State of the road to Injisuthi

Here is a brief update on the road to Injisuthi from mid September 2012.

From the T junction turn off near the shoe factory the road is good for 21 km. The stretch has a few holes but the tar is generally good. The only slow patch is at 17km where there is a diversion around the bridge washout. The slab for the new bridge has been laid and the 15m of the approach to the slab were being worked on in mid Sept. The dirt road diversion round the works is fine though.

The next 4 km from the repaired bridge to the last Kraal is good tar too now. But the next 4 km from the last kraal to the park gate is rough. On the uphill/downhill stretches all the dirt road aggregate has been eroded away leaving a bouldery surface. In places you need to choose your line carefully to get the necessary clearance. Last year I took a panel of plastic off the hire-car on this stretch. Well I half took it off. The N3 near Escourt took care of the rest. After the gate and to the camp (8 km or so) the road is tar and quite smooth.

Why is the stretch from the last kraal to the park gate so bad when the other bits are now fixed? This covers part of the reserve where it appears that no one is allowed to build but where grazing and fire wood collection is permitted - so it is a mixture of used and protected land. I would not be surprised if there is now a dispute between authorities on who is responsible for maintaining this section of road.

You summed it up pretty well therte mnt_tiska. That "bouldery surface" is a good way of describing it. Even if they just chucked a lot of gravel ontop, it would be much better (til the next big rains washes it all away )

I have to smile every time I hear of that bridge they are repairing. They've been working (sleeping?) on it for a solid 3 or so years now! Slowly and surely (hopefully )

Just an update on the road.

The first section after the Shoe Factory turnoff has a few more pot-holes than before (about 7 km), requiring extra caution (maybe due to all the recent rain).

The bridge is now open, so the small detour is no longer required.

The rest of the route is pretty much the same as mnt_tiska described.

I phoned them this morning,about the state of the road. lady said that only 4km is quite bad.Road has always been bad...just drive slowly.I'll be driving down on Saturday,going on hike until the 26th.

@Elandman

Yep. State of roads. What can we say?

But then think back to the days when the Berg Hotels were not the resort of BMW driving-Gucci wearing-Tissue Flingers, but rather the place to go with solid wheels over rutted roads and climb peaks, with hemp rope
Maybe ponder the fact that the (poor) state of the road may actually be preserving the (continued) state of the Drakensberg Wilderness.
1st gear. Persevere. Know that you won't see sweet wrappers every 300m.
Just a thought.

Yeah you have a point SeriousTribe2.

BMW driving gucci wearing tissue flingers... classic!
Forever-more will they be branded that lol

There are some strong views about the general tourist visiting the Drakensberg in the last couple of posts, to the point of being condescending.

I'd be wary of doing this. We should be careful not to portray the hiking community as being elitist, thus turning new people away in the process.

Live and let live, live and let learn.