Tag Archives: drakensberg south africa

South Africa ’14, Part 1: Drakensberge


Despite having been to the country only half a year before, we were so excited coming back to South Africa for another 3 weeks this time. There’s even a direct flight from Munich to Johannesburg that made the whole trip much more comfortable (we hate long flights). After the long winter in Europe, we didn’t want to spend any day in the city so upon arriving at the airport, we picked up our car and drove straight to Drakensberg, the highest moutain range in this part of the continent. There’s not much to do in the area except hiking so we did just that. We went into Winterton once, the nearest town, to buy some sim cards and found the perfect souvenir for our home. I think it was also the only non-food item we bought in the whole trip, along with countless bottles of local spices/herbs and miri miri sauce (P loves spices). March is Autumn time in the Southern hemisphere. Although the air was still warm, the winds on the mountain already turned a bit chilly, which made the evenings very pleasant. We couldn’t be any happier with the weather.

Arriving at Champagne Castle Hotel, about 30min from the village of Winterton
Arriving at Champagne Castle Hotel, about 30min from the village of Winterton
View across the hotel ground from our apartment
View across the hotel ground from our apartment
Hiking trail behind the hotel
Hiking trail behind the hotel
The grass is pretty high
The grass is pretty high
Big rocks along the way
Big rocks along the way
A waterfall
A waterfall, cool when it’s hot

Wanna have a shower??

That rock is called Sphinx
That rock is called Sphinx, one of the attractions in the area.
In real, these flowers are quite small
In real, these flowers are quite small
At 2000m elevation
At 2000m elevation
draken11
On the way down
On the way to our next destination: "shopping mall" in Winterton
On the way to our next destination: “shopping mall” in Winterton

drakensberge south africa