Hiking in the 'bergs

---

Feb 10-13

On February the 10th, I rented a car, and left Jo'burg for the Northern Drakensberg. That was an adventure in itself: driving manual, driving on the left and driving in Johannessburg without a map. It took me more than an hour to get out of the city, and it was not because of the traffic. Anyway, I arrived safely at the Amphitheatre Backpacker, situated near the Royal Natal National Park in the Northern Drakensberg.

On February the 10th, I went on an organized hike to the top of the Amphitheatre, one of the spectacular peak of the Drakensbergs. It was a good hike, unfortunately it was very foggy (or was it the clouds) but it was hard to see anything. Too bad, we should have seen one of the tallest waterfalls in the world - the Tugela Falls. On our way down the mountains, we got caught in a thunderstorm and got soaking wet.

On the subsequent two days, I did two smaller hikes on my own - at Monk's Cowl and at the Giant Castle. At the Giant, I saw rock paintings made by the San (or Bushmen) - the first peoples of Southern Africa.

One of the most interesting experience was driving through mountain villages and seeing woman carrying wood on their head or babies on their back, and seeing school children in neat uniforms coming home from school.

---

Photos

Tugela Falls
was it like a drop of 100m? We couldn't see further then 10m.

It was all sunshine and fun
... and then it started raining

It was my very own zulu hut for a night
for 200 rands at Inoksana Lodge

San rock paintings
According to the guide, the Sans were smoking marijuana because a) they found bones in form of pipes and b) they painted superhuman figures who could fly.