South Africa (2020)
Inhalt/Content
Drakensberg and the Sani Pass
With a heavy heart we said goodbye to our dreamlike AirBnB and the old lady in the early morning to start an 8 hour drive to Pietermaritzburg. Pietermaritzburg was not our real destination. In Pietermaritzburg we should only return the rental car at the airport. Afterwards we organized an Uber, which should bring us to Drakensberg. Our accommodation, the Sani Lodge Backpackers, was located at the edge of this mountain region and was still about 150km away. According to Google Maps the trip should take about 2 hours. We have never done such a long distance with Uber, but it was recommended to us in advance and the price was absolutely reasonable. Our driver was a young guy in an old, rickety VW Polo limousine who was not very talkative. Unfortunately, the poor guy didn’t have the best equipment, as we realized painfully much too late. He had two smartphones, but both were quite old with splintered screens and apparently without reliable GPS. This led to the fact that he turned by mistake onto a small gravel road. Not only that his car was absolutely not made for this kind of road and it was partly hunted by wild dogs, the way was of course also much longer, so that we had to add 1-2 hours to the actual driving time. Arrived at the goal, the poor driver rose fast and threw a desperate look under the hood where probably so much has run hot. With a guilty conscience we gave him a big tip, but that didn’t stop him from giving me a 1-star rating in the Uber App.
The strains of the journey were fortunately quickly forgotten at the sight of our place of residence, because it was truly a small paradise. Above our room door was a swallow’s nest, the whole area was beautifully green and to my delight there were cows whose milk, to Kevin’s delight, was available to all guests free of charge. The owners of the lodge are very committed to the region by trying to run the lodge as ecologically as possible and by promoting charitable projects for the local people. Now the day of our arrival was a very special one, it was February 14th and thus Valentine’s Day. To celebrate this and to recover after the strains of the long journey, we had ordered a traditional 3-course menu for dinner in advance and once again it was confirmed that the African cuisine is simply incredibly delicious.
For the next day we had already booked a hiking tour to the so-called Hodgson’s Peaks, the highest point in this area of the southern Drakensberg. After an unbelievably delicious breakfast in the accommodation, Christeen, our tour leader for the day, picked us up together with some other guests, most of whom were actually Germans, and we raced up the Sani Pass in an old off-road vehicle. The Sani Pass is a mountain pass that connects South Africa via Drakensberg with Lesotho. The catch is that the road is in a very bad condition and by bad I mean so bad that it doesn’t even look like a road anymore. But this only applies to the South African side. Once you have crossed the border into Lesotho, you are on a perfectly tarred road. Lesotho was a different world compared to South Africa. In the next days we should feel this even more. The border official was happy about the guests and proudly told us that she knew a little bit of German before she happily shouted “Guten Tag” to us. Behind the border Christeen parked the car and from there we continued on foot. We walked across the countryside, passing lots of sheep, while in the background there was an impressive mountain range to climb. When we arrived at our destination, we unpacked our packed lunches, which we had received before the tour started, sat down on the rocks and were overwhelmed by the breathtaking view. Even though South Africa definitely has its own problems, Lesotho is clearly ahead in the sad poverty ranking. Unfortunately this was already noticeable that day. Christeen had informed us in advance about the dark sides of tourism in Lesotho. Some locals tried to earn money from the tourists, but not in a good way. Whoever read our report on Peru knows that I use the term “cultural prostitution” for something like this. Some locals approached you and asked for money or something else. Others came running towards you in traditional clothes and wanted you to take pictures of them so that they could ask for money for the photos afterwards. Fortunately, Christeen enlightened us about the best way to behave in such situations. So it happened that while we were sitting at the top of the summit having a picnic, a local shepherd came up to us. He sat down with us and Christeen offered him something to eat. He refused an extra apple, instead he asked us for cigarettes. After the descent we went to the pub, which claimed to be the highest pub in Africa. Unfortunately the “cultural prostitution” did not stop here. In fact, here it even got worse. Young people in traditional costumes danced to music booming from (solar) speakers and they waited for tourists to take pictures, so then they could held out their hands. Unfortunately, we also had to watch how people actually jumped on them and had themselves photographed with them. Nevertheless, we had to finish the hike in due form. The others all bought Maluti, a beer from Lesotho. I was a follower and ordered a beer in the belief that I would just try it. Instead I got a much too big bottle, which I couldn’t even get the slightest bit empty, but luckily the other tour participants came to my rescue 😉
Back in the accommodation we talked a little bit with the other Germans and later went to the small restaurant that belonged to the accommodation for dinner. When we finally left the restaurant it was already late and outside it was pitch black. But in the nature of Drakensberg this is something wonderful. We heard lots of crickets and other insects and as soon as we looked up, a beautiful clear starry sky stretched over us.
The next morning we had a really good time again with an extensive breakfast and a little walk. At that time we did not know yet what was in store for us. We said goodbye to the other Germans and had a taxi called to Underberg at the check-out, from where we continued to Lesotho.
