FROM BEACH TO BURG

 

Get u noticed took an exhilarating, fun filled BERG MOUNTAIN VIEW IMG_5740 trip to the Burg over the Easter Weekend.

When one lives by the sea and the air starts feeling a little….  Heavy… the answer is simple.  Head off to the mountains!  Living in Ballito, we’re incredibly lucky that we have the Bush just down  the road  – Hluluwe and Umfolozi –  and the Southern Drakensburg just up the road.  Both are a three hour drive from the North Coast.

The Gooderson Drakensburg Gardens Resort was our Mountain Air spot of choice for the Easter Weekend, and after an incident free journey (oh, apart from the GPS trying to get us to stay in chalets just outside Underburg village) we arrived to a wonderfully warm welcome, accompanied by a glass of sherry,  at the resort, which was pretty packed with other like- minded families hell bent on enjoying a good dose of Mountain Spirit.

One is spoilt for choice with what-to-do at Drak Gardens.  It is an absolute haven for sports mad, mountain climbing fanatics – and there’s a good sprinkling of both in the family!  Golf was the first activity on the list.  The course – the only 18 hall golf course in the Southern Drakensburg – is surely one of the most beautiful in the country. Needless to say, it is very hard to concentrate on chipping ones ball over a well placed pond, when surrounded by a backdrop audience of spectacular rolling hills and mountains dotted with trees dressed in autumn inspired russet and red foliage.

We also tried our luck at trout  fishing.  The trout alluded out flies,  but the boat trip round the dam was fun, and we were fascinated to watch the clouds sweeping around the mountains, turning from  white to grey to black, all within seconds it seemed. Tennis and Bowls were also on the to do list, and when we weren’t playing sport, we were in one of the resort restaurants, enjoying the excellent meals (the hearty breakfast kept us going most of the day) and planning our hiking and mountain climbing escapades.

One of our treks took us up the hill behind the resort, on a fairly rocky, but pretty steep path, that gave us spectacular views of the resort and the surrounding farm land – with the mountains in the background.  The highlight of our trip, however, was the three hour hike through the Ukhahlamba Drakensburg Park.  We headed out from the KZN Wildlife Office which is situated a few minutes from the hotel, up a winding path that closely follows the Mashai River, up to the Sleeping Beauty Cave.  The paths are well maintained and it was an absolute joy to be able to stop now and again at the crystal clear, gently meandering stream, to fill up our water bottles.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather during our walk, as it can turn from blisteringly hot – to freezing cold, windy and wet.  The weather was hot enough for a dip in the unbelievably icy cold Sleeping Beauty Cave Pool (it just had to be done),  before heading back down the track – determined that on our next visit we would conquer Rhino’s Peak – a more daunting ten hour hike – or the gentler, four hour Pillar Cave hike.  Whichever hike we decide on, one thing is for sure, those glorious mountains will still be there, no matter how long it takes us to get back!