Trip Planning

Hi there, I’m a medical student from Australia and will be here for a month with my friend. We have five days off at the start of March and would love to spend some time in the Drakensberg Mountains. We don’t have a tent, but we do have hiking gear and sleeping bags. We’re keen to do some of the more iconic passes. What would you recommend as the best plan? 

• Try to arrange a multi-day hike?
• Or stay somewhere for five nights and do day hikes (for example, around Didima)?

  Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What sort of hiking do you usually do - this will help with making suggestions? I would favour a multi-day hike, but it does depend on your experience. For day hiking over five days you would probably need to move to a different area after a couple days as you'd likely exhaust the more interesting options in any one area.

Hi dricciardo, welocme on VE!

Mmmhh, 5 days gives you lots of options.

For starters, March is still a wet month so you will probably experience rain at night. If you don't have some sort of shelter then I would rather focus on doing day hikes. yes, you can sleep over in caves but if they are full then you will be out in the rain. How much adventure do you want?

For day hikes, starting in the North, you can sleep over at Witsieshoek for 1 night (or at Royal Natals Tendele kamp) for a walk around the Amphitheater area. Mnweni is also nice but you have to walk quite far before you get to the mountains, soI wouldnt recommend this.
Cathedral Peak has some really nice hikes around the camp, and if you are fit enough you can get up on the escarpement (via the Camel) and back down in around 21km. Other day hikes can also be done around the camp.
Moncs Cowl likewise has some great day hikes, although getting up to the escarpment and back will probably a 30km plus day, so a bit far if you are unfit. But nice hikes to the base of Cathkin from the campsite, or even up to Shada ridge for great views on the escarpment.
Injasuthi likewise has some great day hikes, like up to Centenary hut, or to Marble bath pools etc.
Giants Castle also nice, with a few nice possible hikes up to the lower berg, or up to the escarpment via Giants Pass for again a 30km day.

If you can get a tent or some shelter (and you can buy some cheapies from First Ascent for around R3k if I'm not mistaken, you have more options for on the escarpment itself.

Cathedral Peak / Didima area has the best variety of day hikes for you I would say. There is also a 'relatively' straight forward option for an overnight hike up Mlambonja Pass to Twins Cave, which is a classic hike with awesome views. The cave is very large so even if you find others there it should be big enough to accomodate you comfortably.

The main safety criteria will be warm clothing and sleeping bags for the cave. It can drop below zero degrees anytime of year there. Rain gear is also essential to avoid risk of hypothermia if you encounter rain and especially rain and high winds.

Due to rain levels you might have trouble with river crossings also. I'd recommend taking the One Tree Hill route to avoid a section of rivers near the bottom of the valley but this still might be a challenge. I recomment taking some cord or rope to assist with crossings...