Centeral Drakensberg

  Winterton, South Africa
Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Hello Everyone,

We drove a few hours from the northern to the centeral part of the Drakensberg mountain range. Here we stayed at a backpackers called Inkosana. It is near the town of Winterton. It is definately one of the nicest backpackers we have stayed at. A little bit more expensive than some. It was 250 Rand ($50 canadian) for a private double rondavel, but well worth it. The grounds were perfectly manicured. It had an incredible view of several of the Drakensberg peaks. This place was the only backpackers we had stayed at where they came in each day and made up your room. Of course this came as a great surprise to us. We went out for the day and left things lying all over our room and bed, it looked like a bomb went off. Some of the things were of value, including bills of money and coins. We were shocked to see when we got back that someone had been in the room and cleaned it up. The bed had been made and all the items including the money were neatly piled on the ledge to the side.

Another great bonus this place has is the kitchen. It is very bright and spacious and spotlessy clean. The best part is you are not even allowed to do your dishes after you finish cooking your meals. You just stack them neatly to the side of the sink and the staff takes care of them. How great is that!





This backpackers has unique outside showers, they are partially enclosed for privacy, but have the best view we have ever seen in a shower. As you lather up you can gaze at the mountain peaks in the distance. The overhead rainshower it has is great too.

We went to a Zulu rug weaving place while we were here. It had hundreds of different kinds of rugs. They are all done by hand and are in many different patterns and colours. In the back of the display room you could see many ladies weaving rugs.

We also drove to a posh resort in the area called the Champagne Castle. It sat looking at an even more stunning view of the Drakensberg. The grounds were impressive.

On our second day here we woke up at 5:30am and after eating some breakfast we headed out to a place called Monk's Cowl. You can drive there in about 10 minutes, or walk to it in about 1 hour. The owner of the backpackers will sometimes drop you off if you don't have a car. We checked in with the nature reserve office. Here we chose which hiking trail we would do. You let them know how many in your party and which trail you are taking, in case you get lost or hurt.

The scenery along the way was incredible. This area has what is called the Western Cape Otter. It is clawless. We spotted their droppings a few times, but no otters themselves. We did see some Baboons along the way. They just sat on some rocks and stared at us.





We saw Cathkin peak several times as the trail wound along. It was clear at the beginning, but the peak was soon covered in mist. By 9am the heat was already getting to be intolerable. We had to lather up in sunscreen and put our hats on. We finished the hike at about 11am. The last bit was getting pretty strenuous with the sun pounding down on us. We headed back to the backpackers for some lunch, relaxation and a nap!

This backpackers had great areas to just kick back in and enjoy the view. We had a great stay here and would highly recommend it.