Peaks, Valleys and Champagne ... in the Drakensberg

One of my favour­ite hol­i­day spots is the Drakensberg in KwaZulu Natal. Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach and there is noth­ing bet­ter than an early morn­ing swim in the Indian Ocean, but the Drakensberg offers just as good a hol­i­day and there is no need to watch out for jelly­fish and sand in your sarmies!

The Northern and Central Drakensberg falls into four val­leys; Champagne Valley, Didima Valley, Amphitheatre Valley and finally the Middledale Pass Valley in the Northern Berg.

Big peaks in the Champagne Valley are Cathkin and Champagne Castle with peaks of 3149 and 3248 metres respect­ively and are some of the highest in the Drakensberg. Cathkin was named by Scottish set­tlers after an area near Glasgow in their nat­ive coun­try and Champagne Peak was named by a climber who took a bottle of bub­bly along with him to cel­eb­rate his ascent to the sum­mit of the peak ... and then acci­dent­ally dropped the bottle!

The Cathedral Peak and Didima Valley areas of the ‘Berg offer beau­ti­ful scenery (although where in the Drakensberg doesn’t offer mag­ni­fi­cent views?) If you have a 4x4 and are in this area drive to the top of Mike’s Pass for pic­ture per­fect moments of the Central Drakensberg and Rainbow Gorge.

The Royal Natal National Park in the Amphitheatre Valley is a well known tour­ist spot and its most fam­ous fea­ture is the Amphitheatre where the moun­tain rises straight up to a height of 3000 ft. The Royal National Park also fea­tures Cannibal Cave where tri­bal people had to resort to can­ni­bal­ism while hid­ing from Shaka Zulu as he searched the area for his enemies.

To me, the best place in the ‘Berg is Loteni. Also well known for its beau­ti­ful scenery, Loteni Nature Reserve is part of the Southern Drakensberg and is loc­ated between Kamberg and Sani Pass. As its only 70kms away from the vil­lage of Nottingham Road it’s a per­fect day trip if you are in the area Midlands Meandering.

For the hiker there are a num­ber of good walks and the bird­ing enthu­si­ast will not be dis­ap­poin­ted with the wide vari­ety of bird life to be seen; 150 dif­fer­ent spe­cies have been recor­ded in the reserve. If how­ever you are like me and you prefer to just do noth­ing then the rivers offer excel­lent enter­tain­ment. Take an amble down to Cool Pools and spend the day swim­ming and bak­ing dry on the flat rocks.

I’m going back to Loteni in December and I can’t wait!

Useful Links:
Drakensberg Attractions
Things to Do in Drakensberg
Drakensberg Hotels
Drakensberg Accommodation

Photograph: Loteni Waterfall — Courtesy of and © South African Tourism