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Bear in mind too that these kinds of "big busts" are nothing new and have happened time and again over recent years. Last year there were several big busts and arrests. So far there has been no correlation between these and a backlash against hikers.

I totally understand the uneasy feeling of walking past smugglers knowing that they are carrying weapons. Its not the way things should be. But so far the issues have been limited to a couple of cases of gear snatching, confrontational discussions arising from uneasy hikers having their campsite invaded, and several cases where gunshots were fired. These gunshot cases often happen at night and seem to be directed at rival groups rather than hikers. There was a clear case near The Neck in the Organ Pipes area a few years ago where it seems the smugglers panicked in the dark and fired a few rounds, mistaking hikers to be park rangers who are often on patrol there.

I've personally been privy to a gunshot incident. It was in the middle of the day in the Ships Prow area and a single clear shot echoed through the valley. We were very confused as to what it was at first. Later as we were ascending the North Fork, we heard the smugglers and/or rustlers moving up almost parallel to us in the South Fork, as they were yelling loudly. After the hike I found out that this bunch had been pursued by the park rangers as they were stealing cattle. Evidently we walked right by two cow carcasses that had been pulled off the trail by the rangers. In hind sight it may well have been that this bunch may have seen us coming up the valley behind them and got panicked, thinking that the rangers still hadn't given up yet.

I’ve also walked right into large groups of them, numbering as many as 30-40. On one occasion it was just two of us, some 3km over the border into Lesotho. I have never seen so many smugglers and so much dagga in one place before! The bags were lying everywhere, some even opened, and many were stacked into several shepherd huts. They didn’t even bother much with us, to the extent that I actually tried to make conversation with them. On another occasion we ran into a very large bunch that were just returning from a run. They were very jovial and light-hearted, talking and laughing with us. They were even up for pictures.

I mention these things to say that though the situation is serious, I believe there is no reason to avoid the Berg currently because of this. I certainly don't feel at ease about any of it, but this is "business as usual" and this is the peak season for smuggling and busts. Its no secret what goes on at Ntonjelana, Rockeries and Mnweni Passes and police busts have been happening there for many years. That we hike there is incidental.

It may be best to avoid these passes, as well as the Organ Pipes and Grays Pass areas for the current season, especially if the situation seems too troubling for you.

mnt_tiska wrote: For the moment, the Berg seems safer than the streets - at least to me.

I tend to agree.

Highlands Fanatic wrote: [
I'm just concerned about a potential backlash to us as hikers. These guys may start thinking: who gave their position away, are any hikers they pass by potentially gonna tell on them etc etc. I'm concerned the casual bypassing of these groups with hikers may have come to an end.

It seemes completely logical to think this way - but the evidence so far is that the smugglers are not suspicious of hikers. They also have no objective reason to be, as far as I know, but that is not something they will have any proof of.

If one views the smuggling process from the smuggler's perspective, then their job is to shift as much dope as quickly as they can into SA - preferably without having to engage with any third parties. Their key threat comes from rival gangs who may want to steal the dope (imagine hiking with 3.8 million ZAR in the side pocket of the backpack). I think this is the main reason they carry weapons. Thereafter, the threat comes from police/military - which we know to be too infrequent a threat to have any impact on what they do beyond the short term. Thereafter still, the threat may be from any other landowner along the way (e.g. in Mnweni) who may want to impose a tax of one sort or another on the passing trade. Hikers are way down the list and are not a direct threat. Smugglers may think hikers pass on information, but will know that links between busts and hikers are at best very indirect - there are so few busts compared with contacts with hikers. There is nevertheless a chance that smugglers might mistake hikers for police/military - especially at night. In fact I think this has already happened in the Cathedral area. If the police/military were to make a much more systematic and extensive effort in the Berg to curtail smuggling, then this risk would begin to approach the kind of risks the population is exposed to in SA with hijacking and heists. For the moment, the Berg seems safer than the streets - at least to me.

There is a parallel to the Berg smuggling issue which I have come across - namely in the central Sahara. In the 1990s, fuel was smuggled south out of Libya/Algeria into Mali/Niger. Cigarettes went the other way. This trade has morphed into an enormously lucrative cocaine trade (e.g. a 727 was landed in the Sahara with 10 tons of coke - the plane was left behind in the desert as the profits didn't justify the refuel/takeoff hassle). In all this time, tourists like me in the central Sahara have had the occasional contact with passing smugglers, mostly at night. One such occasion was actually on the slopes of Mnt Tiska in SE Algeria. The smugglers were coming in from Niger at night. Smugglers have always studiously ignored the tourists. We are not part of their mission.

mnt_tiska wrote: I definitely have views on the smuggling business.

If a donkey train carrying 3.8m worth of dope were to cross a road border from Lesotho to SA, the whole lot would get banged up. Because of this, the donkey trains ply the Berg passes instead - so that they don't get caught (most of the time). They do this because they can fetch a higher price for the smuggled dope in SA than they can selling it in Lesotho. As a result of this calculus, the Berg suffers irreversibly (it takes 10 000 years or so to replace an eroded soil horizon).

Its not about a few groups of people sitting round smoking dope as they have always done. It is about lucrative schemes to make enormous sums of money for which the Berg carries the prime negative externality.

Very well said.

I'm just concerned about a potential backlash to us as hikers. These guys may start thinking: who gave their position away, are any hikers they pass by potentially gonna tell on them etc etc. I'm concerned the casual bypassing of these groups with hikers may have come to an end. (As Ghaznavid also said above)

Trying to make an impact on the dagga trade and the subsequent berg erosion is the right thing for sure, but tough due to the absolute vast number of passes and areas they can use on all sides of Lesotho.

Tough one this...until the dust settles a bit on this matter I am postponing some escarpment endeavours, hopefully not too long.

hmmm...probably explains the SAPS horse transport truck parked at Highmoor on 01 May.

Kind of hard to be objective as a person who is very anti-smoking (mainly after watching my grandfather who only smoked for 20 years die of emphysema) and anti drugs/similar illegal substances.

What worries me is that things usually get worse before they get better. By doing something like this, the smugglers will just vary their routes, maybe get more hostile toward hikers (bearing in mind that we know the routes they use and they may feel that we inform on them to the police).

I definitely have views on the smuggling business.

If a donkey train carrying 3.8m worth of dope were to cross a road border from Lesotho to SA, the whole lot would get banged up. Because of this, the donkey trains ply the Berg passes instead - so that they don't get caught (most of the time). They do this because they can fetch a higher price for the smuggled dope in SA than they can selling it in Lesotho. As a result of this calculus, the Berg suffers irreversibly (it takes 10 000 years or so to replace an eroded soil horizon).

Its not about a few groups of people sitting round smoking dope as they have always done. It is about lucrative schemes to make enormous sums of money for which the Berg carries the prime negative externality.

As per the link to News24

www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Cops-bust-dagga-carrying-donkey-trains-20130502

I am of the conviction that this is the right thing given the social problem that dagga has been, however this may impact on the safety of hiking on the escarpment. Not sure what to think...

Free State farmers are again headed for court over what they describe as a chaotic situation along the rugged Lesotho border. The Afrikaans daily, Beeld, reports today that the government has failed to live up to its undertakings in a June 2010 settlement that was made an order of court.

“Although the government has complied with certain aspects of the original agreement, it is not living up to its responsibility to protect border farmers. A fence was erected, but it doesn't help if it is not protected. It won't even help if you built a wall here, because they will break it down.”

State failing in duty on Lesotho border – Free State farmers

On normal escarpment trips I don't take my passport along. If a planned diversion into Lesotho is planned then I do e.g. Yodler's Cascades, Thabana Ntlenyana and Makheka. The likelihood of encountering police there is remote, and that they will ask you for it, even less. Also, hikers are not the problem, smugglers are. You never know though.

Rightly or wrongly, I have never considered, or ever taken my passport when hiking into Lesotho. Just not something i thought about.

Do you guys always take your passport with you when walking along the escarpment?

While it remains to be seen, I can't imagine them having much impact on our activities in the Berg. The Free State - Lesotho border is definitely what they will focus on for now, see:
www.vertical-endeavour.com/blog/20-drakensberg/security/192-lesotho-border-to-be-patrolled-by-sandf-once-again.html

The SANDF has previously patrolled the Drakensberg anyway (currently it is a special police unit). The only impact it had on us was that they used Thuthumi Lookout Hut, Wilsons Cave, Halfway Cave and Thamathu Cave - and they were not to happy about sharing these with us, as was my experience more than once. But they were friendly for the most part and their concern was the Basotho - they didn't worry about hikers on the escarpment (they are there to protect South Africa, after all). Actually, the Lesotho Mounted Police are more the ones to think about when walking around up there, if you every encounter them. Theoretically they could ask you to present your passport, though they don't always do that.

The Airforce choppers in the Berg will probably be perceived as a threat by the smugglers but I would be (pleasantly!) surprised if the purpose of the chopper deployment goes beyond training. The Airforce has long trained in the Berg. I remember a great photo from the 1980s of an Alouette with its nose-wheel balancing on Devil's Tooth. And of course the Airforce has been involved in many a Berg rescue.

I went to Cobham in March, and while I was there I observed a day of military helicopters flying low in and out of valleys. They appeared to be training.

I also noticed that at the airfield one passes on the way to Cobham, there is now a permanent military base on premises.

I get the sense that the KZN-Lesotho border along the Drakensberg escarpment is the lowest priority of all the borders listed. The Lesotho-OFS border will be a concern long before the high Drakensberg border because of the degree of cross-border theft in that region and the relative ease of military intervention. The Drakensberg will require special training, special equipment and so on. For the most part the SANDF would get themselves into trouble surviving in the Berg nevermind doing anything constructive.

So I have been dwelling on an article I read a while ago about the SANDF buffing up border control in a number of phases, starting with the Zim border in phase one, ending with the Lesotho border in phase three which is planned to be complete in the 2012/2013 financial year.

While this is great with respect to crime, I wonder what it will mean to us, as hikers. At present we can hike up trails which lead into Lesotho without any problem. But will border control put a stop to this?

www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/SANDF-curbed-syndicates-Sisulu-20110407

Read more...

I've also stopped carrying mine. We have encountered the mounted police near the top of Pins Pass on the Mnweni highway path before (Jan 2006). They didn't even mention passports though - just warned us about the Basotho dogs.

Hiking on the escarpment seems to enjoys a long history of acceptance, or at least tolerance, by both countries. The exact border is not marked, and is even disputed. Hikers walking along the border, and smugglers cross right over is a different kettle of fish in my books. Official reccomendation would be to take your passport along if you are on the escarpment, but I rarely do this anymore unless I intend walking further into Lesotho from the edge. Theoretically the Lesotho Mounted Police could theoretically stop and ask you for ID, though I've personally never encountered them.

However, I had a case on a Grand Traverse once where 2 people dropped out at Sani Pass. They had their passports, but since there was no entry stamp into Lesotho in them, the border official was upset, but eventually let them through.

** This thread discusses the content article: A career in Drakensberg dagga smuggling? **

@ Intrepid
Your blog raises 2 off-topic questions with me. Is it considered an "illegal border crossing" to simply hike and cross over between SA and Lesotho? And should one carry a passport when hiking over boarder boundaries (other than for the obvious benefit of having emergency id)? I'm curious if anyone has encountered trouble in doing so?

gollum wrote:

Would they be active in such a relatively remote and difficult area?

Yep, you betcha! Judges Pass is popular with them - they have "developed" this pass nicely, it's no longer difficult. From there it seems they walk out near the iNtodolo Flats, stopping to rest in Dinosaur Cave along the way. The remoteness suites them just fine.

Hehe, wow, it's all going down the drain under this stupid government!

We went climbing in the Injisuthi area this weekend. On Saturday night, while on the contour path between Centenary Hut and Corner pass, we saw a train of lights on the path leading from the hut down to Fergy's Cave. They were regularly spaced, and simply kept coming over the hill. We counted between 15 and 20. The large number, the nature of the lights (orange light and casting no spots), and the sparse formation led us to the conclusion that it had to be a smuggling train.

Then, Monday night while camping in Leslie's pass, we saw a similiar train in the same area. It looked like a busy highway at night!

Would they be active in such a relatively remote and difficult area?

What I would like to see is more of an acknowledgement from government/authorities about the issue. A silence and apathy never goes down well with the people that are seeing the severity of the problem with their own eyes.

Have to agree that having more SANDF patrols and camps in the Berg is not necessarily any better. They did slow down the cattle rustling and apprehended some smugglers, though it seems the smugglers largely ran circles around them. A difficult task in the best of circumstances. But I do think it's better to apprehend smugglers at the bottom of the valleys and foothills where the smuggling trails converge, rather than trying to chase in them in mountainous terrain.

The SANDF did make an unfortunate negative environmental impact (and never mind the fact that domsmooth and myself were refused entry to one of their caves once during a massive thunderstorm!), but at least they were out there - which is more than can be said about the local police, who seem largely apathetic or even involved themselves. My understanding is that the special border unit is more serious and motivated about the problem. Still, I have yet to encounter them or the Lesotho mounted police on the escarpment.

Not sure if KZN Wildlife want such a register or not, but any irregularities and issues should definitely be reported to them anyway (just ask to speak to the officer at the end of your hike, or phone them afterwards). This forum should also be used to report stuff like that, which serves to collaborate information, and, so that all readers are aware of this, I do at times inform KZN Wildlife about some of the issues that are reported here.

I know that they are undertaking a detailed environmental assessment of caves and trails in some areas, though I'm unsure of the progress.