world at my feet. Sitting down with my feet hanging over the cliff, I take a celebratory peach out of my backpack and surveyed the magnificent world around me. All of a sudden, behind me and very close; I hear this faint rustling noise. Turning my head around, I find myself looking straight into the most magnificent bird I have ever seen”.

This was my first introduction to the Bearded Vultures of the Drakensberg Wilderness. And what an introduction it was! Looking up at the vulture which was hovering about 4 meters above me was an unexplainable experience. It was surreal and out of this world. The vulture then flew past me, made a U-turn, and flew back towards me with the Elandshoek River Valley as a backdrop. It once again hovered above my head. This carried on for about 20 minutes before the bird disappeared as magically as it appeared.

   I never thought that I would ever have the opportunity of seeing them, never mind experience them from so close-up. This specific bird was a magnificent specimen and absolutely huge. The wingspan was about 3 meters. The golden colors were just magnificent. This bird glided through the air without any effort whatsoever, and I did not see it flap its wings once. The bird was so close to me that I could see every feather and the facial expression whilst looking it straight in the eye. The aerial display I was treated to was simply out of this world. The experience was quite magical and seemed so surreal. It was as if this bird welcomed me into the wilderness and approved of my intrusion.

Imagine sitting on a cliff, the only human around in a vast Wilderness and then being treated to a display by such a magnificent, scarce bird!

From this day on, I would always come into contact with these birds. It is quite a special occasion for me, as it became standard that on my first day of a multi-day hike I would be greeted by them, and on the last day of a hike I would receive a goodbye! It is as if the mountain gods instructed these birds to be my companions on my solo journeys. I can definitely feel a spiritual connection with the Bearded Vultures.

The Bearded Vulture is mostly found in the KZN Drakensberg Mountain range in South Africa where they nest and breed high up the sheer mountain faces. They are capable of travelling huge distances during the day looking for food. I would often watch them making use of the thermals being generated in the mountains.

There are very few of these birds left in the Drakensberg and that is all due to the fact that they have been hunted and poisoned to near zero numbers before some sanity remained to prevent their total annihilation.

It was a greatly misunderstood bird and unfortunately nobody seemed to be interested in understanding them or to study them. When the white man invaded the wilderness and were allocated farms in this region, they came with a lot of livestock and especially sheep.

The Bearded Vulture was out and out viewed as a mega predator and responsible for sheep losses. They were shot on sight, poisoned, and actively hunted. They were given the name “Lammergeyer” due to the very false believe that they preyed on sheep. This behavior was to continue when the Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve was formed in the early years. The reserve was formed to; ironically, preserve the Eland population which was also being decimated at an alarming rate. The early rangers in this reserve were under instruction to hunt down and kill any animal which remotely resembled a predator in order to “protect” the Eland population. So at the end the very people, who should have protected all the animals, destroyed them. Even baboons were shot by the rangers and what a baboon has to do with the Eland population is any one’s guess.

It would take a long time before somebody understood the error of their ways and stopped the wanton destruction. It came nearly too late and today the Bearded Vulture population struggles to increase their numbers. The rangers of the time had quite a party and many species were on their list to be eradicated: Serval cat, mongoose, leopard, bearded vulture, black eagle, jackal, dassie, wild dogs, otters, baboons, hyenas, jackal buzzard, owls, secretary bird, and the marshal eagle. They actually submitted monthly reports to the head-office detailing the animals shot for the month. As far as the rangers and their bosses where concerned, only the Eland was to remain in the Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve. The problem became bigger as more farms were bought and the land added to the reserve.

To make matters worse, you had the farmers on the other side who shared the same policy of eradication. Apart from this they were also actively involved in the killing and poaching of eland. Farmers also poisoned dead sheep carcasses to kill the jackals and this practice obviously killed a lot of common vultures as well as the Bearded Vulture.

It was quite a travesty especially for the Bearded vulture. The Bearded vulture is part of the vulture family and they do not actively hunt for live prey. They are mostly bone and marrow eaters. When other species of vultures discover a carcass, the Bearded vulture would wait till the vultures are done and they would then feast on the bones left over. They will pick up a bone and fly up to a height from where they would drop the bones onto rocks. They will then fly down, pick up the bone again and carry on doing this until such time that the bone will shatter and they could get to the marrow and the smaller pieces of bone.

Bearded Vultures are very big birds and by sheer size alone they would be capable of hunting live prey, but, which they do not do. It saddens me that such a magnificent animal, so beautiful, was destroyed so wantonly.

Many a time I would watch as they soar in the sky and the sad thought would cross my mind: did whoever was so keen to kill ever felt a pang of regret?

There is a photo of a Giant’s Castle ranger posing with a dead Serval cat over one shoulder, rifle on the other; dog and horse close by. He is posing as just the man!

Today the Bearded Vulture is a protected species and on the endangered list. Fortunately somebody decided that enough is enough and stopped the killing.

There is nothing more spectacular in the Drakensberg Wilderness during a multi-day hike when you come into contact with these graceful, beautiful birds. It truly is a magical and spiritual experience.

I have done hundreds of kilometers through a vast area of the wilderness. It is such a true and wild paradise. Yet, which is very disturbing is the lack of animals, other than the eland population, being around. One would expect much more and a very diverse animal life, but sadly, it is not to be. The impact of those early days with the arrival of the first white man in the area is definitely felt to this day.

Today, the Drakensberg Wilderness is protected in its totality, although poaching still rules.

I hope that you will one day share in the magic of these birds on your hike. When you see them, sit yourself down, and watch the king of the sky. How will you know it is a Bearded Vulture? Believe you me, you will know.

We as hikers need to understand that when we do hike the Drakensberg Wilderness we are only visitors in paradise and that this world belongs to Mother Nature and her animals. We need to leave again, and when we do, there must be no sign of our passing through. We also have a duty to protect this area.

The End.

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book – Drakensberg Wilderness – A Solo Journey Through Paradise –                              W Pelser

Photos:  ©Willem Pelser

Compiled by:  Willem Pelser

THE DRAKENSBERG

Quathlamba

“A mass of Spears. Named thus by the Zulu warriors before the white man came. Today called the Drakensberg, Mountains of the Dragon. Evocative names, both equally applicable to South Africa’s mightiest mountain range with its spear-like peaks – reminiscent of the saw-toothed spine of a gigantic dragon.”

“Listen to the streams as they gurgle from their cradles and you will hear the story of the mountains. You will hear fascinating tales if only you listen! Lie next to a stream and listen to the song of the mountains. The smiling faces of the flowers, dancing in the wind. Venture into the remote valleys or stand on a peak at sunrise or sunset, after snow has fallen, and you will hear a song that you will never forget - the Song of the High Mountain".

DRAKENSBERG WILDERNESS PHOTOS © WILLEM PELSER

 “IT HAD TO DO WITH HOW IT FELT TO BE IN THE WILD. THE EXPERIENCE WAS POWERFUL AND FUNDAMENTAL, AND AS LONG AS THE WILD EXIST IT WILL ALWAYS FEEL THIS WAY.”

UNKNOWN 

THE DRAKENSBERG

The highest point on the Drakensberg is the incongruously named Ntaba Ntlenyane (nice little mountain), which reaches a height of 3483 m. The whole summit of the basalt island is a jumble of spongy, water-soaked bogs, complex, zigzagging valleys, springs, waterfalls, streams, mist, snow and clouds, all inextricably mixed into a gigantic scenic symphony perfectly described by the greetings exchanged by the Sotho horsemen when they meet one another on the bridle paths which seem to reach almost to the stars: ‘Khotso’ (peace); and ‘Pula’ (rain).

   The most spectacular length of the Drakensberg looks down on KZN, Griqualand East and the north-eastern portion of the Cape. For 350 km the Drakensberg presents a high wall of basalt precipices. There are no easy ways over this mass of rock. The few passes are steep, zigzag routes following water-courses. Bridle paths, wilderness trails and tracks follow the contours along the lower slopes, but it takes a mountaineer to find a way to the summit of most of the peaks. In some areas mountain hotels and holiday resorts have been established. Other areas remain completely wild and difficult of access, and demand no little endurance from those with the energy to explore them.

   Snow can fall along the Drakensberg in any month of the year, but winter usually sees the heaviest falls. The summer months are marked by some of the noisiest and most spectacular thunderstorms occurring anywhere on earth. From November to May these violent storms break in two days out of three.

   Clouds start to close in for the brawl at about 11 a.m. Preliminaries commence at about 1 p.m. with a few bangs and buffets. By 2 p.m. there is a general uproar. To a hiker caught in such a storm is something like trying to shelter in a box of fireworks after somebody else has thrown in a match. Tremendous flashes of lightning seem to tear the sky to pieces. Thunder rumbles, explodes and echoes in an incessant uproar. Rain streaks down at over 50 km an hour, usually turning into hail at some stage, with lumps the size of pigeon’s eggs.

   Even more abruptly than they started, these mountain thunderstorms end. The clouds suddenly lift, there is a real flaming sunset and by evening all the stars are out, quite dazzling in the well-washed, pollution-free sky. Storms of longer duration, accompanied by days of clammy mist, also set in at times and bring an average rainfall of 2000 mm, the water soaking into the basalt and then oozing out to feed the rivers.

   The vegetation on the slopes, a thick covering of grass and a few shrubs, is sufficient hardy to be able to shrug off these storms – not, however, without many scars. Slopes with a southern aspect – the coldest slopes – are particularly marked by such storm scars. Bare, crescent-shaped terraces pattern the slopes in the thousands. Each of these neat little terraces is about 1 m wide and up to 10 m in length. They appear to be caused mainly by melted water from snow and frost. This icy water saturates the soil, causing it to sag and form these strange-looking scars, rather reminiscent of the incisions made on the faces of certain primitive tribespeople.

   The north-eastern end of the basalt ‘island’ is fittingly marked by an outstanding, fang-shaped peak known as the Sentinel. It is 3165 m high and a dominant landmark, visible from KZN and the Orange Free State. Behind it lies a high, boggy plateau overlooked by a gently rising height known as Mont-aux-Sources (the mountain of springs), around whose slopes dozens of springs bubble up and combine their clear waters to form several major rivers in South Africa flowing east and west.

   This great watershed has a notable atmosphere. Surrounded by clouds, often with summer thunderstorms exploding below the level of the summit, it seems to be a small world of its own, lost in space. Jagged peaks menace it on all sides. Snow blankets it thickly in the winter, while the summer months see its bogs decorated with many flowering plants, notably red-hot pokers and various species of Erica which flourish happily in alpine conditions of incessant rain, hail, snow and powerful winds.

   To the east, the plateau falls away in some of the most majestic precipes of the whole Drakensberg.

The End.

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book: Southern Africa – Land of Beauty and Splendour – Readers Digest

Photos:  ©Willem Pelser

Compiled by:  Willem Pelser