How to survive a family holiday in the Drakensberg

Posted on 3 February 2011

In December, my family and I took a trip to the Drakensberg for the first time. The last proper family holiday we had was spent in Zanzibar in 2006 (at a resort lying on the beach most of the time). This holiday was to be quite the opposite read: active, and therefore a disappointment to my sister who we shall say is “not the hiking and outdoor type”. The car trip from Joburg to the Berg involved my dad trying to negotiate how many walks/hikes my sister would go on- the outcome: one walk not more than two hours long – the rest of her time was to be spent lying by the pool at our backpackers. Although this was a slightly dodgy start to our “family holiday” it was a fantastic trip with some advice below:

1) If you have a family member who doesn’t like hiking, make sure your accommodation has some form of entertainment for them. Whether this be a nice pool, a television or simply a patio/area to appreciate the view. Don’t try force them to try and enjoy walking (we tried this) as you will most likely enjoy the hike more without them asking you how much longer they have to go until the end.

2) Take a map to keep track of where you are on the some of the routes. Our backpackers gave us a map that was “slightly” out according to scale, meaning a 2hr hike turned out to be more like 4hrs with a LOT more hills.

3) It is advisable to start your hikes early in the morning during the thunderstorm seasons (roughly December-February). It gets very hot by midday and by 2pm the thunderstorms will have hit. Hiking in wet clothes isn’t fun.

4) When you park your car (which isn’t a 4×4) near the start of the hiking trail, make sure you don’t park in an area which is likely to turn into a muddy mess when you return after the notorious daily thunderstorms. Our Toyota Condor got stuck on a slope, and wouldn’t budge until we managed to rustle up some young foreign men to help push (and after I had fallen face first into the mud!)

5) Be friendly to fellow hikers, they might be the ones helping you push your car at a later stage (see above).

6) Baboons are abundant in the area – make sure you don’t leave food lying around as it will disappear faster than you think. We had a baboon come face-to-face with us through the window in the kitchen – very exciting until we realized he had stolen our pork chops for the braai. On a side note: make sure you check your accommodation booking when you arrive – we had booked a self-catering place only to find out that meant we had a bar fridge, but no cooking facilities. Our family friends who came over for a braai had to bring half their kitchen along with them (very embarrassing as the hosts!)

7) Sharing a dormitory room with your family members can be an interesting experience. I have a lot of sympathy for my mom after listening to my dad snoring loudly for many hours each night. Throwing a pillow can help (if only for a little bit).

8) Teaching your parents how to play 30 seconds: Try to be patient. These things don’t come naturally to older people. It’s not their fault if they don’t know who Lady Gaga is.

9) Car games: Eye spy is pretty old school and can be a little boring after a while. We invented a game where you have to vote on which thing a family member would prefer. I.e “Would mom prefer to have a slice of chocolate cake or a meringue for tea time?” or “Would sister like a blackberry or an Iphone for her birthday?” Your family members guess and whoever gets it wrong the most times is the loser. Good way to get to know your family too.

Things to take with you:

1) Water bottle – there are plenty of waterfalls and pools in the area to fill your water bottle up with so you don’t usually need to lug around litres of water.

2) Swimming costume – there are many beautiful pools to swim in along the hikes with amazing waterfalls. Skinny-dipping is only advisable in very secluded areas, the higher up the mountain the better!

3) Two pairs of socks if you don’t own hiking socks. Believe me, your feet will love you forever. Blisters make hiking very difficult.

4) Snacks to take on your walks- to keep the non-hiking family members motivated (and yourself).

5) Groceries from the nearest town in the area. We stayed in both the Central and Southern Drakensberg, and the grocery shops in both areas weren’t well stocked.

6) A camera to document the most amazing scenery in South Africa.

7) A good book to read in the afternoons when you are giving your feet a rest after all the exercise.

Recommended places to stay:

Inkosana Lodge
We stayed at this backpackers lodge in the Champagne Valley, situated only 7 km from the Monk’s Cowl entrance of Ukhahlamba Drakensberg National Park where we did many of our hikes. The lodge offers a selection of rondavel or dormitory type accommodation with clean facilities, an awesome reservoir style pool and a friendly host.

Email: [email protected]

Call 036-468-1202






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