New Year's Eve at Tarn Cave - December 2011

Tarn Cave is big and deep overhang in the Clarens sandstone with fantastic 180-degree views.

Finally, this year I had the opportunity to spend a New Year’s Eve in the Drakensberg. Our friend James Voortman had scheduled a combined meet for the Mountain Club of South Africa and the Mountain Backpackers hiking club of Durban, and invited us to join them. Tarn cave, one of the finest natural shelters in the whole range, was the chosen venue. Located in the Bushman’s Nek Area in the southern Drakensberg, a 10km moderate walk from the main camp, this deep overhang in the Clarens sandstone has great vast panoramic views all the way from the Devil’s Knuckles to the Garden Castle.

A 3 day hike in the Cathedral Peak Area - December 2011

The long steep climb to Cleft Peak

Sue and Roger are ones of the many South Africans living in the UK. Christmas is always a good time to come back home for a family holiday, recharge and take a break from the long, cold, rainy English winter. For them, a few days hiking in the Drakensberg at the start of their holiday was the quickest way to switch off from the busy city life.

An Afro-Italian hike to Mafadi - November 2011

The party on the escarpment. From left to right: Simona, Tank, Valerio and  Elna.

A few months had elapsed since my last visit to the High Berg so I was really excited to this hike. This time the party was made up of Valerio and Simona from Italy and Elna and Tank from Pretoria, a nice Afro-Italian mix. This was my 6th hike to Mafadi in 2011 but, no matter how many times you hike in the Drakensberg, it is always a different and inspirational experience.

Zulu Cave - Greg and Michelle - October 2011

Greg and Michelle with Sterkhorn

After a 2-month ‘break’ running our cycling tours in the Indian Himalayas, I was happy to be back in the mountains I love so much. American siblings Greg and Michelle were looking for an overnight hike that would allow them to experience the real wilderness of the Drakensberg. Zulu Cave is one of those overnight spots that are close enough from camp to make it easily accessible in a day, but far enough to feel remote.

From Mafadi to a hike in the Little Berg - August 2011

Sunrise from our campsite at the bottom of Leslie’s Pass, in the morning of the 3rd day.

It was the beginning of August and this was to be our last hike of the long cold winter of 2011. A few cold fronts had swept across the Drakensberg so I was expecting the passes and the escarpment to be partially, if not fully, covered in snow. For this reason my plan was to do the route the opposite way around: up Leslie’s Pass and down Judge’s Pass. This way, most of the route to Mafadi would be on the warmer northern slopes where the snow melts quicker. Once on top, if the colder southern slopes on the other side of Mafadi carried too much snow, we could always retrace out steps and go back down the same way. In the end, things didn’t go according to the plan but this still ended up being a great hike in the Little Berg.