uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park , UNESCO site in South Africa

Today we are going to conquer The Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa or uKhahlamba (the Barrier of Spears), a 200-kilometre-long mountainous wonderland and a UNESCO world heritage site.

The largest proportion of the Drakensberg area falls in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, my province....

Welcome! Welkom! Rea Amohela! Siyakwemukela! Kamohelo!

The Zulu people named it 'Ukhahlamba' and the Dutch Voortrekkers 'The Dragon Mountain'.

The Drakensberg Mountains, with their awe-inspiring basalt cliffs, snowcapped in winter, tower over riverine bush, lush yellowwood forests and cascading waterfalls, form a massive barrier separating KwaZulu-Natal from the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Combining sheer natural beauty with a wealth of biological diversity, this 243 000 hectare mountainous region known the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park has been preserved and venerated for eons since the San people or bushmen roamed these slopes.

Tens of thousands of paintings depicting their daily life can be found on the rock faces..

And of course, there are the mountains, which must be conquered but we have

decided not to go sheer rock climbing or abseiling or white water rafting but instead we are going to take a more leisurely pace of walking the many hiking routes on both lower and upper slopes of the Drakensberg so that we can watch out for the 290 species of birds, 48 species of mammals, or the rare varieties of plantlife found in the park.

The Drakensberg ... is the soul of the Zulu Kingdom......so lets go on a hike .....