Tag Archives: shorts
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 […]
Masubasuba Pitsaneng Loop
I don’t really recall a time before Masubasuba Pass appeared on my radar. When I visited Underberg for a stock count in February 2009, before I had ever hiked to the top of the Drakensberg, I wondered if there was a route up the very obvious saddle between the Hodgeson’s Peaks – not that I […]
Pins Pass/South Saddle Pass: T’is but a scratch
My slow progress of loading my old hike reports here continues! This was a 4 day hike in March 2016 which remains one of my most memorable hikes. 2016 was the year where I trained the hardest, with the Double Grand Traverse being the end goal. I hiked 1375km in the Drakensberg that year, by […]
Giants Castle via Sherman’s Route: through the fire and the flames
Giants Castle is one of the most recognisable peaks in the Drakensberg. It can be seen from as far away as Harrismith, Ladysmith, Escourt, Hilton and Underberg. It is a peak I have summitted many times, and is one of my favourites. For many years I have looked at the eastern ridges of the peak […]
Pyramid Standard Route
The Pyramid is a large, well, pyramid shaped peak at Didima Nature Reserve in the Northern KZN Drakensberg. I first saw it in person on a hike in 2010. For many years I admired it knowing I would never stand on its summit, I would never take up rock climbing for a number of reasons, […]
Moroke: Rain Maker
On 5 January 2017 I completed one of my strangest, yet most difficult, mountain objectives: I completed a double Drakensberg Grand Traverse over 16 days. It was the hardest hike I have ever done and overall one of the most difficult challenges I have ever undertaken. While I have had big projects in mind since […]
Water, water everywhere
So on a Friday afternoon a team of four of us found ourselves at Injisuthi. The road on the drive in had been in a very bad state, but we had all arrived safely. We set off down the road in light drizzle. The river was flooded, and my choice of Boundary Ridge over the […]
Ghaznavid Hiking 
Recent Comments