23.09.2021 – Up in the Dragon Mountains on the Sentinel Trail (The Day of Grumpling)

It had gotten really cold outside the night before, and it was cold that morning, too, as we watched the sun slowly rise. We still had a few minutes until our shuttle was to start – enough time for the receptionists to swap the lunch packages between the second couple and us three times. No matter, the main thing was something to eat for the road, because today was not going to be easy. We had already received a small foretaste yesterday.

As correctly estimated the day before, we would never have made it to the parking lot with our vehicle. Even our experienced driver needed almost an hour for the 7km. Arrived, we had to pay another hiking fee of 100Rand per person and sign in a book, so that it was traceable, who is on the Sentinel Trail, or is already back. It was also interesting to learn that the parking lot attendant and book attendant each have a 7-day shift, which he spends completely alone up here in a wooden hut.

The path started quite easy and hardly any slope, but this should change quite quickly. Where at first the path was still straight and consisted of stone slabs, this had quickly given way to scree and steep switchbacks. So we went further up the path to the first viewpoint. There we took a break directly on the precipice to eat something from the lunch boxes and so it began, the “day of grumbling”.

For starters, the abyss was too deep and the apple juice too cold. So we looked for another spot, a little further back the way we came. Once seated there, the ham on the toast was too salty, the granola bar too hard – as was the apple peel.

Nevertheless, we went cheerfully further the more arduous path, which now led us to almost the goal constantly 20cm next to the abyss – in places far more than 500m – along. The grumbling continued loudly as we reached places where we needed … well … let’s say “light” climbing skills. Andreas pushed himself catlike across a sloping, smooth slate right at the precipice, only to find that Melanie had disappeared. She had found a little detour that was less dangerous. This was not to be the last time until the intermediate destination.

Our intermediate goal were the notorious chain ladders. A section where you climb vertically up a rock face via 2 “ladders” that are only fixed at one point. The first ladder was about 40m long, the second about 20m. After a thorough examination of the material and perhaps several attempts, we both made it – with a curse or two on our lips – to the top of a flat plateau.

Most of the way was done. We still had about 2km of flat road ahead of us to get to the Tugela waterfalls. With 948m the highest waterfalls in Africa. It was impressive to stand up here and look into the depth. Even Andreas, who usually doesn’t mind heights, had a slightly queasy feeling in his stomach when he stood at the precipice – there were no fences or other safety measures up here.

We spent about an hour up here in the high altitude sun. We should still notice this quite quickly in the evening. The descent we managed quite quickly. After 1.5h we arrived back at the parking lot, since we already knew the dangerous places. By the way, the ascent had cost us 3.5h.

But the grumbling motto of the day should not be over yet. We tried several times to contact the lodge to be picked up. After several attempts a connection succeeded, nevertheless, we waited almost 2h for the pickup. The first vehicle broke down 2km before the parking lot and so a new vehicle with a new driver had to be organized from the next village.

The ride to the lodge was very entertaining as our driver was very interested in Germany and especially the topic of “Adolf”.

Again we were far behind our schedule. Mel drove Andreas steadily while we covered another 400km by car. We took a break on the way only to organize a PCR test at the last minute, which we urgently needed for the further course of the journey.