Over an extended Easter holiday in South Africa I was joined by my brother from Grahamstown, together with a few of his hiking friends from the Eastern Cape Section of the Mountain Club of SA, for an extended (and strenuous) cross cultural hike. On this ‘trial run’ we carried all our own kit.
We started and ended the hike at the community run ‘Mnweni Visitors Centre’ where we met our excellent and very competent Zulu guide Caiphus. Our route took us to a first night campsite near Shepherds Cave, and then up the truly spectacular Mnweni Pass for a second night in tents, very near the source of the Senqu (Orange) river and close to the edge of the Drakensberg, (or for the Basotho the ‘Cliffs of Natal’). On the third day we hiked down the beautiful Senqu River valley to the village of ‘Tsoana Makhulo’. On the way we stopped and chatted to some young Basotho shepherds with their huge guard dogs, close to their rough stone ‘cattle posts’ or Metibo.. They performed a few impromptu shepherd dances and songs for us, before we continued on to the village.
We were warmly welcomed, and pitched our tents next to some of the huts. Our hosts cooked some traditional food for us in the evening, and prepared some traditional Basotho travelling food (or in Afrikaans ‘padkos’) for us the next morning. We had to drag ourselves away from their hospitality as they performed dance after dance, and tried to encourage us to stay a bit longer with them! From the village we cut back to the head to Ntonjelana Pass by following a well used Basotho path along the stunningly pretty Koakoatsi River valley.
After a last night in tents we descended the long Ntonjelana Pass and Ntonjelana River, to the home of our guide and his family, about six kilometres short of the Mnweni Visitors Centre. At the bottom of the pass we were overtaken by two Mosotho ladies wearing normal clothes and shoes, one with a suitcase strapped to her back and the other with a sleeping baby on hers! They had left the Lesotho homesteads (near where we had slept two nights previously) that morning!
Our last evening was spent enjoying some warm traditional Zulu hospitality, delicious traditional food, and spirited dancing which we were allowed to participate in (!). After breakfast we hiked the last leg back to our vehicles for the drive home. On the way Caiphus took us to view a Bushman (or San) rock art site.
This trip has great potential to be run as a commercial trip in the future as porters can be hired through the Mnweni Visitors Centre, making hikes in that area achievable for all reasonably fit hikers.
Philip Grant, April 2011
For more information on guided hiking in the Drakensberg or other mountain ranges in South Africa, visit www.southernsecrets.co.za
Southern Secrets Hiking 