After a week in the southern section of the Drakensberg mountains we made our way to the northern section past Bergville. During our road trip we typically made all our own meals but occasionally tried a local food spot. Our breakfast stop is worth highlighting because it was so phenomenal. It’s called the Whistling Goat cafe in Himeville, and the waitress and chef are a married couple who are super nice. Nick enjoyed one of their creations, a fromelette (French toast and omelette combined).

We had 3 full days in the northern part of Drakensberg. Our first hike was a guided hike of Cathedral Peak. We did it guided as there had previously been mugging of tourists on hikes in the area. After spending a few days in the area, though, it became clear that they had resolved that issue. It took us 4 hours to get to the top, it was 17.5km in total there and back but is 21km to complete the full hike. There was a small section of scrambling to the top of the summit that we could not do due to the conditions. It had been raining all day so the rocks were too slippery to go up safely. Our view was also hilarious as it was completely obstructed by clouds. The top of the summit shows 360 views of Drakensberg mountains but we did not get to see that.

The hike had a river crossing, waterfalls, thorns, and lots of mist. There was a fuzzy black caterpillar with Tim Burton vibes, and baboons were making lots of noises in the distance echoing in the valley. On the descent down I slipped on the rocks from how we they were. I landed perfectly on my butt on a pointed rock, which left a mirrored bruise on each butt check. The hike was still worth it to do but we were disappointed we didn’t see the views. Our descent had some clouds clearing so we saw some of the mountains which was good.

The next day we did another day tour of Lesotho from our hostel. This time we went north and explored Monantsa, the most northern part of the country. We did a short hike of a very small ‘mountain’. Our views were more Drakensberg mountains, some horses, and local people going about their day. We got to see cave paintings from the people that lived in the area thousands of years ago. They were of animals and traditional doctors. Lunch was in an older woman’s rotunda home and she made us spinach and bap that we ate with our hands. It ended with a walk to a traditional doctor’s house where we heard how he became a doctor, and asked him many questions. It was a relaxed day but nice to see a different area of Lesotho and experience some more culture.

Our last hike in the north was of Tugela Falls, which is promoted (contentiously) as the worlds tallest waterfall. It required us to drive 1.5 hours from our hostel to a hotel that offered 4×4 shuttles to the trailhead. The road there is so bad we couldn’t have driven it ourselves. The shuttle took about 45 minutes and the views were amazing. The hike itself was an easy 10km. It had gentle switchbacks to start off, with little steepness. Most of the trail was also with stones or paved during the start.

The only heart racing section was the metal chain ladders. There were two sections where we climbed a 25m and a 10m chain ladder on the cliff face to continue on the hike. The ladders were less daunting than what we were emotionally prepared for, but I did tell Nick (very calmly and politely) I wasn’t going to talk going up them. There were many beautiful flowers along this trail. Up the ladders was the plateau where we walked a short distance to get to the edge of the escarpment. The clouds were rolling in and out showing peeks of the valley and waterfall. There was a large troop of baboons running around the top of the plateau as well as horses and donkeys. In total it took us less than 2 hours to get up and less than 2 hours to get down. The way down we took the alternative route down the gully rather than the ladders. This took longer but had many flowers and a cool view of the valleys.

The next day, we drove 9 hours south to Graaf-Reinet, passing sunflower fields, windy passes, and ostrich farms. The town had many older Dutch buildings that were white with green fixtures. Our hotel was nice and we enjoyed a relaxed evening there.