September 2019
The mighty Drakensberg mountain range forms a natural border between Lesotho and South Africa. We set out on a three day hike in the Northern part of the range, known as the Bell traverse it runs below the famous Cathedral Peak. It was our first trip to these big mountains far North from our home in Cape Town.
Three days of solid effort for Storm and I, as we travelled at an elevation of around 2500m for most of the journey. Sleeping in caves along the way, negotiating a few exposed scrambles and rationing our water ever so carefully. We will be back for more of the what the Drakensberg has to offer soon!
After setting off in the dark we arrived at Shermans cave late on our first night
We encountered one other group early on during the hike and requested they take a quick photo
Twins cave, our home for the second night. After arriving late in the evening we discovered that the water source had dried up. Plan B became our only option and I had to hike up and over the escarpment into Lesotho, to find a river marked on the map.
We saw many pairs of Cape griffon throughout our hike. Also known as "Kolbe's vulture", they are endemic to southern Africa, and are found mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and in some parts of northern Namibia. They nest on cliffs and lay one egg per year.
Happy to be alongside a refreshing river, our final day of the hike was rather relaxing.
The final gear shuffle after our hike, before heading off on the motorbike into Lesotho. Read about that trip here