Big mountain magic

On a clear day, as you approach the Cathedral Peak Hotel, it happens involuntarily: You start to grin. You'll be standing up there soon, gazing over this valley, and the scuttling of ground-level life will seem irrelevant. Join us on a five-day adventure into the heart of the high Drakensberg

- GRANT CHRISTIE

DAY 1

Mnweni Cultural and Hiking Centre to Mnweni Valley (11km)

It’s a 90-minute drive from the Cathedral Peak Hotel to the Mnweni Cultural and Hiking Centre. I’m guiding a small group: photographer Scott Ramsay and honeymooners from the USA, Felicia Hsu and Chen Xie. At Mnweni we meet Leonard Hlatswayo, the manager of this community-run tourism initiative, my co-guide Caiphus Mthabela and our porters Sabelo Zwane and Ntokozakhe Hlongwane.

We settle our permits and make final adjustments to our packs before loading them onto a roof rack; we’ve arranged a lift on a bakkie part-way up the road to shave a little distance off the day.

After about 15 minutes we’re dropped off in the foothills. Starting low in the valley, the path weaves between homesteads. Friendly faces peer out from rondavel doorways; smiles accompanied by enthusiastic waves. Cattle gaze as we shuffle along. They’re at home here; we’re still settling into our stride.

Soon we pass the last rondavel. The Mnweni River is ahead, with the Mnweni Pinnacles beyond. These basalt-black needles stand apart from the cliffs of the main escarpment. Straining for the sky, they hint at the severity of tomorrow’s ascent.

Dark clouds are gathering above the pinnacles, but for now we enjoy the sunshine and gentle inclines of the lower slopes. It’s late summer; the grass is psychedelic green, the river rushes past and the air is hot and humid.