The Drakensberg Mountains (Dragon Mountains)

The Drakensberg (Dragon mountain) range, simply called the Berg by many, is the dominant element of the great escarpment which edges the interor plateau of the country like the rim of an upturned saucer. Running roughly north-south, the range begins at a point east of Dordrecht in the Eastern Cape province in the south and ends 1000km later in the north-eastern Transvaal.

For the first 125km the mountains run west-east between the towns of Elliot and Barkly East. Then they swing north to form, successively, the border between Lesotho and the north-eastern Cape, Lesotho and Transkei, Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.

The highest peak in the first of these sections, Ben Macdhui (3001m) just norht of Rhodes, is also the highest point in the Cape. The highest peaks of the range are found in the section between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal. The highst of all is Thabana Ntlenyana (3482m) well inside Lesotho north of Sani Pass. this section is virtually impassable and is negotated only by Sani Pass.

The highest peaks on the escarpment itself include Mont-aux-Sources (3299m), where the borders of KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Lesotho meet, and the country's three most important rivers (the Orange, Vaal and Tugela) rise: Champagne Castle (3376m), Giant's Castle (3313m), Hodgsons Peaks (3256m), Cathkin Peak (3182m), Devil's Knuckles (3028m), and Cathedral Peak (3004m).

High peaks inside Lesotho, west of the escarpment, include Makheka (3463m), Ubutsuane (3434m) and Mafadi (3450m).

There are several conventional passes in the section between the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. These are Oliviershoek, Van Reenen's and several minor passes such as Botha's, Muller's and Normandien between Memel and Necastle, and Collins between Harrismith and Dundee.

The railway line from Gauteng to Durban cuts through the Drakensberg via Laing's Nek south of Volksrust in the eastern Transvaal.

Norht of Volksrust the Drakensberg loses much of its grandeur, petering out into a series of rolling hills never more than 1800m above sea level. North of Belfast on the eastern Transvaal Highveld the elevation begins to increase gradually until the escarpment rises as much as 1500m above the Lowveld in the east.

From a point south of Lydenburg and Sabie the range is called the Transvaal Drakensberg. From Acornhoek and Klasserie this range swings in a north-westerly direction to a spur known as Strydpoort Mountains east of Potgietersrus. The highest peaks are Die Berg (2331m) south-west of Lydenburg, and Mount Anderson (2316m). This section of the Drakensberg is negotated by a number of passes, of which the most important are Magoebaskloof, Abel, Erasmus-Kowyn's and Long Tom.