The Drakensberg - Winter is coming!

Winter is coming! That's how it feels when we drive from the small town of Hogsback to the southern foothills of the Drakensberg. Due to the rain in the past few days, we are dressed warmly, but we shiver as soon as we get out of the car at Underberg. While spring is in full swing in Germany, the temperatures are steadily dropping as we move further into the Drakensberg.

The Drakensberg is the highest mountain range in southern Africa, with peaks reaching up to 3482 meters. It stretches through South Africa and Lesotho. After spending the past few months in the Cape region, right by the sea, the landscape couldn't be more different. The closer we get to the border with Lesotho, the more mountainous, green, and mystical the area becomes. And colder too. At first glance, the flatter surroundings of the southern Drakensberg foothills resemble our beloved Black Forest, but with the many pastures it also reminds us of the beautiful Allgäu region. In the south, the Drakensberg is slightly less touristy, but it offers a small attraction with the Sani Pass. This highest mountain pass at 2874 meters, leading from South Africa into the heights of Lesotho, can only be driven with four-wheel drive vehicles. As a reward for daring maneuvers, you not only get fantastic views here, but also the highest pub in Africa - or at least they claim so. How we would have loved to have a cold beer there!

As is often the case when traveling, not everything goes according to plan. The plan was to extend Maxis visa during our internship in Cape Town so that it would be ready in mid-April before our next road trip. Unfortunately, the visa is not issued digitally but must be pasted into the passport. Since the South African authorities do not work quickly and efficiently - we almost miss German bureaucracy - the visa is not issued when we leave in mid-April. So we have to leave the passport behind and hope that it can be sent to us by the visa agency as soon as possible once the visa is ready. The problem: The Sani Pass is still on the South African side, but the border post is below, so you have to stamp out to drive up the pass to the border with Lesotho. Not possible without a passport.

Although we have to bypass Lesotho with a heavy heart - and put it at the top of our bucket list for the next trip to Africa - we also have beautiful nature, high mountains, and idyllic landscapes on the South African side. The further north we go, the more developed the national park becomes. There are hiking trails and small campsites everywhere for nature-loving South Africans, who seem to make up the largest group of tourists here. The Royal Natal National Park is also located in the northern Drakensberg and offers spectacular mountain panoramas. Here you can see - or climb, if you have enough stamina - the so-called Amphitheater. The Amphitheater is an eight-kilometer-long, almost 1000-meter-high, and almost vertical rock face that forms part of the border with Lesotho. When we arrive at the national park, this rock face is still covered in thick clouds, so we have to be content with hikes to waterfalls and natural pools for the time being. Just when we almost give up hope, the clouds clear. The sight of the steep rock face is almost indescribable, it almost looks like a piece of land has simply broken off. We have never seen anything like it before.

The further we drive north in the Drakensberg, the lighter the rocks become, until we find ourselves surrounded by orange-ocher sandstone cliffs. The Golden Gate Highlands National Park offers peculiar rock formations that are perfect for hiking and offer fantastic views. After becoming somewhat lazy in the past few months due to the lack of exercise routines, it feels really good to do something for our fitness again. After climbing the mountain slopes, we are rewarded with the most beautiful views - and we finally stop freezing.