Grahamstown to Harrismith, S. Africa

11 - 13 Mar 08

Drakensberg Mountains

Another pleasant flight. By skirting mountainous Lesotho, we avoided the build-up of CBs and landed at Harrismith in fine weather. Harrismith was next to a quite poor looking township, but a smiling guard with large gaps in his front teeth was there to greet us and he assured us our plane would be looked after in our absence. The guy from Imperial care hire arrived on time but it took him about an hour and a half in town to set up our contract. He was new to the job and didn’t know the ropes. From Harrismith it was a 45-minute drive to the Drakensberg mountains where we stayed at Hlalanathi Lodge in a well-designed spacious chalet meant for 4 people, and with a superb view, at a very reasonable price.
The next day dawned bright and sunny again and we went hiking in nearby Royal Natal National Park. Near the start of our walk were a lot of noisy and aggressive baboons. One of them followed us a bit too closely for comfort and I had to shoo him away. I expect this behaviour stems from tourists feeding them as there were numerous signs with the warning: ‘You feed ‘em, we shoot ‘em.’
That evening we drove to the Cavern Lodge to have dinner. Both on the way there and on the way back, a jackal ran across the road.
We had planned on doing some more healthy walks the following day, but it poured with rain all day long. At least our comfortable chalet provided a pleasant place to catch up with Internet duties.