“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.
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.
References and Acknowledgements
From the book – “Best Walks of the Drakensberg” – David Bristow
Photos: ©W Pelser
Compiled by: Willem Pelser
