What about experiencing the wilderness of the Drakensberg Mountains in luxury. Try the Giants Castle slackpacking trail or float gently over the foothills of the mountains in a hot air balloon. Another option is to just just sit and admire the view or visit the second highest waterfall in the world.
Giants Castle Drakensberg Slack Packing Trail” is perfect for an easy to moderate hiking experience. It includes some of the most scenic and biodiverse parts of KwaZulu Natal with dramatic views of the Drakensberg and Giants Castle. This hiking trail provides access to the Lowlands Conservancy and Zulu Waters Game Reserve. Special places where hikers simply have not had access to till now.
This is a 3-day hike that includes 3 nights of accommodation in 3 very different lodges each offering a 3 course dinner, hearty breakfast and a picnic lunch to enjoy under a shady tree along your way. The daily hikes are gentle in distance and gradient making this hike a perfect beginner’s hike for families and for those less experienced and fit. You are in good hands with your own personal hiking guide. The lodges offer locally grown, home cooked meals as a bonus. In the summer, there are rivers and dams to swim in and plenty of picturesque picnic spots on route.
Experience the awesome thrill and peaceful serenity of hot air ballooning on the edge of the Drakensberg mountains. Giants Castle, the Champagne Valley, the Kamberg Vallay. The hot air balloon take-off is from a site in or around the Kamberg Valley and within sight of Giants Castle. You will meet at the hot air balloon launch site approximately 30 minutes before sunrise, your pilot will then give you a safety briefing. Once the hot air balloon is heated and you are in the balloons basket you will enjoy a flight of around an hour. After helping to pack the hot air balloon you will return to a location close to take off point for an Alfresco breakfast and Champagne.
Mlendeni Sitole will tell you his stories of the night skies. He has built a star gazing hammock camp for you to relax and observe the heavens and listen to the night sounds. He makes you feel like you have never seen the night sky before when you go stargazing at Antbear Lodge. The Milky Way arcs over you like a giant swathe of smoke – reminiscent of the African tale of its origins where a strong-willed girl who became so angry when her mother would not give her any of a delicious roasted root that she grabbed the roasting roots from the fire and threw the roots and ashes into the sky, where the red and white roots now glow as red and white stars, and the ashes are the Milky Way
The Drakensberg is home to the endangered bearded vulture as well as the cape vulture. The Giants Castle region of the Drakensberg offers a very special attraction of its the birdlife. Although you could be fortunate to see antelopes such as jackal, eland, bushbuck, oribi, mountain reedbuck and grey rhebuck; baboons and dassies too. But some of the special attractions of region though, are the rare bearded and Cape vultures.
The Giants Castle Vulture Hide is very popular and is best booked in advance. This secluded hide, built high on a ridge with a spectacuylar view looking out onto the Drakensberg gives you the feeling of being all alone. Through conservation agreement between Leopards Lair and the local farmers in the Lowlands area these vultures are fed from the animals that die in the area. This means that there are often vultures that are viewable and this is a spectacular opportunity to photograph them.
Book your spot at the Giants Castle Vulture Hide here
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Zulu Waters provides horse riding inside the private game reserve. You will see incredible scenery. Their rangers will take you through the reserve on a 3 hour ride where you will get up close and personal with our precious game including rhinos, buffalo, zebras, warthogs, ostriches and many more
Berg Adventures conducts overnight hiking trips exclusively in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site, or as it known to us locals as the “Berg”.
The Berg consists of the High Berg and the Lower Berg, each with its own beauty, ruggedness, challenges and spectacular views. Hiking in the Berg, is very different to many other hiking venues as here YOU are very alone, you may not even see another person for days.
It is all about solitude and wide open spaces, where you can free yourself from the rush of everyday life, and take time to reflect and ponder about what life is really about. Take the time to explore and find rest for your soul.
The Drakensberg Range has between 35,000 and 40,000 works of Bushman rock art. These rock art sites constitute the largest collection of such rock art in the world. There are some 20,000 individual rock paintings that have been recorded at 500 different caves and over-hanging cliff sites between the Drakensberg Royal Natal National Park and Bushman’s Nek. Due to the materials used in their production, these paintings are difficult to date but there is now anthropological evidence, including many hunting implements, that suggest the San people existed in the Drakensberg at least 40,000 years ago, and possibly even as much as 100,000.
The most easily accessible rock art site with some of the best preserved examples of bushman rock art is at Game Pass Shelter in the Central Drakensberg at Kamberg. Giants castle offers main caves which is just a short walk and there is a guide at the rock art site with tours every hour on the hour.
Request some booking assistance with Game Pass Shelter in The Kamberg
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