December saw our fourth wedding anniversary. These were four years of living in 3 countries and travelling to 14 more. These were 4 years of love beyond measure, challenges tenfold and adventure all-round. I pray that these 4 years were the foundation for a lengthy, blissful marriage (God-willingly).
We called it 4 years in Northern Drakenberg in The Kwa-Zulu Natal province. Whilst I had been to Drakenberg several times as a child, as it was a family favorite amongst my family; I had not been to Northern Drakenberg previously. Northern Drakensberg is home to the magnificent Royal Natal National Park and the source of the Tugela River, which leads to second highest waterfall in the world; the Tugela Falls.
We had decided prior to our trip that this holiday would be mostly about recovering from the move. This meant that we only did two hikes during our 3 day stay. The first being a short hike, which was more of a stroll, to the cascades at the Royal National Park, and the second was a longer hike to the Tugela Falls. We were completely comfortable relaxing at the resort for the rest of the time, because the view on offer from our window was sensational.
At the cascades, we played in the water and ate some Snickers bars. Hey, any activity is more enjoyable with chocolate.
The hike to the Tugela Falls took us approximately 5 hours. It would have taken longer had we climbed the chain ladder in order to get a full view of the waterfall, but the river was fairly swollen and in order to access the ladder, we would have needed to cross it. We were not equipped to do so. Because I am so clumsy, A said that perhaps it was a good thing that we had turned back. Besides, a 5 hour hike is exercise enough for me. . I did manage to slip, and resultantly dip my entire foot into a rivulet on the way back, which meant getting used to one soggy, heavy takkie (South African English for sneaker) and one dry and light takkie. The scenery along the way was absolutely breathtaking, so we stopped frequently to sip on water and take it all in.
The protea is the national flower of South Africa and we saw many on our hike
We passed this board on the way to Drakensberg and it made me wonder how many people who are not from South Africa would be able to pronounce what’s on the green board.
Packing Bags and Plates 