Drakensberg Wilderness Hiking South Africa - Mountain of the Dragons - Where Adventure beckons.....: Drakensberg - Walking in Garden Castle

DRAKENSBERG

KwaZulu-Natal South Africa

Mountain of the Dragons

South Africa’s mightiest mountain range with its spear-like peaks – reminiscent of the saw-toothed spine of a gigantic dragon.

Where Adventure beckons..........

DRAKENSBERG WILDERNESS PHOTOS © WILLEM PELSER

“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us…..”

RW Emerson

Drakensberg

Walking in Garden Castle

Sleeping Beauty Cave

Ask any farmer in the Mzimkhulu Wilderness area what the major issue here is and he or she will say stock theft. It’s an old ‘custom’ invented by the Bushmen when white settlers moved into their hunting grounds, and later adopted by the Basotho as their national sport. But, whereas the Bushmen had just cause, the modern Basotho cattle and horse thieves are brazen criminals pillaging the rich pickings of a foreign country. The two points to the south of Sani Pass are the major landmarks of the Southern Drakensberg: Hodgson’s Peaks are named after a farmer who, in 1862, joined a posse to follow Bushmen cattle thieves into the mountains. While chasing a mounted Bushman along the summit near Mzimkhulu Pas, Thomas Hodgson was severely wounded in the thigh. He died the following day and is buried somewhere up there. Robert Speirs, who was among the commando, was lost without horse or food for about two weeks after the incident. He spent some time in a cave, which must still have been used by Bushmen after this because scenes depicting the incident were painted on the walls. It was named Speir’s Cave and hikers who are persistent will locate it along the Mzimkhulu Pass route. The gateway to Garden Castle Wilderness is the town of Underberg.

Sleeping Beauty Cave

Route: From Garden Castle camp up The Monk to the cave

Distance: 8 km return

Duration: 2 hours up and 2 hours down

Grade: Strenuous

General: Since the Bushmen Caves route was closed to hikers not taking a guided tour, this has become one of the favorite shorter hikes from the camp site. However, it is more than a little steep, gaining nearly 400 m in altitude over just 4 km, mostly in the last 1.5 km. On the other hand, it gives the opportunity to camp out in a cave just a short way from base, and so for groups with teenagers it is suitable.

If you are not camping at the camp you can park at the entrance gate, pay an entry fee and sign the mountain register. If you plan to overnight you’ll also have to book and pay for the cave accommodation.

Follow the road to the camp site, and carry on up the right hand side of the Mashai River. There is a small forest on the right hand side of the river. About 1 km past the camp site the valley narrows as it enters the sandstone portals of the Little Berg., but the path itself remains user-friendly for some way yet, even though you have started to ascend by now.

Up on your right are the castellations of Swiman and further up The Monk, while dead ahead looms the 3 313 m bulk of the Mashai Peak. Although there is a Mashai Pass in the vicinity, it does not go up anywhere near here, or indeed anywhere near Mashai Peak, which stands as the headwall of the river up which you progress. From here the path tends to become rank with grasses and bracken.

Once you feel you are getting really high up in the Little Berg, the path crosses the river and makes its way ever higher to Sleeping Beauty cave, above the river on the right. Some 700 m on, over a knoll, you come to Engagement Cave which must have some previous romantic tie. The only return is to backtrack along the same route.

We as hikers, explorers, and adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses. Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

The End.

Safe Hiking.