The Drakensberg accommodation and experiences website. A site that aims at offering a personalised and professional booking service for Drakensberg accommodation and experiences or activities. But this is predominantly for the KwaZulu-Natal Central and Northern Drakensberg and surrounding areas of South Africa.
SO COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING FORM NOW OR READ ON FURTHER TO BE CONVINCED ABOUT DRAKENSBERG ACCOMMODATION AND EXPERIENCES
Accommodation and experiences booking service
Excellent Drakensberg accommodation and experiences abound in the region and the surrounding area. Moreover, these range from hotels, self-catering establishments, and guest houses, to camping and caravanning accommodation. Furthermore, bed and breakfast venues, lodges, farm stays, and country lodges are also available. Also, it offers many tourism services and experiences as well.
But, potential tourists and service providers often don’t have a clear understanding of the wide range and variety of products of this area. Thus, the need for a Drakensberg accommodation and experiences website. Moreover, there was also a need for a personalised and professional booking and consulting service. This service is Cathkin Booking and Management Services. It is a member of the Southern African Travel Services Association. Also, the Drakensberg Experience.
Drakensberg Conferences and Incentives
The Drakensberg is a critical conferencing centre in South Africa. The Cathkin Valley is Conference Valley. One particular facility in this area has two plenary venues that can accommodate up to 1,000 delegates! It has a renowned ability to manage substantial conferences. For example, the Central and Northern Drakensberg not only have excellent conference venues but well over 2,000 beds also, to accommodate conference delegates.
A wide variety of incentive options are available in the Drakensberg. Because there are some excellent boutique hotels and significant lodges. Couple them with the Drakensberg experiences and activities below and distinctive incentive programmes will be the result.
DRAKENSBERG EXPERIENCES/ ACTIVITIES
Adventure Tourism
The Drakensberg is a centre for adventure activities or experiences. For example, it has the largest concentration of hiking trails in South Africa. Furthermore, hot air ballooning, white river rafting, horse riding, trail running, abseiling, zip-lining, e-biking and mountaineering are some other adventure experiences.
Culture
Additionally, the Drakensberg is an important cultural centre. Firstly, it is the home of the Drakensberg Boys Choir School.
Furthermore, It has a range of curio shop centres, such as Thokosiza. There is even a craft brewery, Drakensberg Brewery. Also, Cathedral Peak Wine Estate, a renowned wine estate. Besides these, there Life Style Centre – Berg Air with a chocolate factory known as Chocolate Memories and the Cheese Shop. Also, The Farmers Friend Farmstall and an excellent Bistro. Moreover, there are a variety of exceptional craft centres, which provide traditional Zulu baskets, beadwork and even woven carpets. In addition, there is a dedicated farmers market – The Farmers Lawn Market.
The ancient San or Bushman people celebrated in the area, with artworks replicating their cave paintings and a unique display of their lives in the easily accessible Main Caves at Giant’s Castle.
Wildlife
A significant portion of the Drakensberg is a World Heritage Site. The site encompasses an area of 250,000 hectares. This area received World Heritage Site status on two counts. Firstly, due to its unique vegetation and wildlife. There are some 1,800 plant species in the Drakensberg. Of these over 350 are endemic. Furthermore, ten vertebrate species are unique to this mountain range.
You can see a range of birds seen in the Drakensberg. Firstly the Rock Kestral, the Cape Eagle, the Black Eagle, Bearded Vulture, and the Jackal Buzzard. Additionally, observe several buck species in this particular area. Firstly the Common Duiker, the Klipspringer, the Eland, the Bushbuck, the Rhebuck, the Mountain Rhebuck and the tiny Oribi. Other wildlife commonly seen include the Rock Hyrax or Dassie, the Chacma Baboon. Extremely rare is the leopard.
Fortunately, only three dangerous species of snake are found in this area. These are the Rinkhals, the Berg Adder and the Puff Adder. Their bites are rarely fatal. But medical attention should be sought if bitten by one of these reptiles.
The extensive flora of the Drakensberg.
Some common plants that tourists will come across in this area include proteas, the Tree Fern, cycads and Yellowwood Trees. Furthermore, Red Grass, Ericas and Red Hot Pokers. The lower Drakensberg forms part of South Africa’s significant grasslands.
San Rock Art
The second basis of the World Heritage Site status of the Drakensberg was the existence of more than 30,000 examples of San rock art. The Drakensberg has the world’s most extensive collection of rock art. The ‘outdoor art galleries can be found in many caves, shelters, and sandstone bands along the length of the mountain chain. Many in protected sites, accessible only with a qualified guide.
The Drakensberg is one of some twenty World Heritage sites that have received this award on two counts!
It was almost declared a World Heritage site on a third count as it is one of the world’s best examples of an erosional mountain. Moreover, the Drakensberg is an escarpment. It borders the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho and three South African provinces namely, parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga. It stretches for some one thousand kilometres. KwaZulu-Natal encapsulates the most extensive section of more than 300 km.
BATTLEFIELDS ROUTE
The Drakensberg is close to some of the most significant battle sites and towns in South Africa. These include Zulu, Zulu-San, Boer-Zulu, Anglo-Zulu, Anglo-San and Anglo-Boer war sites. One cannot visit the Drakensberg and not visit some of the sites and museums in this area dedicated to the futility of war.
One of the essential SOURCES of Water for South Africa
The Drakensberg is one of the most important sources of water for South Africa. Moreover, it has one of the most sophisticated water pumping facilities that pump water into the Sterkfontein Dam. This dam provides a large proportion of the Gauteng province’s water. Gauteng is the economic and industrial hub of this country.
Furthermore, this dam has the second-highest dam wall in South Africa.
Moreover, it is the tallest earth-filled dam. The view of this dam is magnificent. It is over three kilometres long and stores some 19,800,000 m3 of water! Most of KwaZulu-Natal’s rivers also originate in the Drakensberg.
The highest waterfall in the world is found in these mountains. They are known as the Thukela (thunder) Falls. These falls drops close to one kilometre. The adventurous can climb the chain ladder near Witsieshoek to experience this marvel!
One of the world’s most important examples of an erosional mountain
A volcanic plume under southern Gondwanaland caused the bulging of the continental crust in the area that would later become southern Africa some 180 million years ago; Rift valleys formed on either side of the central bulge approximately 20 million years ago. These became flooded to become the proto-Atlantic and proto-Indian oceans. The stepped and steep walls of these rift valleys formed escarpments. These surrounded the newly formed Southern African subcontinent. Southern Africa then became tectonically quiet. Earthquakes seldom occur.
A PERIOD OF EROSION
Moreover, there has been no volcanic activity for approximately 50 million years. However, an uninterrupted period of erosion has continued to the present day. The eroded material was kilometres of marine sediment.
Moreover, massive upliftment, during the past 20 million years, especially in the East, took place in Southern Africa. As a result, most of the plateau extends above 1,000 metres. The plateau is tilted, leading to its highest point is in the east. The slope is gentle in the west and south. The elevation of the eastern escarpments is at least 2,000 metres. Furthermore, this tilt reaches its highest point of over 3,000 metres. This area is the border between Lesotho and the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Additionally, the upliftment of the central plateau over the past 20 million years and erosion resulted in the original escarpment retracting inland. This erosion created the current coastal plain. The position of the present range is approximately 150 kilometres inland from the Godwana split. The Drakensberg range is still eroding back at an average of 1.5 metres per 1,000 years or 1.5 millimetres per year. See the ‘Drakensberg’s Geology’.
So go ahead and please complete the following form regarding your specific Drakensberg needs.
Also visit the Cathkin Booking and Management Services section on this website, which provides information on this agency. Alternatively, visit our other Drakensberg site at drakensberg.website or e-mail James at james@cathkinmanagement.com.
Useful links:
Firstly, Accommodation … read more;
Drakensberg Dream Cottage
Secondly, Activities and experiences …read more
Hiking in the Drakensberg (Source: South African Tourism)
Secondly, Bed and breakfast establishments….read more;
Thirdly, Camping and Caravaning…read more;
Camping under the Drakensberg night sky (Source: South African: Tourism)
Fourthly, Conferencing…. understand more;
The Drakensberg Sun’s main conference venue. (Source: Tsogo Sun)
Fifthly, Country houses and farm stays … read more;
Sixthly, Events…read more;
Seventhly, Guesthouses…read more;
Hotels and resorts…read more;
The Drakensberg Sun Resort (Source: James Seymour)
Ninthly, Lodges…read more; and
Lastly, Self-catering…read more
