My South Africa Tour

My South Africa Tour visits the following mountain areas:

Drakensberg Mountains

The Drakensberg mountains of South Africa or uKhahlamba (the Barrier of Spears) is a 200-kilometre-long mountainous wonderland which was inscribed in late 2000 as the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park and a World Heritage Site.

The largest proportion of the South African component of this area falls in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Meeting the criteria for both Natural and Cultural listings, the site can now officially boast 'superlative natural phenomena and beauty, unique richness of biological diversity, the conservation of all-important endemic and threatened species plus masterpieces of human creative genius in the form of 35 000 'San rock art images' from the massive basalt cliffs of its northern reaches to the soaring sandstone buttresses in the south.

Excellent hiking trails are found in the Drakensberg Mountains. Multiple day hikes or day trips from the hotel, the choice is yours. The Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg National Park in the middle of the range is a World Heritage Site and in the North, the Royal Natal National Park boasts the highest peak in South Africa.

Kingdom of Lesotho

High in the Drakensberg Mountains is the Autonomous kingdom of Lesotho.

Trails on top of the escarpment crisscross the frontier between South Africa and Lesotho. On hiking tours one is likely to encounter Lesotho villages and tribesmen tending to their cattle.

Drakensberg Accommodation

There are camps inside the National Parks where the accommodation is in roundavals or chalets with full baths and comfortable beds. The camps have restaurants, and shops. Alternatively, one can camp out in nature in a sleeping bag and tent.

Outside of the Park there are a number of wonderful Mountain Retreats, with excellent accommodation and cuisine. Many of these have trail heads leading directly from the hotel grounds. Ideal for a morning hike, and then returning to the hotel for a delicious meal and a relaxing afternoon.

In the foothills of the mountains are the Natal Midlands that boasts a large number of quaint B&B accommodation with an emphasis on art and culture.

Back to Accommodation

Mpumalanga Province

The discovery of gold in this picturesque mountain area in 1873 at MacMac pools and Pilgrim's Rest set off South Africa’s gold rush era. Steeped in the history of pioneers, hunters and fortune seekers, fascinating gold rush towns such as Barberton and Pilgrim's Rest offer a feel of how it once was. A panoramic route leads through the rugged mountain range of the northern Drakensberg where the inland plateau declines abruptly and steeply and opens up onto fantastic views of the plains of the Lowveld a thousand meters below.

Blyde River Canyon
This canyon is 16 km long starting at "Bourke's Luck Potholes" and ending at the "Three Rondavels". Its cliffs rise between 600m-800m from the river bed. The ‘Three Rondavels viewpoint’ (also called ‘The Three Sisters’) is around 1380m above sea level while the level of the Blyde dam when full is 665m above sea level.

Bourke's Luck Potholes

The Potholes are situated on the escarpment where the Treur and Blyde Rivers meet.

Thousands of years of swirling whirlpools with their waterborne sand and rock have ground deep cylindrical potholes into the bedrock of the river. A fascinating piece of natural art.

Mac Mac Falls

When gold was discovered along the Mac-Mac River in 1873, a frenzied gold rush ensued. Many of the miners were Scottish and therefore the camp was named Mac-Mac and situated on the falls. This waterfall was originally a single stream but gold miners blasted it with dynamite to divert the river in an attempt to work the rich gold-bearing reef over which it plunges The explosion split the 64-metre-high waterfall into two streams which plunge into the forested gorge below. Today Mac Mac Falls is a declared National Monument and visitors can walk for 2 km along part of the Fanie Botha Hiking Trail to the Mac-Mac pools for a refreshing swim