My Favourite Camping Spot!

Essence Of The Dragon is a photo competition hosted by Vertical Endeavour featuring images of the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains - showcasing their splendour & unique character, towards better recognition of their worth & enhanced enjoyment of those who explore them.

Vertical Endeavour has hosted these photo competitions since 2010. Visit our photo gallery to see all the amazing shots of the Drakensberg that have been collected during this time.

2020 Annual Category
Theme: My Favourite Camping Spot!
Criteria: show us where you love to camp in the Berg, be it in a tent or a cave.
Gallery for entries
No. of entries per member: 3
Start date: immediate
Last submission date: 15 February 2021
Last voting date/closing date: to be announced

Bumping this for some entries.

I've extended the submission deadline to Feb 15 to allow for more entries.

I think one of my favourite camping areas would undoubtedly be in the general area of the Black and Tan Wall on the escarpment, looking across at the Pinnacles. I do lack good photos depicting camping there however. So I began to dig into photos of some of my climbing trips. Often these involve bivvy spots in unusual spots which can be very rewarding, even if you never actually return there again.

My entry is called Sunshine on Singati , which is named after the write-up I did in 2013 for a climbing trip in which we climbed the Singati Arete of the Eastern Buttress, and descended Kelly's Route on the other side. It was the perfect traverse across the peak, and one which has probably not been done before. The Singati Arete is very spectacular. The night before we hiked up Lion Ridge from RNNP, a good part of this being in total darkness. We bivvied on a flat spot on the ridge (special permission was obtained from the RNNP manager since normally you are not permitted to overnight in RNNP like this). That night AndrewP still heroically descended very far down into a gully to fetch water. We woke up to a grand view of the Eastern Buttress. The ridge in the photo is roughly where the Lion Heart route goes up. The Singati Arete is on the left hand skyline not visible in this shot.


We spent 2 nights at that spot. In the words of my write up at the time:

It was one of those unforgettable trips, perfect weather, spectacular climbing and a very memorable traverse route. Not all Berg climbing trips work out that way, but when they do you walk away with vivid memories and moments that are not easily forgotten. The sun continues to shine in my memories of Singati!

Gallery Link

Entries are now closed, thanks for everyone who participated. This time we are going to determine the winner through a voting system among the moderators and will announce the winner in due course.

We have decided on a winner, and it is:
www.vertical-endeavour.com/gallery/drakensberg/essence-of-the-dragon/my-favourite-camping-spot-2020/hidden-valley-i-1839.htm

Well done to ST for capturing a great shot with good lighting and of course the clever little trick of lighting up the tents inside too!

Thank you to all who submitted entries!

If anyone has any ideas for themes for the current year, you can let us know here on this thread.