The Drakensberg is South Africa’s top mountain destination and the most beautiful mountain scenery of this trip, even topping the Virunga Volcanoes in Rwanda.
It’s been a few decades since I last visited the Drakensberg and I was keen to explore these magnificent mountains again. I decided to divide my stay in two parts; first the northern part at Monk’s Cowl/Giant’s Castle and then move down to the southern part of the park at Garden Castle.
I collected my repaired caravan from Echo4x4 in Centurion and drove 6.5 hours to reach the Injisuthi Camp which is located between Monk’s Cowl and Giant’s Castle in the Northern Drakensberg. The last 20 kilometers from Loskop was a very potholed and narrow track but it presented spectacular views of the lush green mountains and valleys. The Drakensberg in summer is one of the most scenic places on Earth!
Northern Drakensberg
Northern Drakensberg
Road to Injisuthi
The Injisuthi Camp is nestled between the Injisuthi and Cowl Fork Rivers and is a hikers paradise. The camp had clean ablutions with warm showers at a rate of R140 per night.
Injisuthi Camp
Thunderstorm in the distance
Injisuthi Rivers
It was surprisingly comfortable to sleep in my caravan again and to enjoy camping life again instead of staying in lodges or hotels. It’s been almost three months since I had to abandon my damaged caravan in the Serengeti and continue the trip without it. Echo4x4 did a marvelous job of not only replacing the complete undercarriage, suspension and tow hitch but also cleaning the inside and outside that would have taken me weeks to do, as it was in a very dirty state when I left it in the Serengeti. It felt like a new caravan to me.
My planned hikes didn’t happen because low clouds moved in a dit started to rain. When the weather didn’t improve I packed up and decided to travel south to the Garden Castle part of the Southern Drakensberg.
The whole way it was raining and approaching Underberg the road was covered with low clouds. The weather forecast showed that the rainy conditions will continue for a few more days, which would make a visit in the mountains unpleasant. I therefore decided to drive to Kokstad to camp at Mt Currie Nature Reserve for a couple of nights.
This featured blog entry was written by Malan from the blog Africa Big Lap 2023.
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