Visit the magical Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa [Video]

The Drakensberg is a mountain range in South Africa, offering scenes of almost unbelievable beauty. 

 

[Photo Cathedral Peak by Martin Heigan/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

Lying between KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho, this spectacular mountain range stretches on for 152 miles, including craggy, golden sandstone buttresses, rocky gorges, rolling grasslands and lush and beautiful river valleys.

The Drakensberg is a UNESCO World Heritage site for obvious reasons, with its mountains soaring up to an elevation of over 10,000 ft, creating a natural barrier between KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

[Photo Drakensberg by Jonathan Gill/CC BY-NC 2.0]

There is plenty for tourists to do and enjoy in what is known as the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, including walking and hiking, mountain climbing, bird watching and exploring high up in the Berg, discovering the fascinating and fragile flora in the region. In the valleys, many unusual and fascinating plants and bushes are to be seen, including the iconic protea, cabbage trees, cycads and tree ferns, all huddled under the massive yellowwood trees. For those who love water sports, try whitewater rafting on the rivers in the area.

In summer, clouds and afternoon thunderstorms occur but in winter, the Drakensberg area experiences relatively warm temperatures of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, with little rain, although it does get chilly as the sun goes down and there are often sightings of snow on the peaks, making them even more magical to view.

[Photo Drakensberg sunset by Edwin Poon/CC BY-SA 2.0]

After a magnificent evening sunset, the crystal-clear Drakensberg skies offer an amazing view to star-gazers. With no pollution and no city lights, the Milky Way stands out in all its glory along with the most well known constellations of stars and planets, including particularly Orion and Scorpio.

There is a range of great accommodation options available in the Drakensberg, including the magnificent Cathedral Peak Hotel. This hotel offers the best in modern comforts while offering spectacular views of the Cathedral Peak itself.

[Photo Cathedral Peak by Martin Heigan/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

While staying at the hotel, enjoy guided walks in the area, visiting some of the many Bushman paintings, along with some gorgeous waterfalls. Keen birders can use three bird hides to spot their favorites, while horse riding, mountain biking  and flying are on offer. Enjoy the miniature golf onsite as well as a full, nine-hole golf course for golfing fans. There are many adventures on offer too including off road motorcycling and quad biking.

If possible, catch the wonderful voices of the Drakensberg Boys' Choir, included in the video at the end of this article.

Whatever you do and wherever you stay in the charmingly beautiful Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, you will never forget the sheer beauty of the surroundings. For more information, visit the Drakensberg pages on All Cape Accommodation.

Enjoy beautiful scenes of the Drakensberg in the video included below.

Take a trip on the wild side with adventure activities in South Africa

South Africa offers an amazing array of adventure travel options, from going face-to-face with the great white shark to bungee jumping off bridges to crawling through narrow tunnels in caves.

Should you visit South Africa, you will definitely make the right choice if you are an adventure junkie.

Shark Cage Diving

First, let's explore the fun of being shut in a cage and lowered into the water, while your tour guide throws "chum" into the water to attract that Jaws-like shark to your location. This is known as "baiting" and can be seen in the photo above. You can almost hear the "Jaws" theme playing in your head.

Since 1995, shark cage diving has been the major tourist attraction in the small town of Gansbaai in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, not far from the city of Cape Town.

Great White Sharks are most active in South Africa between May and October but can be viewed all year around. You don't need any diving experience to participate, although it might possibly help for your nerves.

You take a short, 15-minute boat trip from Gansbaai harbor, then it's into the cage with you, as you come face to face with one or two of these incredibly scary sharks. Obviously the tour guides are experienced and there is no risk involved, and the adrenaline rush is really worth it

Besides this daredevilry, the area is well known for the preservation of sharks and whales, and the National Geographic Society and other organizations regularly send film crews to the area. It is also a great spot to view the mighty southern right whale, either from the land or from a boat.

By the way, if you enjoy the shark cage diving, pop up to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, where you can have a similar experience with a Nile crocodile or two!  I kid you not. Crocodile cage diving is a thing.

Bungee jumping off a bridge

For our next touch of madness, let's attach a rope to ourselves and jump off a really high bridge. Located near Nature's Valley, Western Cape, South Africa is the Bloukrans Bridge, a 216 meter-high bridge which spans the Bloukrans River.

From this spectacularly high position, the Bloukrans Bridge Bungy from Face Adrenalin has been running since 1997. It is thought to be the highest bungy jump in the world.

There have even been a few Guinness World Records set on this bridge with South African Mohr Keet setting the record as the oldest person to bungy jump at the age of 96 on April 6, 2010.

Back on May 11, 2011, Scott Huntly managed to break the world record for the most bungee jumps in a day after jumping from this bridge 107 times within nine hours. Sounds crazy, but apparently this was in a good cause, to raise funds for local communities.

Oh yeah, and getting back to Victoria Falls, you can jump from a similar bridge there, with amazing views over the gorge! They are catching up fast in Zimbabwe it seems!

Cango Caves Adventure Tour

The Cango Caves are a wondrous network of caves set in Precambrian limestone in the foothills of the Swartberg range of mountains close to Oudtshoorn on Route 62 in the Western Cape of South Africa.

The main chamber is considered to be one of the finest in South Africa and attracts many visitors from all over the world. Regrettably, however, only around a quarter of the four kilometers of chambers and tunnels in the caves are open to the public.

There is a standard tour available of the caves, but for the purposes of this article, we're more interested in the Adventure Tour.

On this tour you will climb many steps, go down to fantastic depths, and also traverse passages with very low ceilings, including the famous and aptly named Lumbago Alley.

You will also get to crawl through the romantically named "Tunnel of Love," a passageway only 74 centimeters in height, narrowing at one point to a mere 30 cms wide. You also get to wriggle forward through a low, wide slot - the only exit route, incidentally - which is only 27 cms high. Bear in mind the average ruler is 30 cms in length and you'll get my drift.

The operators of the tours do warn that if you are pregnant or suffer from claustrophobia, high blood pressure, asthma or any muscular ailments, this tour is not on the books for you!

For the slightly less adventurous, but brave nonetheless, there is the chance of riding an ostrich on one of the many breeding and show farms in Oudtshoorn.

There are many more adrenaline rushes available for you in this versatile and varied land. For the adventurous, and of course the less adventurous, South Africa is a great vacation destination.

Great White Shark CC-BY-SA Godot13
Bloukrans Bridge CC BY 3.0 by FaceAdrenalin
Cango Caves CC BY 2.0 by John Charalambous
Oudtshoorn ostriches CC BY 3.0 by Georgio