South Africa 2023

Friday27October

Here is a week that we are in South Africa and we have chained city, canyon and savannah. The next stage will totally change our landscape and weather! To reach this new destination, we must travel all day, the 680 kilometers separating us from the Dragon Mountains: the Drakensberg!

The "platberg", "flat mountain" in Afrikaans.

8 hours after leaving Kruger Park, here we are at our destination in the town of Phuthaditjhaba where we have booked two nights in a hotel. Before reaching our room, visit the Shoprite supermarket in town.

Here is the Twilight Breeze Lodge where we put our luggage. The temperature has drastically dropped, we are at more than 1700 meters altitude.

The view of Phuthaditjhaba.

The room, where power cuts will be frequent, it is a generator that powers the whole hotel. The manager gave us a big flashlight. For now, it's camping at the hotel with our small gas bottle!

Macaroni, ham and vegetables.

Saturday28October

7:00 am. The weather is rather overcast and it's a day of hiking waiting for us in the Drakensberg!

We reach with our car the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge, where a transfer by 4x4 is possible to reach the Sentinel parking lot, starting point of the hike in the Royal Natal National Park.

The hiking trail will pass at the foot of this huge mountainous outgrowth, the Sentinel Peak, and join the plateau located behind.

"Natal" was given by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama, who sighted the coasts of the region on Christmas Day 1497.
"Royal" was added in 1947 in honor of the visit of the British royal family.

Let's go for the transfer by 4x4.

This is where the walking tour begins.

12.5 km and 6 hours of walking await us! The goal is to go where the Tugela River flows, the second highest waterfall on the planet!

But the other peculiarity that we are going to have to pass, it is indicated in the other name of this hike, the "Chain Ladder Route", the ladder route... But we will talk about it later...  

The landscape is in any case superb.

The "Sentinel" is watching us. We'd better behave ourselves.

The block is about 200 meters high.

The Fika-Patso dam and the Namahadi river

The parking lot where we started the hike.

Short detour to see the amphitheater.

The Amphitheater extends for over 5 kilometers with cliffs approximately 1220 meters high.

The Royal Natal valley under my feet...

A group arrives loaded. It is possible to do the hike in two days to enjoy the sunrise from the top of the plateau.

But as for us, we will do it in the day!  

Left photo, find the little hikers!  

Ha! A ladder! It's much less impressive when you're in front of it!  

And again the little hikers to find...

Here we are in front of the wall and its famous ladders...   30 meters practically vertical separate us from the plateau where we can reach the second highest waterfall in the world... If we want to reach the goal, we will have to overcome the fear lurking at the bottom of our brain and grab it by the throat before it arises and blocks us at the foot of this cliff...  

The ladders are not fixed but just resting on the wall. And in addition, the wind blows hard to add a little spice...  

Come on!!! I'm going, I'm launching myself, I don't even know if Christophe is going to join me! There is another passage but you have to turn back and climb a passage through a whole rockfall... ;

Phew! I arrived at the first stage where you have to change ladders! I turn around to take some pictures. You can't see down and with the noise of the wind, I don't know if Christophe is following me or not... ;

The landscape is superb and impressive from this small parapet. And still no Christophe... He must have turned back... Maybe we'll meet again at the waterfall...;

HA!!! But no! There he is!  

And with moving images and wind noise, it's even more impressive!

Come on, let's move on, now it's going to be easier and the ladders are shorter.

Woohoo, that will be our little victory of the day!  

Tugela Falls is located 1.5 km from here. Let's go for a 30 minute walk.

The Tugela River. The opportunity to fill my "Greyl" flask directly in the river. The integrated filter of the flask purifies the water directly.

We arrived at the waterfall and also in the fog...  

The label says Tugela Falls is the highest waterfall in the world... but a priori, it would be only the second. 983 meters of void are just after this rock.  

In this late October, the second highest waterfall on the planet is fed only by a very small trickle of water.  

The cloud is starting to evaporate, it will be safer not to take a step too far...

Passage by the small refuge located right next door. And by adding another small kilometer, we could have changed countries by passing into Lesotho, this small country completely landlocked in South Africa. But it's not on the program!  

Come on, a little goodbye to the Tugela waterfall, and we hit the road again! Return in the opposite direction, but without going back through the ladders, we will go through the crumbled part of the cliff.

And here we are, the passage is no more secure than the ladders. The large crumbled rocks do not make the descent easy, and icing on the cake, it suddenly started to hail for a few moments!  

But phew! Everything ends well, and we join the way back.

And the Sun makes its return to magnify this end of hike!

End of hike at the parking lot where we were taken by 4x4 6 hours ago. After a phone call, the driver will come to pick us up and we will be able to find our car for the return to Phuthaditjhaba.

Sunday29October

New day in Phuthaditjhaba. The city is mostly composed of people of Basotho origin. The name "Phuthaditjhaba" means "gathering place of nations" in Sesotho.

The Basotho, also known as Sotho people, are a Bantu ethnic group native to southern Africa. They constitute the majority ethnic group in Lesotho, where they represent about 96.7% of the population, and also live in South Africa, where they are among the most important ethno-linguistic groups. © Wikipedia

Here we are a few kilometers from Phuthaditjhaba in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park and more precisely the "Red Mountains".

Short walk at the foot of "Mushroom Rock", the mushroom rock.

The weather and the landscape are more reminiscent of Ireland than South Africa.  

The shape of the mushroom rock is due to the difference in erosion resistance between the upper and lower sandstone layers.

Just below the "hat" of the mushroom, honeycomb structures, or "tafoni", which often form in porous rocks following long erosions such as salt, frost and wind.

In the distance, the hotel-restaurant where we will have lunch later!  

The hike leads to "Echo cave", the echo ravine.

It feels like in the hull of a boat where indeed the voice can echo.

There, U-turn to the car. Heading to the restaurant!

And hop, here we are teleported to the Golden Gate Hotel and Chalets. The buffet in the large restaurant hall is waiting for us, the place is deserted except for the devoted staff who, despite the self-service at the buffet, remains at our disposal.  

On the other side of the bay window, red-collared widowbirds (Euplectes ardens) are also active on their own buffet available...

Meal finished, we start another small hike, still in the surroundings.

We take the car to travel the pretty green hills where, surprise, we meet our friends from the savannah again: zebras and hartebeests.

And here is even a black-backed jackal. This whole farmyard seems lost and far from its usual habitat.  

Back to the Shoprite in Phuthaditjhaba to do our little shopping for dinner and breakfast.

In our room, it's a power outage. We turn on the flashlights at the same time as our gas stove...  

Small soup with biltong, I don't know if the locals practice this mixture but I find it very good!

Monday30October

Monday, October 30, it is time to leave Phuthaditjhaba and the Drakensberg! A day of driving awaits us. To celebrate our departure, snow invites itself!   Yes, we are at more than 1700 meters altitude!

It was time to leave, it's snowing more and more...

The car meter indicates zero degrees.

Passage through Bethlehem, name given to the city by the first Boer settlers in reference to the birthplace of Jesus. But no pilgrimage for us here, filling the car tank will be more than enough.  

Lunch on the go at Tom's place restaurant, after the city of Bloemfontein.

And we find the Sun and the long roads of the great African spaces.

Here we are in Colesberg to spend a night in the Spes Bona Gastehuis.

Tomorrow, we continue the road to join the Addo Elephant park for a new three-day photo safari!