Drakensberg Grand Traverse

The Backbone of South Africa

The Drakensberg — “Dragon Mountains” in Afrikaans — forms the eastern escarpment of the southern African plateau and extends for over 1,000 km from the Western Cape into Limpopo. The Grand Traverse follows this spine from south to north, threading between the Cape Fold Mountains and the basalt escarpment that the Zulu call uKhahlamba, the Barrier of Spears.

The route begins in earnest at Swartberg Pass, 27 km of handbuilt gravel road climbing 1,536 m above sea level through a series of hairpin bends so tightly packed they appear impossible from below. Thomas Bain completed the pass in 1888 using only black powder, hand tools, and prison labour — the result is a road that has been described by engineering historians as the finest mountain pass in South Africa, and by riders as one of the great roads on earth. The view from the summit over the Little Karoo and the Swartberg Range simultaneously is worth the whole trip by itself.

Meiringspoort follows — a narrow kloof carved by the Meiring River through the Swartberg mountains, the road crossing the river 25 times in 25 km. It is one of those drives that feels impossible until you’re in it, and remarkable throughout. The Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area comes next: a 200-km UNESCO World Heritage corridor of fynbos and thicket that can only be transited by 4×4 vehicles, and only with advance permits. The time spent is entirely justified.

The northern Drakensberg arrives in KwaZulu-Natal with maximum drama. The Amphitheatre — a 5 km basalt cliff wall rising 1,200 m from the valley floor — forms the headwall of the Royal Natal National Park and contains the top of the Tugela River, which falls 947 m in five separate cascades to become the second-highest waterfall in the world. Cathedral Peak and the Champagne Valley complete a final section of riding that deserves to be done slowly, stopping often.