The Basalt Fortress

More images and info on my blog - www.hougaardmalan.com/blog

Me and my hiking partner left the sentinel car park in mellow temperatures and partial rain ready for a 2 night stay atop the mountains. As we gained altitude it wasn't long until vision was limited to a few meters by thick mist. One thing I learnt is that rock scrambles on wet basalt isn't fun when all you can see when you look down is a 80 degree slope disappearing into the mist. We climbed the chain ladders into near freezing temperatures atop the escarpment and walked until we found the Tugela river, then followed it until we could see the lip of the falls (2nd highest in the world). We pitched our tent and as if by some divine luck, just as we hit in the last few pens to secure the top sheet the higher rain clouds started clearing. The mist was just continually swirling up against the walls of the mountain kingdom they call Lesotho.

We grabbed our camera gear and ran for the edge of the cliffs, shot for 90 minutes straight until darkness and sub zero temperatures greeted us for a summer night atop the great Drakensberg. Lesotho is a very small country within South Africa with it's Southern and Eastern border being the Drakensberg Escarpment. In this photo everything below the cliffs is South Africa and everything above is Lesotho. The wall of the Amphitheater in this photo is at about 3000m and that little peak in the middle back (Mt Amery) is at 3143m.

I got a few okay shots, but all I learned up there is that I've got many back breaking hikes if I want to feel like I've done the beauty of that place any justice

5D II
24-70 f2.8
big stopper
3 stop hard
99 seconds

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