After my week in Johannesburg where I felt virtually trapped in my hostel (but with some relief - after our cross-African roadtrip I desperately needed space and downtime to decompress) I was so ready to get out and explore again.
With my mission of visiting every single country (and some others) in the world, I booked a guided tour from JoBurg down to Lesotho, the other tiny little fully-enclaved-by-South-Africa country just like Eswatini. The company was excellent; it was with a private tour guide who collected me at 6am from my hostel in JoBurg on a rainy Friday morning and drove me all the way down through eastern South Africa towards Lesotho.
Along the way, we stopped for some beautiful excursions in the Drakensberg Mountains, a wild and expansive mountain range traversing both Lesotho and South African land. The Drakensberg are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stretching more than 200 km between the two countries. The name Drakensberg means "dragon mountains," named so for the gigantic and rugged peaks, some stretching nearly 3500 metres above sea level.
We stopped at three points along the way in the Drakensberg towards the Sani Pass in Lesotho, the highlight of my guided tour.
Stop 1 - Montusi Peak Hike
The highlight of my time in the Drakensberg was a visit to the Montusi Lodge where the hike up to Montusi Peak begins. Initially expecting my guide to hike up there with me, his knee was bothering him so, paper map in hand, I was sent off into the Drakensberg solo. I loved it. Post-JoBurg experience, it was a liberating and freeing feeling to run through the mountains again. There are three trails up to Montusi Peak; the guides suggest walking up the middle one and back down the left one for a nice loop. I came down the right one because the left one had a pack of wild baboons on the trail and after our experience on the Panorama Route in Jonkershoek I wasn't going anywhere near them! The Montusi Peak hike also goes past a bushman's cave with small beautiful bushmen art painted faintly on the walls.
MONTUSI PEAK HIKE DETAILS
When: year-round
Where: Drakensberg, from Montusi Lodge
Difficulty: easy-intermediate
Length: 5.6km loop, with a 288m elevation gain, which took me 1 hour 15 minutes
Directions: follow the signs for Montusi Peak up the open field, past the Bushman's Cave, then up the circular loopto Montusi Peak. Either return the way you came, or at the base of the circular loop, go left or right for a nicer longer detour route back to the lodge. Here's a map of one of the options; you can grab a paper map from the lodge reception.
Bathrooms: yes, at the lodge
Public Transit: no, either you must self-drive or I came here with a tour
Signs for Montusi Peak
Looking back towards Montusi Lodge
Approaching the bushman's cave
Art in the bushman's cave
Views over the Drakensberg as I climbed
The circular loop around Montusi Peak
The view from the top!
Stop 2 - Howick Falls
Howick Falls are the second largest in all of South Africa, second only to the nearby Tugela Falls. Howick Falls is 95 m tall, with an impressive viewpoint overlooking the falls as they crash into the Umgeni River. In Zulu, the falls are called KwaNogqaza, which means, unsurprisingly, "Place of the Tall One."
Stop 3 - Nelson Mandela Capture Site
The final stop before heading toward Underberg near Lesotho was a visit to the Nelson Mandela Capture Site. It was here that Mandela, after being on the run from his warrant for arrest for treason, was captured in 1962 before his twenty-seven-year long imprisonment on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town. A museum (which I couldn't visit due to loadshedding and there being no power) is on the site now, as well as a beautifully done "Long Walk to Freedom" commemorating key moments of Mandela's life, culminating in a stunning memorial statue of his face.
Signs commemorating key moments of Mandela's life
CHECK OUT MY VLOG OF HIKING IN THE DRAKENSBERG MOUNTAINS HERE!
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Hi! I’m Jana, a British-Dutch-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
