South Africa - Drakensberg

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South Africa - Drakensberg

Monday 15th March

Our next stop is the Drakensberg Mountains, the range of mountains running down the eastern side of South Africa and including Lesotho.

We stop at the Sungubala permanent campsite for a couple of days of walking in the spectacular scenery of the mountains. Sungubala is in a beautiful location up in the mountains with some good views of the mountains. It is a “permanent” campsite with the tents being the permanent feature with cot beds inside. The site has an electricity generator which comes on at dusk but which is switched off at 10p.m. - there won’t be too many late-night parties here! It’s definitely a place to relax for a couple of days.

The World’s Highest/Biggest/Largest/Most Powerful Waterfall???

Our walking takes us to the Royal Natal National Park {named after the British royal family} with a walk towards the Amphitheatre rock formation and the Tugela Falls. I think a fitter group than us might have walked all the way to the falls but we are happy to walk towards the Amphitheatre and Falls and enjoy the views. I suspect that if I had reached the falls I might have been disappointed.
Having lived in Guyana for a few years I’d always thought that Angel Falls and Kaieteur Falls were competing to be the worlds highest waterfall. The argument for Kaieteur revolved around it being the highest “single drop” falls. I am surprised to be told, then, that Tugela is the world’s second-highest waterfall.
The arguments are very much down to a choice of words. With a bit of research I find out that Kaieteur actually claims to be “largest” single-drop rather than “highest”. And I think I would be more convinced by Tugela’s claims if it had more water flowing over it than a leaking tap. Surely to qualify as a waterfall a certain amount of water is needed? The falls seemed quite dry when we were there. And where do Niagara Falls and Victoria Falls fit into this argument?

Walking Towards The Amphitheatre and The Falls

We walk about 8km along the path towards The Amphitheatre, stop for lunch at a good viewpoint and then walk the 8km back.

The area does seem quite dry although I gather we are lucky to have avoided rain. In fact a light shower in the afternoon helps us cool down - a relaxing day in some beautiful surroundings.

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Photos

The Drakensberg Mountains
Our first view

Sungubala
Permanent camp site

The Night Sky From Our Camp Site
Not too much light pollution here

The Drakensberg Mountains
Trekking towards the Amphitheatre and Tugela Falls

The Num-Num Tree - honest!!
Used as a natural alternative to Viagra

Amphitheatre
Late afternoon view