Hiked and Survived in Little Switzerland/Drakensberg

Last night we had a barbecue at our resort. Let me tell you, our bellies were more than filled. Everything tasted great and the sauces were amazing :-).

This time I managed to survive the night without any mishaps, but only because Daniela switched places with me ;-).

Yesterday, one of the receptionists recommended the hotel's own hiking trails to us (she was almost a little sad when we said we were going to the national park ;-). So we decided on two hikes that we could combine. According to the receptionist, our hike would take 2 hours :-)! That was absolutely fine with us, as we also wanted to take a dip in the pool today.

We set off just before 10:00 am in bright sunshine. After a short distance, we looked at each other and were once again amazed by the breathtaking landscape. To the left of us was a mountain range, in front of it trees with red flowers, fern palms, various types of grass, and much more undergrowth :-). To the right was a flatter landscape with a lake, and in front of us was another mountain with pine trees. It looked gigantic. We stood there for a long time, enjoying the view and the silence. But now let's continue to the waterfall. I didn't want to keep stopping for photos, but I just couldn't help it, I was so excited. A wooden sign showed us the way, we were supposed to hike up a small stone path. Done! However, when we reached the top, there was unfortunately no waterfall. It lacked the abundant rain. Oh well, we rested in a small cave next to the waterfall in the shade. It was already incredibly hot in the sun. So, the first goal was reached really quickly. On to the next one.

We walked part of the way back and then started climbing uphill over large and small stones. Again and again, we stopped with our mouths wide open and said, isn't the view fantastic? It was mega awesome, sorry, but it was! When we reached the top, we were standing on a green plateau surrounded by grass, colorful flowers, and different trees. I felt like I was on another planet. We really hadn't expected that at all. I didn't want to continue anymore. We walked very slowly along our trail so that we could fully enjoy the surroundings. Wooden signs showed us that we were still on the right path. On the plateau, we had a picnic in the shade and replenished our energy. After taking numerous pictures of the mountain ranges and the canyon, we continued to an old settler's house. However, we had to search for it because the signage there was not very good. When we finally found the little house, we had been on the trail for a good 3 hours. There was a lake nearby. Since our feet were already a little hot, we enjoyed a little cooling off.

According to the map from the hotel, we were supposed to cross a river now, which we only found with great difficulty. As mentioned before, it lacked rain, so the river was not a river but just a small puddle. We kept going along the trail, searching for a sign with the word HOTEL. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we found a wooden sign. Sh*t, it only displayed the name of the longest trail :-(. Wow, I was done.

Calmly - I was still calm back then - we both looked at the map and agreed that there were no turn-offs from the main path and we didn't find any more signs either. Sh*t, we had to walk a whole section back. Then Daniela found a quill from a porcupine. I thought it was cool, that thing is really sharp. The turn-off wasn't there, so we just walked through the grass and ended up on a rocky ledge. Now what? I got nervous, were we going to have to spend the night here? Daniela said, don't panic now, let's just go back the entire way. Did I mention that we had already been hiking for five hours :-(? Without further ado, we decided to climb down the canyon to get back to the hotel directly. That was quite a challenge, and we helped each other. If someone had filmed that, guys, it was already crazy. I'm laughing now, but earlier I was really exhausted. I saw us lying in the riverbed with broken bones.

Unfortunately, we hadn't reached our goal yet. We walked back a part of our old route and then we actually found a sign with HOTEL. Yeah, we or I won't die after all :-). The path to the hotel was, of course, breathtaking, but in terms of condition, it was a total disaster. We had to climb steeply over small and large rocks. Daniela said that once we reached the forest, we were almost at the hotel. Hm, the forest path was just as terrible and also endlessly long. I was just glad when I saw the roof of our resort. I'm completely exhausted. I can't move anymore and I won't move anymore. They even had to bring my food to my room :-)! So, in that sense, warm greetings from the two survivors :-)!

Oh, I forgot to mention! We didn't see a single person on the entire hike.