Hi there

Greetings again from SA. I finally got round to putting some photos onto my PC which prompted me to write this post. To avoid another weekend knocking around the guesthouse I decided to get down to the northern Drakensberg, in Kwa Zulu Natal. The Drakensberg are a mountain range that are around 900 km long. I was coming from Jo'burg after work so headed for the most northern access point. The Drakensberg mountains cover parts of Free State, KZN and Lesotho.

I got caught in horrendous traffic around Jo'burg so, despite leaving work early, was driving in darkness the last 2 hours which in SA is not really a good idea. It passed without event though, and I arrived at the backpackers in total darkness to find they didn't have a dorm bed for me. This ended up working in my favour as I was given the TV room to myself complete with (surprisingly) TV, DVD player and en suite bath.

Anyway, I fell asleep by about 9.30 despite the party going on in the bar. Imagine my happiness when I awoke the next morning to this....A pool, abut 30kms of grassland, and the Drakensberg in the distance.

Despite having my own car I decided to sign up for the backpacker tour. Turned out to be an incredible rip-off, but at least I had some company, didn't need to jump straight back into the car after a long drive, and a guide to tell us about stuff along the way.

The Drakenberg are stunning - very identifiable - long escarpment, flat on top. When we got to the top we saw the 2nd highest waterfall in the world. Not the most stunning, but satisfying after a long hike!


Anyway, haven't worked out what interesting thing I'll find to do this weekend, but will keep you posted.

Take care - keep in touch
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