Back from the Berg

I’m sitting, aching calves and all, back at my desk this Monday morning, after a 3-day break to the Mahai campsite in Royal Natal. Unfortunately I forgot to take the pics off Paul’s camera last night so you’ll have to wait a bit for our personal photos as an accompaniment to this post. The pics you will see below have been scavenged from the Net.

Anyway, we broke the 3 hour trip to Royal Natal (in the Northern Drakensberg) by spending Thursday on Paul’s sister’s farm in Nottingham Road. On the way up there we discovered that the Cato Ridge Engen One-stop houses a Debonairs Pizza that has yet to start skipping on pizza toppings. The pizzas were awesome. And at Megan’s place we saw a beautiful owl sitting on the gate at the entrance to the farm.


On Friday morning we arrived at Mahai and picked our campsite. Unfortunately, while we were setting up, a group of around 30 Polish South Africans arrived, flag and all, and promptly surrounded us. Let’s just say that after 2 days of exposure to them, we could understand why Hitler flaunted warnings he would initiate a war, and simply invaded Poland. He must have had to camp with them at some point in his life.

What an obnoxious people! Overweight, drinking from 11am, screaming at each other from tents 50m apart, even some domestic abuse right in front of us (a drunk husband dragged his wife by the scruff of her neck back to their tent). Until they received a warning about making noise, they didn’t shut up. Even in the middle of the night they were making a racket – we had to endure stereo snoring on our left and right sides.

So, yeah, we wanted to deface their flag with ‘Pooland’ in tomato sauce.

As a result, on Friday afternoon and into the evening, we escaped the camp and ‘attempted’ some trout fishing down the Mahai river and at the dam. Well, more precisely, Paul fished in-between getting his lure caught in the overhanging tree branches, and fleeing from bright green water snakes. Robin and I just vegged on the river bank.

Saturday was our big hiking day. After we got to Sunday Falls in an hour, we decided to go look at the picturesque Gudu Falls, which took us along a long contour path exposed to the midday sun. Then we had a sharp, steep ascent through Gudu Bush forest to get to the waterfall. By this point we were so fatigued we were stumbling over our own feet on flat stretches.

Finally we got to Gudu where we ate our lunch and the guys insisted in standing under the falling 10°C water to fill our water bottles. Given how challenging it is to get to Gudu Falls, very few hikers go there, and that makes it a lovely secluded, almost private destination. We eventually limped back into camp, circling all the way around Lookout Rock, as the sun set.


On Sunday we packed up again, and after ice creams and lunch at the dam, we hiked the short distance to Fairy Glen, another cascading set of gentle waterfalls. Our messing about there came to an abrupt stop though with the discovery of a puff adder sluggishly climbing one of the waterfalls.

It’s a very beautiful snake, but knowing how deadly it can be, we kept our distance. Especially since it leapt into a pool at one stage and propelled itself exceptionally quickly through the water with its powerful, pure muscle body. It was fascinating though to see one in the wild, away from a snake park.


After that it was time for the 3 hour drive home, and a return to reality after unpacking the car and throwing the muddy, stinky shoes outside. It definitely was a very pleasant break, where we got plenty of sunshine and fresh air, and ate way too much. And in 2 weeks time there's the Easter long weekend to look forward to.