DRAKENSBERG SAFETY

“OUT OF THIS NETTLE DANGER,

WE PLUG THIS FLOWER, SAFETY”

SHAKESPEARE

DRAKENSBERG SAFETY

The Drakensberg has rich gifts to offer all who come to its soaring peaks and quiet valleys, but too often the bright anticipation of the morning had ended in needless sorrow and regret.

Offered here is what I hope will be useful advice to the aspirant hiker in avoiding these dangers.

The Drakensberg continues to increase in popularity as a place for healthy recreation, place of escape from the tensions and turmoil of modern life, and as a place for spiritual refreshment. More and more people are coming to the Berg. Because of this, more and more accidents happen.

Ninety per cent of these accidents should never occur. They are caused by sheer carelessness and ignorance. The Drakensberg is a place of matchless beauty and grandeur. It has rich gifts for the hiker who comes with humility and respect. But for the casual tripper who could not care less, for the man who goes blithely but mindlessly on his way, heedless of the advice of those who know, it can be a killer. We need to create a greater awareness of the possible hazards, and how to cope with them.

What can we do to avoid these totally unnecessarily accidents?

First of all, plan your journey well beforehand. Get hold of one of the many excellent maps that are available. Study your map well before your trip and plan your route carefully.

Secondly, make sure you are equipped adequately for the trip you have planned. Clothing and food supplies are largely a matter of personal taste, but there are often certain essentials that must never be forgotten. Remember at all times to have plenty of warm clothing with you. Even on the hottest summer day blizzard conditions can blow up with startling suddenness. If you are on a summit trip take two sleeping bags with you, even in summer. Wind in cold weather can be a killer: make sure you have a windbreaker jacket with you. You will often get wet while on the march. Make sure you have a change of clothing for when you reach your night’s camping spot. Shorts are better for climbing than longs, but you must have something to change into at night. Track suits are excellent for this purpose. Strong leather boots are better than shoes and “takkies”. To avoid blisters wear two pairs of socks, the inner thin, and the outer thick knitted, with some talc powder between the two pairs.

Food, even more than clothing, is a matter of personal choice, but make sure that what you select is light in weight. There are so many types of food on the market that this should prove no problem. There is no point in carrying heavy tins of meat when a few packs of soup powder will do the job just as well.

One very important point: always carry more food than you actually require. This need not be anything elaborate: a few extra slabs of chocolate, extra oatmeal – enough to keep body and soul together for a few days in an emergency.

Always remember to fill in the Mountain Rescue Register at your point of entry into the Drakensberg, and to sign off when you return or where you exit. THIS IS ESSENTIAL. These registers are available at all entry points. Complete the register in full, especially the exact route you intend to take. This information is essential for the rescue team in case you have an accident or get lost. Much valuable time and effort can be wasted as a result of insufficient or incorrect information. The party, for instance, who died in Ship’s Prow Pass in 1981, had filled in their route simply as “walk up Cathkin”, which was both incorrect and meaningless. If there is a likelihood of you deviating from your planned route, you should say so. Even if you are going only for a short walk in the Little Berg, an afternoon’s stroll; always tell someone where you are going.

Summit trips to the inexperienced are particularly hazardous. It is wise to embark on these gradually. Don’t make your first trip to the summit a ten-day hike! Make your first trip a single-day one, and learn what the summit is like. At Cathedral Peak and Giant’s Castle it is possible to reach the summit and return in a day. Then go up and spend one night on the summit. See how you like sleeping out at 3 050 meters. It may not be your cup of tea! After that is the time to plan for longer trips.

It is wise to familiarize yourself with the various passes leading up to, and down from the summit. The main escarpment is nothing less than a gigantic sheer wall of rock, sometimes 305 meters high. But in the 100 kilometers from Mont-Aux-Sources to Giant’s Castle there are only 12 to 15 well-known passes breaching this rock wall, and it is wise to know where they are. If you are caught in heavy snow on the summit you may want to get down quickly, and your only hope will be one of these passes.

This brings us to the next point. If you are on the summit and the weather does show signs of breaking, it is best to get down as quickly as possible, especially if you have little experience of snow conditions. Sometimes, after days of snow, the passes become choked with snow and ice and it is impossible to get down.

The mist comes down, and you are lost. What do you do?

On no account start stumbling around blindly in the mist. You will soon lose all sense of direction and could easily be lost for days. It is best to stay put until the mist rises. Sometimes, however, the mist can last for days, especially on the summit. Your food is running out: what do you do? If you are in the Little Berg, there should be no problem, especially if you are on a path. Keep to this path. But if you are really caught out, away from a path, and the mist persists, simply follow the nearest stream downwards. All streams in the Little Berg flow roughly from west to east, and will lead eventually either to below the mist belt or to a habitation of some sort.

If you are caught on the summit in the mist, it is a little more difficult, for here there are no paths and the mist can persist for many days, especially in summer. It is still best to stay put, to sit it out, for it can be dangerous to start walking about in mist near the edge of the escarpment.

Make a special study of Drakensberg weather. Learn to interpret the cloud formations, the winds, and the signs that accompany a change in the weather. Remember that Drakensberg weather can change dramatically within a few minutes.

Although stressed here is the necessity for caution and experience in tackling the wonder-world of the Drakensberg, do not misunderstood. There is another side to the coin.

Man has a deep-seated, built-in urge to test himself against the hazards of life, to pit himself against the elements, and it would be a sad day if the Drakensberg were ever made totally safe. It is the very element of danger that gives hiking and mountaineering its peculiar mystique. Man needs to know that deep satisfaction of discovering the limits of his abilities, of being able to stare, unblinking, into the face of danger, and to know that it was good. There is a risk that overemphasis of the hazards may become counter-productive, and may frighten people off who would become better men and women through having had to face danger and still remain unshaken.

“IT MUST BE A POOR LIFE THAT ACHIEVES FREEDOM FROM FEAR, BUT IT IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF WISDOM NOT TO DO DESPERATE THINGS”

Perhaps that is just it. What is needed is a balanced viewpoint. Let us take all due precautions, but at the same time recognize the need for the challenge of high and perilous adventure. You will find it in the Drakensberg.

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.