Drakensberg South Africa Day 1 - Giant's Castle car park to Bannerman's Hut 7 May 2012.

Drakensberg South Africa - Day 1 
Giant's Castle car park to Bannerman's Hut
Distance 11km Climb 600m
Monday 7th May 2012

It was last year (2011) when I heard that a walking expedition to The Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa was being planned and so I jumped at the chance.  This was an opportunity of a lifetime and I knew that I would never get the chance to do this again.

Although the whole trip is made up of many parts such as the journey to and from The Drakensberg Mountains, and we had a few brilliant days in Ladysmith including visits to some of the Boar War and Zulu War battlefields.  I only intend to cover our days walking in my blog.

After travelling up from Durban we arrived at the Giant's Castle car park, in the early afternoon. It had been decided that we were going to break into two teams, although we stayed together for the first day walking.

Once the supplies had been shared between us, we set off.

Sorting out the supplies

The road from Giants Castle Main Camp

It was very sunny when we started walking from the Giants Castle Main Camp, we walked North, back along the road we had recently drove in on.  Our expedition leader, had done this walk a few times before and he knew where the turning was.  He lead us to a junction in the track that would take us up onto the Bannerman Path.

After crossing a stream we started moving West along the Bannerman Path. It felt good to be moving after such a long journey in the bus to get there.  Although this was the start of their winter I still found it very hot and I could also feel the affects of the altitude.   

We had a few stops on the way up the Bannerman Path and every time we did stop the views back down the valley were stunning.  I knew from experience that my photos were not going to show the views to their best, they would not do them any justice, what a vast magnificent countryside. 

Moving up Bannerman Path

Tim the expedition instructor was navigating and told us we would not reach Bannerman’s Hut before it got dark.  He had suggested we have our head torches handy, so it was only a few minutes after moving North, (turning right), onto the Contour Path that the sun went down.  It changed very quickly one minute it was light the next it was dark.  The time was just after 18.00 hrs and we still had a few km to go.

Contour Path as sun going, see the cloud rise in the valley

It soon got dark

After a few more stops and starts, some of the lads were falling over in the dark, we eventually reached another stream.  After crossing this stream the path then took us up a steep bank through long grass and there directly in front of us was Bannerman’s Hut.

Moving inside the hut we scrabbled for beds and sleeping spaces.  It did not take us long to have some food before we climbed into our sleeping bags.  A brilliant experience, walking in the Drakensberg. 

Bannerman’s Hut is at 1700m, so we had roughly covered approx 600m of climb and walked 11km. 

More to follow


Boz North
Details correct at time of walking.

If you have enjoyed reading my walk or found it useful you may also like to read other walks I have done in South Africa or other areas. Please check out the links on the right hand side.

Follow link to the next - Day 2 Bannerman's Hut to Langalibalele Pass Drakensberg