Cathedral Peak security

Not that I'm aware of, though good to always check with KZN Wildlife when you sign the register. The smugglers do come down that way and seem to make use of the cave at times judging by the kind of mess I've seen in there. Watch your gear, don't leave it unattended and don't leave it scattered around the cave at night.

Hi Alan, and welcome to VE.

1. That particular article has caused undue concern on more than one occasion. It happened at Long Tom Pass which is in Mpumalanga Province, several hundred kilometers from the Organ Pipes area. Historically the portion of the Great Escarpment of southern Africa, from Limpopo province up in the North all the way down to roughly Xalanga/Indwe in the Eastern Cape has been called the "Drakensberg". Personally I believe this is very misleading as it implies a strong correlation between this string of mountain ranges, whereas the big range of the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal, which is so well known, is more strongly linked to Maluti mountains of Lesotho than anything else. My point being, though the article referred to the incident as having occurred in the Drakensberg, it in fact did not happen in "the Berg" (the true and proper Drakensberg which this site is focused on).

Are these stories true? Yes, crime is bad in South Africa. Do they happen in the Drakensberg? Yes, it has happened, but the occurrence is very low compared to the country as a whole, and the alarm that these stories sometimes cause does not warrant staying away from the Berg, as the risk is actually pretty low.


2. We are talking once every five years, if that. The last time that a rape involving a hiker in the Drakensberg happened was 10 years ago, according to my knowledge. A tourist hiked alone, with little or no experience, didn't even sign the rescue register, and then promptly got lost in the mist and then asked a Basotho shepherd for directions. He led her astray and then raped her. This could have been easily avoided. So, the potential is there, and there are cases of intimidation and threat, but again, the risk is comparatively low. In addition, it happened in the Giants Castle area which has a history of issues which seem to go through periods. 2005-2006 was one such bad period but things have since settled down in that area. There was a mugging this year in the Southern Berg during which the hikers were tied up. This is not the first or second time that this kind of thing has happened in the Berg but they do not occur often.

3. Organ Pipes area has a very significant smuggling problem. Marijunana is smuggled from Lesotho into SA via the hiking passes in this area. This occurs throughout the Berg, but Organ Pipes has comparitively high traffic. In spite of this, the smugglers don't often cause problems for hikers. The problems in the Organ Pipes area have been limited to petty theft of hiking gear (right now I can only recall two incidents in the last 10 years). In addition there have been very occasional confrontations between hikers and smugglers, and if you hike at night the smugglers may mistake you to be a patrol and may fire shots.

The current hot spots are Mashai Pass/Rhino (intimidation and pressure for hand-outs), Sani Pass/Masubasuba Pass area (the same, and now also mugging) and the Amphitheatre/Tugela Falls (an eternal problem of gear being stolen from tents at night). Read through the security sections of the forum and the blogs.

Hope this helps.

Broadly speaking, the people of Lesotho are extremely friendly, helpful and pleasant.

You'll be hard pressed to receive more smiles and waves passing through a village anywhere else in the world and your chances of receiving helpful information as a tourist couldn't be higher than when in Lesotho.

When it come to the shepherds living in the remote parts of the Highlands, the language barrier unfortunately limits the interaction somewhat - yet they are cut from the same friendly cloth as their countrymen elsewhere.