Tag Archives: running
Iron Crown Trail Race
One of my minor ongoing projects is to climb all nine province high points in South Africa. It isn’t something I have pursued with much urgency, it arguably started when I stood on top of Mafadi – the highest point in South Africa – more than a decade ago. Another of my ongoing projects is […]
Gear review: Hi-Tec Geo-Trail Pro shoes
As someone who goes hiking multiple times a month, I tend to destroy trail shoes fairly quickly. The most distance I have ever managed to get out of a trail shoe was my first pair of Hi-Tec Flash Forces back in 2015 – which I got 753km Drakensberg distance out of before having to retire […]
December 2021 Cape Trip day 5: Blesberg
I woke up to a beautiful morning in the Kammanassie Mountains. Looking back up the mountain I had climbed the day before, I could clearly see that my route choice had been the right one. Sometimes a quick look at a mountain from below can answer a lot of questions – which is why the […]
December 2021 Cape Trip day 2: Day Off/Desolation Peak
After an epic start to my trip, I decided to take the second day as a rest/exploration day. The goals were simple: visit a few places around Graaff Reinet, buy some items and then drive to Uniondale. My brother had suggested I visit the fossil museum in Graaff Reinet. I looked it up on google, […]
December 2021 Cape Trip day 1 part 2: Murch Point
The line between a really good day and a really bad day can be remarkably thin. As I descended off Compassberg, knowing it wasn’t even 11AM yet, and knowing the drive to get back to this region again tomorrow would be long- and would mean I miss out on what I want to do around […]
Sani Supertraverse
I have always considered Vergelegen to be very appropriately named. A region of the Drakensberg tucked between Lotheni and Sani Pass – with no campsite and a poor quality jeep track as the most common access, it is most certainly not the most inviting region of the Drakensberg. I first visited Vergelegen in 2017 and […]
Namahadi Pass Loop
The Free State Drakensberg remains one of the least hiked regions of the range. I have always found this odd – the area is spectacular and reasonably accessible. Rising above the rather large town of Phuthaditjhaba, it is home to some properly hard passes. So on a Friday afternoon, Ross and I found ourselves at […]
Mbundini Abbey Spire in a day
When I was asked to relocate for work purposes, I knew my era of being in the Drakensberg on roughly every second weekend would be coming to an end. The symmetry of the era starting and ending on the summit of Rhino exactly 10 years apart added a bit of poetry to it all. But […]
Vergelegen Passes: Hitchhikers Guide to the Drakensberg
My charge through the marked passes I had not yet done south of Giants Castle in the KZN High Berg had been going amazingly well. A cluster of 4 passes near Sani Pass was all that remained. My logic was simply – drive to the lower Sani border post, hike up Mqatsheni, down Ntshinshini, up […]
Verkyker/Mzimkhulu loop: Looking ahead
Earlier today I was reading something I wrote in 2012. In the comment I had said that I wanted to do every pass at Giants Castle and Garden Castle. Over the years of trying to cover as much ground as possible, I have learned that you can never do “every” pass in an area – […]
Ghaznavid Hiking 
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