Today Admire picked up our bags at 6.15am , we packed our lunches and had breakfast at the other cottage before setting off from Berghouse to our next stop - Witsieshoek mountain lodge, the highest lodge in Africa at 2200 metres, to collect our mountain guide and head off to do the iconic chain ladders walk and onto the plateau of the "Amphitheatre" of the northern Drakensberg. As we travelled we passed a massive reservoir retained by the Sterkfontein dam, saw springbok and lots of birds on the predominantly, beef cattle rich, farmland. The skies seemed to be clearing but we went in and out of cloudy misty areas but remained hopeful that today we would get better views of the Drakensberg.
Once we had our mountain guide, Sampson, on board we travelled another 9 km on dirt mountain roads to the car park and our starting point. Enroute I saw a bearded vulture (or lammagier) soaring overhead - I later found out that they only have 2 pairs and 2 juveniles, of this endangered species, living in the area - so this was a lucky siting.
All ready we set off on an easy concrete path but it soon turned into a more challenging track which hugged the mountain contours and in places was very rocky with significant and sheer drops down the mountain.
We watched four grey reedbuck move effortlessly down the slope - and wished for their agility and fearlessness! The path zig zagged, gradually gaining height, around the mountains; the mist cleared as we watched to give great views of the Sentinel - a massive rock and highest point (3165m) at the western edge of the impressive Amphitheatre. (The sentinel is today's picture which was taken on our descent when there were cloudless skies.) After two and three quarter hours walking we reached the chain ladders - they were almost vertical, the one we could see was 20 metres and close to the rock face; there was another shorter 10m one behind. I am not good with heights and after watching some go decided there was no need to be macho and advance further incurring even more feet tingling experiences at 3100 metres. John, Chris and Carolyn were of the same view so we stayed at the bottom in glorious sunshine, enjoyed the magnificent views and ate our lunch while waiting for the others to return. Approximately 2 hours later we heard voices above and knew they were returning - watching the descents we could see that this was seemingly more challenging than the ascents - several suffered adrenaline accentuated wobbly legs and were really pleased when they finally got to the bottom - I know I definitely made the right choice - even though they said the views were fantastic! The walk back down to the car park only took our group of six just over an hour but there were still a few tricky parts to negotiate. The highlight was watching an orange breasted rock jumper seemingly unperturbed by us hunting for food in the grasses by the track. Back in the car park we watched mountain baboons combing the grassy slopes for food, red winged starlings flying and perching on the fence and compound installations and white necked raven similarly flying above us.
We waited for the main part of the group to return - they arrived approx 45minutes later. Everyone was ready to leave when we realised Mathew, who had set off to walk part of the way back with 3 of the group, had the bus keys in his pocket - arrangements were made for the lodge to drive and intercept him - but with that he came panting back up the road having found the keys in his pocket.
Back at the lodge we settled into our quaint rooms, our bathrooms had half sized baths with a shower over them- nonetheless I made a valiant attempt to fit into the bath and had a lovely hot bath/shower.
Tonight was the first night the guides didn't cook - so we had a chef prepared meal in warm cosy surroundings - the plus was hot vegetable soup to start with and a toffee sponge and custard for desert. My main course was rice and vegetables - so some things don't change!
After a briefing on arrangements for tomorrow, our last day, and the handout of feedback forms we headed to bed as we had opted for the optional 6 am walk to Mahai falls and needed our beauty sleep.