Hello,
Compared with much of the KZN Berg, this hike will not be as extreme, as you rightly surmise, neither in altitude nor in ascents.
Thaba Telle is the prominent peak atop Ongeluksnek, might be worth a short climb. Would definitely not leave my cars alone at the top of the pass. Lake Letsie is worth a look too, a small concrete weir has backed up a large part of the valley creating a beautiful vlei and quite shallow lake that is virtually all wade-able, altho one could windsurf on it. Contouring along the escarpment edge at the beginning will be exhausting because it is very up and down so if you look at the link below, for the photo in the gallery called: Top of the Ongeluksnek Pass, you will see the road curving to the right and the big hill in the background. You will find going up a small valley around this hill easier than just going up its slopes (and going back down again). There are small hills and winding valleys, just follow your map to gain south. You must carry a map or get lost. (I might recommend getting a copy of the Journal of the Mtn Club of SA, 1991 - the Centenary Edition - for an article written on a hike in this area. The MCSA does not post its journals online for proprietary reasons so you will need a hard copy. Someone on this forum could scan it for you and email it?)
ongeluksnek.com/about/gallery/
The peak called Drakens Rock (2726m) is further on where the escarpment takes a turn inwards towards Lesotho. Is this the namesake of the entire Berg and if so, why has it languished in obscurity? kwaDuma (3019m) is the high peak and on the watershed that sits above a small plateau that juts into RSA, but you will first have to go down to a picturesque pass (dont have my maps here so forgot the name - Dikgaebaneng Pass?). A higher peak on this map is Taleoe (3023m) but entirely in Lesotho.
In the colonial days the British built border posts (such as atop Dik. Pass and Pack Ox Nek) to, among other things, contain East Coast Fever (theileriosis) from reaching Basutoland. The ruins are still there, freezing and thawing in spendid repose, falling apart one sandstone block at a time. I slept in one once to escape the howling winter Berg winds. There are also remnants of wire border fences, although the herd boys have used many iron posts as roofing beams for their huts. The first time I tripped over one of these fences (in the Drakensberg?) I swore at the unexpectedness of it. It is also easier to find herdboy kraals and huts and sleeping in a hut is very snug when the winds howl.
I might suggest just walking off the Berg at kwaDuma, going thru the settlements and linking up with the Matatiele - Mt. Fletcher Road. It is actually well trafficked enough to hitch a ride back since being paved, and you will certainly find a taxi van. Get an early start from the top.
When I think back to a winter hike in this area, totally devoid of tourism and as remote and isolated as one can get in the High Berg, with beauty more subtle than spectacular, I think back with complete pleasure. I am the type of person who would rather have a Lesotho waterfall to myself, and I know of some very impressive ones, than share Victoria Falls with the masses. In KZN one has to avoid moegoes who need rescuing, marathons and "challenges", hotel lights, 4x4s and bells and whistles (NO GPS points!) which continue to erode pieces of the Berg year by year to the detriment of the mountain "experience" many of us still seek and value. It will be you, the herdboys and nature and so be it. Bon Chance.
