Hiking in the Natal Drakensberg is a popular activity for outdoor South Africans. The escarpment allows one to hike on a cliff of roughly 1000m high that stretches for 240 km from Sentinel Buttress in the North to Bushman's Neck in the South. Hiking is however not recommended for inexperienced hikers as conditions can change quickly and harsh weather can occur for extended periods.
KZN (KwaZulu-Natal) Wildlife distributes 6 1:50,000 maps that can be used while hiking in the Drakensberg. The maps use the Cape datum as the geodesic reference. GPS users should be careful to use the correct datum as WGS 84 is not always the default. Some GPS waypoints for the Drakensberg are listed below:
Famous quotes containing the word hiking:
“The westerner, normally, walks to get somewhere that he cannot get in an automobile or on horseback. Hiking for its own sake, for the sheer animal pleasure of good condition and brisk exercise, is not an easy thing for him to comprehend.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)