Drenched In The Drakensberg

They’re fit, and they’re experienced campers, which is why Jan Swart and his friend Christiaan Luus chose a five-day wilderness trail in the Drakensberg for their first multi-day hike. What could possibly go wrong?

- Jan Swart

Christiaan and I don’t have much on our hiking CVs except for a day hike or two, but we wanted an adventure. The obvious choice for two fearless men was to summit the highest mountain in South Africa: Mafadi in the Central Drakensberg (3 450 m).

We begged, borrowed and bought all the necessary gear; we’d have to carry everything we’d need, including a tent and mattresses. We read as much as we could about the trail online, and we pored over the map. We felt as if we were well prepared.

The plan was to hike from Injisuthi rest camp up the escarpment over two days, climb Injisuthi Peak and Mafadi on the third day, and hike back over two days – about 50 km in total. Easy-peasy.

Or so we thought…

On the Monday morning of the Easter weekend, I set off from Pretoria and Christiaan left his home in Lephalale. Injisuthi is remote and tucked away in the foothills of the Drakensberg, about 45 km south of Winterton.

It had recently rained and the dirt roads were terrible. The instrument panel of my Toyota Avensis lit up like a fighter jet cockpit under enemy fire. Christiaan and I made it to the campsite, had one last braai and checked all our gear. He realised that he’d forgotten a spoon and fork – he’d have to use his Swiss Army knife in ways not specified in the manual. Some experienced hikers we met in the campsite assured us that we would still be able to hike the trail, even though the weather forecast predicted rain for the next three days.

If you wait for perfect weather in the Drakensberg, you’ll wait a long time.

We started early and soon reached the Little Tugela River. It didn’t look like a big river on the map, but in reality it was rushing past like a rapid. Usually there’s a cable to help hikers across, but it had probably been washed out to sea by the time we got there!