State of Mountain huts

Doesn't seem like mountain huts have a secure future within the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park (not that this is an entirely bad thing). Outside of the park they are still being built (e.g. Mehloding and Maluti Caves areas). The first issue is that much of the park belongs to declared wilderness areas which should be kept in a pristine state, basically with zero man-made structures. There used to be a hut at Keith Bush Camp which was dismantled. The other issue is there seem to be resource constraints: who is to go and rebuild Giants hut, for example. The other issue is what the Basotho do with these huts...

Personally, while I don't want more huts to be built, I too want to see the existing ones maintained. The damage is already done in terms of interfering in a wilderness area, we've all accepted them, and they are very useful shelters. Bannerman Hut is awesome! I'm very sad about Giants Hut, which no longer has a roof, and it seems nothing will be done about it: www.vertical-endeavour.com/blog/54-drakensberg/hiking/72-giants-hut.html. What a nice hut in a superb location!

Agree that huts should be nothing fancy. They should be robust, basic shelters. The frills just get broken and stolen. The Thuthumi/Organ Pipes Lookout is in danger of rotting since part of the roof is now missing. It has been restored before. If only the roof could be fixed and the windows basically closed permanently with metal sheeting, it will remain a robust little shelter. The forestry shelter at the bottom is now destroyed by fire.

Perhaps this is no longer the era for mountain huts in the UDP. Things come and go...look at the old police post on Namahadi Pass and the old ski lodge further North. There used to be a check-point of sorts near Ntonjelana Pass, and also Organ Pipes Pass if I'm not mistaken. Only ruins and rubbish now.

I've created a dedicated sub-gallery for pics of Berg mountain huts here:
www.vertical-endeavour.com/gallery/drakensberg/huts.html

Will add some of my own pics in time.

Hi Temp1e. Did you happen to take any photos of the hut? I assume that given your freezing state and the fact that you battled to get to your gloves, I am going to assume not, but it would certainly be helpful if you did.

These are not recent photos but nonetheless representative of what the Amphitheatre hut looks like. I've actually seen it with more litter at times.
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