The Dragon Mountain

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

“WE ARE THE PILGRIMS, MASTER, WE SHALL GO.

ALWAYS A LITTLE FURTHER, IT MAY BE.

BEYOND THE LAST BLUE MOUNTAIN BARRED WITH SNOW.

ACROSS THAT VALLEY OR THAT GLIMMERING WATERFALL.”

UNKNOWN

The Dragon Mountain

The Drakensberg range is part of the Great Escarpment which is the edge of the interior plateau of Southern Africa and which extends from the North-Eastern Transvaal, near the Tropic of Capricorn, for a distance of about 960 kilometres to end in the Stormberg in the Eastern Cape

The Wolkberg, in the extreme North, is spectacular and well deserves its name – “the Cloud Mountain”. It rises at the point where the range separates the Highveld from the Lowveld. It was on the slopes of the Wolkberg, where the clouds cling to the lichen-covered cliffs, that John Buchan, the novelist who was eventually to become Governor General of Canada, dreamt his dreams and from the highest point, the Iron Crown of Prester John, one can see the great chain running southwards towards the KZN border.

At this point the range turns in a south-westerly direction, separating KZN from the Orange Free State, until it climbs majestically to Mont-aux-Sources. Here it swings in a south-easterly direction, now separating KZN from Lesotho and seems to tower over the rest of South Africa. At Giant’s Castle the mountain wall swings once again in a south-westerly direction and continuous as part of the “Roof of Southern Africa” to the Cape border. Continuing on its journey, but not quite as high, it now separates Lesotho from the Cape Province finally to end in the Stormberg of the Eastern Province.

From Mont-aux-Sources to the Cape border the escarpment is known as the KZN Drakensberg or the “High Berg”, where the range averages a height of about 3 000 metres and is one of the most important geographical features in Southern Africa, containing some of the most rugged and wild mountain scenery on the African continent.

The origin of the name Drakensberg is obscure and probably we shall never know who actually decided to call the range the “Dragon Mountain”. But one thing is certain that long before the Voortrekkers reached the area in 1837, this was its name.

Did the name perhaps originate from the serpents of Bushman mythology? Bushman certainly believed in supernatural serpents, which can be seen in paintings in the various shelters of the KZN Drakensberg. It is possible, however, that the tribesman, after seeing these paintings, or having heard stories about mythological serpents related by the Bushman, believed that these creatures actually lived in the remoter regions and on meeting Europeans they told them about these monsters. The Bloemfontein Advertiser on 26^th April 1877 published a letter to the editor which described how a Boer and his son had seen a huge dragon, the thickness of a wagonwheel, with wings and a forked tail. The Boer called it a flying Dragon. Old Boers on being asked why it’s called the Dragon Mountains would reply “because there is a dragon there”. Local tribes’ people would confirm the story. The range is also referred to as Quathlamba. This name was also used in early maps. It means “a barrier of up-pointed spears”.

The KZN Drakensberg is the highest mountain range in South Africa giving rise to many of the major rivers so important to the economy of the country. The High Berg is really an escarpment and many a visitor has climbed to the top expecting to find a great drop on the other side similar to the one looking back into KZN. Instead he finds, confronting him, the desolate mountainous plateau of Lesotho.

The watershed, which is often the edge of the escarpment, is the national border between Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa.

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.