Drakensberg Mountains - A Hikers Paradise

During our sixteen day trip across South Africa, we spent four days in the Drakensberg Mountains - A UNESCO World Heritage region.

This part of South Africa, is one of my favourites, but often overlooked by visitors who tend to go for the more popular tourist itineraries of Cape Town, the wine lands and safari.

However, if you enjoy hiking then this is a paradise with walks to suit all fitness levels and ages.

On this trip, we opted to stay in the Central Drakensberg region as previously we had been to the North Drakensberg (in the Royal Natal National Park, famous for the Amphitheatre and Tugela Falls - the world’s second tallest waterfalls (after Angel Falls in Venezuela).

If you are in the “central berg” the most popular areas are Giants Castle (also famous for its ancient Bushman rock art) and Monk’s Cowl.

We opted to do a hiking circuit around Monk’s Cowl (which is located in the Champagne Valley of the Central Drakensberg) which took us a leisurely six hours to complete and which involved ascending to 2100m to reach Blindman’s Corner where the views were breath taking.

Now direct flights from London to Durban are available with BA, getting to this beautiful part of the world couldn’t be easier