Hikers Paradise
THE Drakenberg (Dragon Mountain) are South Africa's mountain paradise, with spectacular formations, mystical names, crystal clear streams and an enchanting allure.
This rugged landscape, with its towering peaks and crisp air, is a place to renew the spirit, to take long walks or ride horseback through streams and up hill and down dale. It is also home to a number of fine establishments and hostelries, run with a quiet charm and efficiency.
Throughout the Drakenberg, there are fine examples of San rock art paintings hidden in caves and overhangs of towering peaks and buttresses. Through the crags and ravines of this great mountain range, came also some of the first settlers to South Africa, with their oxen, wagons and worldly goods, in search of the fertile lands sweeping down to the Indian Ocean.
Among the most beautiful of those sought-after pastures lies the aptly-named Valley of a Thousand Hills, a majestic phenomenon of nature which could not have a more descriptive name. Here, as the morning mists rise, it requires quite an effort to take in the sweeping, three-dimensional panorama.
