Drakensberg Wilderness Hiking South Africa - Mountain of the Dragons - Where Adventure beckons.....: Drakensberg

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

“HIKING A WILDERNESS CHANGES YOU. AS YOU MOVE THROUGH THE WILDERNESS YOU CHANGE THINGS AND IT LEAVES ITS MARKS ON YOU. MOST OF THE TIME THOSE MARKS ON YOUR BODY AND MIND IS BEAUTIFUL. OFTEN, THOUGH, THEY HURT TOO….”

UNKNOWN

Drakensberg

Injasuthi Reserve

It’s amazing sometimes, how wrong things can seem to be for so long, and how suddenly they can then come right. For years and years conservationists and mountaineers bemoaned the fragmented land control of the Drakensberg and its subsequent lack of an overall conservation plan: ‘efforts have been made in the past – to consolidate the area under one authority – but it has been a story of half-hearted measures and government procrastination’, wrote one author. Then it seemed that one day, overnight, we had a new government, and then we had uKhalamba – Drakensberg Park stretching for some 300 kilometres from Royal Natal Park to Bushmen’s Nek. And now, not only that, but this park is a World Heritage Site and the core of a trans-frontier ‘peace park’.

One of the prime pieces of the Berg that for many years lay in private hands was a small chalet resort called Solitude, close to a yellowwood forest on the southern bank of the Injasuthi River where it tumbles out from a red-shouldered gorge. In 1838 Voortrekker leader Gerrit Maritz made a laager next to what they called the Klein (little) Thukela towards Escourt, and they would almost certainly have explored up the valley whose Zulu name, Injisuthi, ‘the well fed dog’, suggests it was a rich hunting area. However, the uppermost reaches of the valley were amongst the last areas of the Drakensberg to be explored by mountaineers, and it was only in 1937 that some of the peaks in the area were climbed and named. The most outstanding of them is the Old Women Grinding Corn, which, like Giant’s Castle to the south and Cathkin Peak to the north, stands out from the Escarpment connected by a narrow nek. Looking at it from the north you can imagine the scene of the old women kneeling over her grindstone.

But you have to walk up, up the Injasuthi Valley, to the lower Injasuthi Cave and even higher, to where the river races over large boulders where there is no path and the massive red-shouldered of the Little Berg give way to the softer green slopes of the sub-Alpine belt, before you can gaze upon the great giants that guard the valley. Early descriptions spoke of the Twins, and only in 1937 after closer inspection was it realized there were in fact three pillars of rock standing free from the main Escarpment wall. The Eastern and Western Triplets are massive towers, more vertical and fortress-like than any other in the Drakensberg. The Middle Triplet is a mere flake of basalt so barely separated from the main wall that it is hard to see until you get really close. Then you also see it is not ‘mere’ in any sense and that each is a huge formation.

That anyone would contemplate climbing them is a thought that will befuddle most people, but mountaineers are not like most people: I suspect one of the reasons they climb peaks like these is just to astound the lesser mortals they refer to as ‘gapers. The sheer, sometimes crumbling, faces of the Triplets were first climbed in 1950 and 1951 and they remain, along with the likes of Devil’s Tooth, among the longest and hardest rock routes in the Berg.

Interesting to note is that among the opening ascent parties were to stalwart climbers of that era, Lorna Pierson and Gillian Bettle. It is with nostalgic yearning that I look at the old black-and-whites of them, obviously ruddy-cheeked in the fresh mountain air, short bob cuts, and clothes of the period, wholesome young women, with their virile, wholesome young men – golden girls and boys. Days gone, days which we who were not there can never fully grasp.

Just north of the reserve chalets the route up the Little Berg is called Van Heynigen’s Pass. It was named after J van Heynigen who was chief forester at Monk’s Cowl in the 1930’s. He hatched the idea of connecting his forest station to Cathedral Peak by constructing a contour path that would meet the tracks built by the Mike de Villiers who started the Cathedral Peak forestry research station and built Mike’s Pass. Later Van Heynigen pushed his path southwards, hoping that one day the parks board would built a path north from Giant’s Castle to meet his.

In the early 1970’s Reg Pearse wrote that the Natal Parks Board had begun forging a path north to Injasuthi: ‘When these two paths meet there will be something like 200 kilometres of well-graded pathway’. For many years there was just talk talk talk, but today you can walk from the base of Cathedral Peak pretty much all the way to Bushmen’s Nek on paths through the Little Berg – admittedly sometimes a bit higher and sometimes a bit lower, and sometimes you think that the whole path was laid out to be an endurance course. It is true that in places it’s in nearly impassable condition, such as below the Pyramid, while elsewhere it is so tortuous you wouldn’t want to believe it is the best hike between the two points. It is also true that from Sani’s Pass to Bushmen’s Nek it’s the Giant’s Cup hiking trail which, for the most part, is so far from the mountains it could be called the ‘toe-hills meander’. But the basic idea is there and who knows what will happen in time……

In 1980 Solitude was purchased by the state and incorporated as a satellite section of Giant’s Castle Game Reserve. On maps the name was first anglicized to Injasuthi, then corrected to eNjesuthi, and currently is spelt Injisuthi. It is called normalization. Accommodation is in 15 chalets, each sleeping six and fully equipped for self-catering, as well as two dormitories sleeping 8 each. About 200 m downstream is a caravan park and camp site, which in autumn becomes a riot of orange wild dagga flowers. At the office there is also a small curio and food shop, stocking only the basics. The main landmark from here is Monk’s Cowl, looming up between Champagne Castle and Cathkin Peak and lording it over the Injasuthi Valley. Hiking routes start from three points in the camp: the tar road across the vehicle bridge leads to Poacher’s Stream, Battle Cave, Marble Bath Cave, Lower Injasuthi Cave, Fergy’s Cave and Centenary Hut; starting next to chalet 4 and continuing over a wooden footbridge this route leads to Van Heynigen’s Pass, Wonder Valley Cave and the contour path to Monk’s Cowl; starting from dormitory hut unit 2 is the route to Grindstone Caves and from there to Marble Baths, Cataract Valley, Yellowwood Forest and the old kraal and dipping tank.

The only caves that can be booked for overnight stays are Lower Injasuthi, Grindstone, and Marble Baths. Fergy’s and Junction caves have been subject to flooding and are no longer suitable for use as shelters. ‘Fergy’ was Sergeant I Ferguson, a policeman who in the 1940’s was given the task of guarding what was a government reserve (before it was sold to a private owner in the 1960’s) against poachers. He was a man who seemed to love life in the wilds and used the cave as his headquarters. Generations of hikers also enjoyed its comforts which are, alas, no more. But Lower Injasuthi Cave is far nicer and better situated anyway, and was until recently very little used by hikers. It makes a great 2 day return hike giving you access to the sacred bowl at the base of the Triplets – comparable in majesty to the base of the Amphitheater. The other place of great majesty is Battle Cave, whose significant ‘battle’ scene can only be viewed on a guided tour. There are plans to re-open Tree Fern Cave to hikers.

Centenary Hut is located at the foot of Corner’s Pass. It is badly vandalized by Basotho poachers and cattle thieves. Repairing the hut is futile as it would just be destroyed again. The only pass giving easy access to the summit from Injasuthi camp is Leslie’s Pass, going up Buttress Fork Stream past Marble Baths.

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.