Hiking the Drakensberg: Trails from Tugela Gorge to the Amphitheater

Tim Neville traveled roughly 200 miles from Johannesburg to the Drakensberg, South Africa’s highest mountain range, and spent several days hiking from the Cavern, a family-run, 55-room lodge in the newly formed Northern Drakensberg Nature Reserve. The Drakensberg rises to more than 11,400 feet in places and forms dramatic basalt ridges and sandstone valleys that are part of the Great Escarpment.

Royal Natal National Park contains the Amphitheater, a cirque of cliffs about 4,000 vertical feet high, and the Tugela Falls, which tumble more than 3,200 feet and are described in the piece as one of the world’s highest waterfalls. The region is accessible by a roughly three-and-a-half-hour drive from Johannesburg and offers trails, waterfalls, wildflower meadows, ancient rock art sites and lodges sprinkled among the folds.

Neville hiked with a Zulu guide, Sandile Shelembe, on outings that included a five-mile climb to Jackal Hill, a nine-mile round trip into the canyons of Tugela Gorge and an approach to the Amphitheater that requires hiking about eight miles round trip across the Maluti highlands (the author also notes a popular 11-mile route that links five summits).

The account records small details such as entrance fees ($7 at the park, $4.50 for the Amphitheater), a 50-foot cable ladder bolted into the rock on the route, and lodge rates of about 3,030 rand per person per day, or roughly $185, including meals and many activities.

Key Topics

Culture, Drakensberg, Tugela Falls, Cavern, Sandile Shelembe, Amazizi