In Love With The Dragon

The allure of the Drakensberg is timeless. It calls hikers, photographers and explorers – whether it’s a child discovering a rock pool or a climber scaling a new peak. It’s for everyone: families, couples, loners… In this article, our readers share their passion for South Africa’s favourite mountain range.

- Toast Coetzer

Dan Eden

Johannesburg, Gauteng

GREAT GEAR

Ilovemy75-litre Naturehike backpack and my thermal sleeping bag liner from First Ascent.

Photography-wise, my new Peak DesignCaptureisa camera clip that straps to the front of my backpack shoulder strap, so I have instant access to my camera, a Canon EOSM50.

When I was a baby – I wasn’t even a year old yet! – my parents Rita and Tom took me on a hike in the Drakensberg, staying over at Bannerman Hut in Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve. There’s also a suspicious photo of a snowed-in tent that predates my birth by roughly nine months…

My parents nicknamed me the Berg Rat, and the Berg has always felt like home to me. I go hiking there two or three times a year.

In March 2015, we hiked up Cathedral Peak – it was the first time I’d been to the top. The hike is about 20km long (10km up and 10km down), with more than 1500m elevation gain. We did this as a day hike – the pic was taken about halfway up to Orange Peel Gap. We camped at Didima Campsite, which unfortunately has been closed for a few years.