Drakensberg hiking maps

intrepid wrote: The challenge is also the limited number of interested people.

Consider the following statistic: according to the forum stats, 13 712 posts have been made on VE (well, this would be the 13713rd). There are 1549 registered VE members. 7759 (56.6%) of the posts on the site have been from the 10 most active posters.

That means that the remaining 5 953 posts have come from 1539 people (approx 4 posts per other member, compared to an average of 776 amongst the top 10 most frequent posters).

This kind of pattern is very common, it is often called the 80/20 rule (it has some other technical term which I can't remember, but in business no one uses that term anyway). The concept is that 20% of your users will provide 80% of your volume.

I think many of the contributions made on this forum turn out to be interest value more than being useful to others. E.g. take my writeup on Gypaetus Pass - while this may have been of interest to some VE users, the pass itself is likely to follow a similar fate to the likes of Uklebe Pass. By contrast, the many writeups on Gray's Pass with numerous photos probably prompt a fair number of people to register on the site in order to view the photos, even though they will never use the site again. The same is probably true of Snow Watch.

To a relatively small group of people, such as myself, this website has made a massive difference in my hiking - I joined the GT2012 team off a post on this site, found the majority of the people I regularly hike with from this site and obtained a great deal of data required for various Berg trips from this site. The human catalogue system - where someone will start a new thread and then get referred to an existing thread probably requires a bit of additional work, but it would appear to be working at this point in time.

There are some very old threads on this site that can be rather interesting/helpful - the account of a team climbing Hilton Pass, Intrepid's guide on how to climb South Hodgesons and the Witch. Many of these threads probably haven't been read by the vast majority of VE members.

Anyway - let me sum up an incredibly off topic reply as follows: the only way to grow a sport is to make an effort to get new people into it. In general there seems to be a lack of interest in getting the younger generation into Berg hiking, many people are unwilling to take children into the mountains. I personally was rather reluctant to take young Hobbit (11 at the time) hiking when I first came into contact with him. Fortunately it worked out well, myself and Kliktrak being unable to keep up with him on our first hike with him. But my point is, development is not prioritised in this sport. 7 years olds are playing cricket and soccer at school and as a result we have a massive pool of people who play these sports as adults (even just occasional social games). By contrast, MCSA-KZN has a policy prohibiting people under 13 from joining on hikes, and requiring 13-18 year olds to be accompanied by parents. If we want the sport to grow, we need to get the younger generations into hiking. Having taught over 30 different people how to play wargames, only 2 of whom still play today, I know how annoying it is when you put time and effort into someone - but if you want the sport to grow, this is the only way to do it.

Thanks Interpid and Ghaznavid for your responses. The one thing that has stood out for me is that once an answer has been obtained that it is in a league above what is available elsewhere. For example, I have had after some effort obtained information from 2 other sources that one simly walks up Hodgsons South. Another source without being too specific suggested a grade C climb. Through VE I obtained the narrative of where the cairn was plus its coordinates plus an image of where the scramble was. The site can actually be extremenly effective despite the context of the limited resources that it has. And that the 'human contact' by which data is often made available engenders huge respect to those volunteers that are helpful.

Good day all

I have been trying to get my hands on maps for Injisuthi and the Ampitheater regions. Problem is, I live in Pretoria and so far, I have been unable to get my hands on a decent map.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Also, is there a good book that I can buy for hiking trails for the Injisuthi and the Ampitheater regions?

You can usually buy the maps at the EKZN offices. The maps can also be ordered online at www.mountainmailorder.co.za/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=201

HikerParsons wrote: Also, is there a good book that I can buy for hiking trails for the Injisuthi and the Ampitheater regions?

Not really. There is Best Walks of the Drakensberg by David Bristow, I used it a bit when I was starting out, but it wasn't particularly helpful. VE is generally a good source of info, and you can usually get up-to-date info. Conditions of trails can change very quickly - e.g. a year apart the walkout for Ships Prow Pass went from an easy-to-follow trail to completely overgrown and practically impassable.

I've seen this book advertised online but not seen or read the real thing:

Walking guidebook to the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park - South Africa - a Cicerone guidebook
Walking in the Drakensberg
75 walks in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park
by Jeff Williams
Book published by Cicerone Press

Contents
INTRODUCTION
Geography
Geology
Mammals
Snakes
Birds
The Habitats
Bushman Paintings
The Development of the Park
About the Walks
Getting There
Accommodation
Fuel, Cash and Permits
The Climate – when to visit
Health Matters
Safety
Security
Telecommunications
Using this Guide
Maps
1 ROYAL NATAL NATIONAL PARK
Walk 1 The Cascades
Walk 2 Fairy Glen
Walk 3 Plowman’s Kop Loop
Walk 4 The Crack
Walk 5 Gudu Bush and Gudu Falls
Walk 6 Witsieshoek via Mahai Falls
Walk 7 Thukela Gorge Walk
Walk 8 Policeman’s Helmet
Walk 9 Camel’s Hump
Walk 10 Sunday Falls
Walk 11 Surprise Ridge and Cannibal Cave
Walk 12 Top of Thukela Falls and Mont-aux-Sources (3282m)
Walk 13 The Sugar Loaf (2085m)
2 CATHEDRAL PEAK
Walk 14 Doreen Falls
Walk 15 Mushroom Rock
Walk 16 Rainbow Gorge
Walk 17 and 17B Ribbon Falls
Walk 18 Xeni Cave
Walk 19 The Tarn Hill Circuit
Walk 20 Tryme Hill and the Contour Path
Walk 21 Organ Pipes Pass and Cleft Peak
Walk 22 Baboon Rock
Walk 23 One Tree Hill
Walk 24 One Tree Hill and the Contour Path into the Mlambonja valley
Walk 25 Cathedral Peak (3004m)
3 MONK'S COWL
Walk 26 Nandi’s Falls
Walk 27 Hlathikulu Forest
Walk 28 Crystal Falls, the Sphinx and Verkykerskop
Walk 29 Blind Man’s Corner and return via Keartland’s Pass
Walk 30 Matterhorn (1995m)
Walk 31 Amphletts’ (2620m)
Walk 32 Sterkhorn (2973m)
Walk 33 Injisuthi to Monk’s Cowl via Van Heyningen’s Pass
Walk 34 iNtunja/Gatberg (2408m)
Walk 35 Blue Grotto
Walk 36 Van Damm’s Cascades
Walk 37 uMakhulumane Stream, the Little Berg and Hlathikulu Nek
4 INJISUTHI
Walk 38 Poacher’s Stream
Walk 39 Van Heyningen’s Pass to the viewpoint
Walk 40 Grindstone Caves
Walk 41 Cataract Valley
Walk 42 Battle Cave
Walk 43 Marble Baths
5 GIANT'S CASTLE
Walk 44 Main Caves and River Walk
Walk 45 Langalibalele and Bannerman Ridges
Walk 46 Giant’s Hut: up via Giant’s Ridge and down via Oribi Ridge
Walk 47 Viewpoint with optional extension to Meander Hut
6 HIGHMOOR
Walk 48 Foulton’s Rock
Walk 49 Aasvoëlkrans (Vulture) Cave
Walk 50 Caracal Cave
Walk 51 Giant’s Castle viewpoint
7 KAMBERG
Walk 52 Game Pass Shelter
8 LOTHENI
Walk 53 eMpophomeni Falls and Eagle Rock
Walk 54 Emadundwini Trail
Walk 55 Jacob’s Ladder Falls
Walk 56 Gelib Tree
Walk 57 Zwelele
9 COBHAM
Walk 58 Trout Beck and return via By-pass Ridge
Walk 59 Pinnacle Rock
Walk 60 Emerald Dome
Walk 61 Ndlovini
Walk 62 Pholela River Walk to Boundary Rock
Walk 63 Allen’s Shelter and Tortoise Rocks
Walk 64 Mzimkulwana Hut, Siphongweni Stream and Rock
Walk 65 Stromness Hill, Ngenwa Pool and the Gxalingenwa River
Walk 66 Nelson’s Column and Balancing Rocks
Walk 67 Salt ‘n’ Pepper
Walk 68 Hodgson’s Peaks (S 3256m: N 3251m)
10 GARDEN CASTLE
Walk 69 Sleeping Beauty Cave and Engagement Cave
Walk 70 Magnificent Valley and Swiman Ridge
Walk 71 Hidden Valley
Walk 72 Three Pools and Bushman Rock
Walk 73 Pillar Cave and the Annexe
Walk 74 Rhino Peak (3056m)
11 BUSHMAN'S NEK
Walk 75 Boesmansrivier and Slab Cave (Halfway Cave)

Try Hikers Paradise or Outdoor Freedom, both in Centurion. Both stores are owner managed and both offer a wide range of gear and some good advice.

For those of you who enjoyed Outdoor Freedom/Leon as much as I did . . . his shop unfortunately closed down in December.

Good day

Thanks to all who replied and thank you for the valuable input that I received.

Kind regards

Hi everybody,

A general question: Does everyone use the Slingsby maps for the Drakensberg? Im looking to do the Grand Traverse and someone suggested using KZN Wildlife Drakensberg Hiking Maps (numbers 1 to 6; scale 1: 50 000). What would yall recommend?

Cheers

Tobias

Hi Tobias, 
Welcome to VE.
I think far too few hikers use the Slingsby Maps, which are much better than the KZN Wildlife maps, and are fully up to date, because these maps cost a lot more, and I think there is a general lack of awareness of just how bad (out of date and inaccurate) the KZN Wildlife maps are. The KZN Wildlife maps for example don't show the roads at Mnweni which have been there for more than 20 years, so are very out of date, and it is actually dangerous to hikers not to show these roads, but instead show the old footpaths which no longer exist.
In some areas, like the major tourist trails, however, the KZN Wildlife maps do show enough information, and it is not too inaccurate, so for these purposes the KZN Wildlife maps would be okay. For the Grand Traverse, the topography is important, and you are mostly in Lesotho off trail, so the inaccurate detail in the KZN Wildlife areas in South Africa won't affect you too much. The KZN Wildlife maps are probably fine if you are doing a Grand Traverse, and only using the maps for navigation, and not gps. If you are using gps, you will perhaps be affected by the older map projection of the EKZN Wildlife maps, whereas the Slingsby Maps are using WGS84 and the correct map projection.
If you are going to buy maps for your Grand Traverse, my suggestion is to buy the Slingsby Maps, if you already have the KZN Wildlife maps you will probably manage fine with them, subject to the issues I have pointed out.