Summiting South Africa's Highest Peaks | A Drakensberg Adventure
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2023
- 85km, 3500m vertical elevation gain, two countries, 6 days of food and gear on our backs, and one of the most spectacular hikes of my life!
When I received a last minute invite to join a UCT Mountain Club mission to the Drakensberg, I knew it was something I couldn't miss. Our goal was to summit 5 of South Africa's 6 highest peaks - Champagne Castle (3377m), Lithobolong (3379m), Njesuthi (3408m), the Trojan Wall (3354m) and of course Mafadi (3450m), the highest point in South Africa.
After overnighting at Monk's Cowl campsite, we set out for Keith Bush Camp via the Sphinx, camping beneath the stunning ridgeline joining Champagne Castle to Monk's Cowl, Cathkin Peak and Sterkhorn. The next morning, we began by climbing Gray's Pass, then summitting Champagne Castle. While we made our way off the peak and into Lesotho, we got caught in a heavy hail and thunderstorm, and arrived at a campsite near the river behind Leslie's Pass freezing cold and exhausted. Sunrise the next morning made us quickly forget the challenge of the day before, and our trek over Lithobolong, Mafadi and Njesuthi took us past some truly breathtaking views over the edge of the escarpment. Having ticked off our three major summits, we descended to make camp at Upper Injisuthi Cave. With time to spare, some exploration led us to a pool above one of the most impressive waterfalls I've ever seen!
After waking up to another gorgeous sunrise, we climbed our last peak of the trip, the Trojan Wall, which features on of the largest and most vertical cliff-faces I've come across, challenged only perhaps by the Amphitheatre itself. We then continued across the escarpment to descend Judges Pass and Heartbreak Hill, and made camp next to the river. Day 5 saw us follow this prehistoric valley to the Injisuthi campsite, and to our relief, the river hadn't risen to the point at which we couldn't safely cross. Our excitement quickly evaporated just past this point, as Jordan picked up a nasty ankle sprain which took us back to Injisuthi to make camp, rather than the planned stop along the trail.
On the morning of what would have been our final day of hiking, we woke up resolved to complete the circuit to Monk's Cowl. The fortunate presence of a friend in the area meant that Jordan, Amy and David could catch a lift in a car, while Scott, the Annas, Sasha and myself pushed on with lighter packs to tackle the last stretch of the route. Scott had been feeling quite ill, but managed to push through it, and we arrived back at Monk's Cowl in the middle of the afternoon of day 6.
A massive thanks to Scott, Amy and Anna B for masterminding the trip, and to them, Anna R, Jordan, David and Sasha for a beautiful 6 days in the mountains! It was incredible to finally explore this region of the escarpment, and I couldn't have hoped for a better group with which to complete this mission.
Music: Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood
Ben Howard - Time is Dancing
Lord Huron - What Do It Mean?
Moments - Am I Dreaming?
Fleet Foxes - Can I Believe You?
Mthunzi - Ngibambe La ft. Claudio x Kenza
Contact me: danjohnsonpeter@gmail.com
@daniel_johnson_pmbpk (instagram)
Beautiful!!!
beautiful this is on my bucket list
Glad you enjoyed it!
Beautiful experience. Thanks for sharing. Keen to try it some day.
Great Video! The Drakensburg is a Lekker Place!
Indeed it is 😁 thank you!
What a spectacular video - the Drakensberg Mountains are spectacular !!
Thanks for the inspiration - did all these peaks in my 20's (1990's) and am now looking to take my 2 kids on all these adventures - epic memories!
wonderful footage and super godly views
fantastic hike, love the pictures, it is def. on my bucket list. 👍🙂
Hope you get the chance! It's well worth doing 😁
Great production.
South Africa is spectacularly beautiful. I'm privileged to have had the opportunity to explore some extreme landscapes, from Karoo's martian terrain to the lush green coast line of western cape to the dunes of Kgalagadi. Surrounded by 2 oceans and inhabited by diverse group of people, flora and fauna, I'm in love with South Africa and African continent as a whole.
Couldn't agree more, I've yet to find a place that comes close to it :) such a privilege to be here
It is so good to see you having such fun. It was such a pleasure to join in with you. Wish I could have been there with you.
Thank you!
AMAZING..THANKS VERY MUCH
Thank you for the great video. Hoping to get back up their soon again.
Hope you get the chance! 😁
You guys are amazing! Such a beautiful part of our country! Thank you for sharing your grand adventure with us!! 😃🏞🏕🙏💚👍😍💫
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent footage of an epic hike -thanks for sharing it with us.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
great filming again Daniel. Thank you for inviting the world along!
Thanks Allen 😊 it feels like a real privilege to be able to share these places and experiences
Beautifully produced record of an ambitious trip! wonderful to watch. It triggered memories of decades ago… Grays and Van Heynegan’s pass, Injasuthi cave, Cathedral peak, Centenary hut… just not all on the same trip! Well done.
Thank you! There's such a sense of timelessness to these places, it's always fun imagining the adventures people must have had there over the years :)
Well done...Did Sterkhorn, Ntunja in the Monks Cowl area and recently did Mnweni and Rockeries Pass. My next challenge is Mafadi. I Have a lot in ur video, thank you
Mnweni is a super special place :) so much to explore there! Enjoy Mafadi! Also a great hike
Hoping to do Mafadi next year April. This footage makes me wish I could see all of the places you've covered in the 6 days.What an absolutely breathtaking sunrise above the clouds... And that view from Trojan wall! Thank you for sharing :)
I hope you get the chance! April is a great time to go :) you'll see a lot of these spots even just hiking to Mafadi, it's great how close it all is on the escarpment
NiceI did the same hike in 2019 but then clockwise
Awesome!
Amazing capturing of some of the incredible moments along this hike, thanks for creating this time capsule Dan!
Thanks Anna! I felt super lucky to be able to join you guys, thanks for a stunning trip 🤗
Great video you have inspired me to go here
Fantastic, I'm happy to hear it! Stay safe and enjoy :)
This is actually incredible. The video really lived up to and exceeded all expectations. I really love the editing 😍
My favourite scenes must be from 14:21 to 15:46. Really captures the serenity of the Drakensberg.
Ah thank you Tess 😊❤️ I think they're mine as well! There's such a ancient grandeur to those mountains ⛰️
My first hike was at Tugela Falls via the chain ladders. We were unprepared and thought it's easy. 4 guys, 1 500ml water, Romany Creams and Lays was all we had for the day. It was a crazy experience. I came across your videos while trying to show people where we went. I've been a fan of your channel ever since. Thank you for going through the extremes to show us how beautiful our country is. You do things some of us won't even dare to dream of. God bless you bro. 🙏🏽
Those kind of trips end up being the best memories 😂 glad you guys made it down alright, and that's the first of many! I really appreciate the love, thank you 🙏 it's cool to try to make people aware of the things that are out there, or to try to share some of these special experiences with the world. There've been some suuper spicy ones recently, so stay tuned I guess 👀
@daniel_johnson_pmbpk definitely staying tuned 🙏🏽
Love this man! What a great hike!
Thanks Tim! Yea it was a real stunner 😊 glad you enjoyed it
Amazing as always! I have so many questions: How did you know where you were going? Internal GPS?🙈How did you keep your camera charged to make such incredible shots and time lapses throughout the adventure? How are you all so fit and resilient?😂 How is the world so beautiful?!?!? Where do I sign up? All jokes aside, it looked like an absolutely incredible experience. Excited for what's next Dan!
Ah thanks Denis! I appreciate the love on these, very kind of you to say 😊. For the directions, a mixture of map reading and good old Gaia GPS on our phones :). Still, we took a fairly major bad route at least twice and had to course correct 🤷♂️. For the charge, I have a couple of spare GoPro batteries, but also a fairly massive portable charger, so I'd leave devices charging overnight for the next day :). For fitness, we definitely suffered up some of those hills 🤣 and the freezing storm tested our resilience, but I think we were also lucky to have a really great group of people, and a very clear common goal in mind ⛰️. As for the world, I couldn't tell you 🤷♂️ but definitely going to try to appreciate as much of that as I can 😁. And it would be epic to do an adventure together sometime! Plenty of mountains still to be climbed for the next time we're in the same part of the world 💪
Thank you for such an amazing video.Did u have a guide with you or u were using the GPS/map?
Thank you! No guide, we indeed used a phone GPS and a couple of physical maps
看寬銀幕很舒暢 😉
Thanks 😂 yes indeed!
Great video! Is it possible to do sterkhorn peak summit and back in one day, starting from monks cowl via sphinks breakfast stream? I remember a sign at the t junction after breakfast stream, warning of weather change and to only proceed if you signed the overnight register.
Thank you! I'm afraid I've never done Sterkhorn, though I'm pretty sure what you describe is a tough but doable day, from what I've heard. Afraid I can't answer with any certainty though, and, as with any hike like that, I'd be prepared for things to go wrong just in case you do have to spend the night
@@daniel_johnson_pmbpk thanks, yeah makes sense 👍
At what time of the year did you guys do the hike?
This was January, but the best time to do it would probably be around April :)
Howdid you navigated ?
I quite like Gaia GPS, which I have installed on my phone, but try to rely as much as I can on physical maps as well, which can't run out of battery etc. We also study the route in a fair bit of detail beforehand, so we know what to expect