Giants Castle
Giant's Castle mountain and grassy plateau nestled among the deep valleys of the southern end of the central Drakensber Area
We had decided to treat ourselves for the Drakendberg part of our stay in South Africa, We had booked self catering accommodation through South Africa Places which meant we had accommodation right inside the National Parks themselves. Our first night we stayed at the Giants Castle Reserve Camp, which is actually quite hard to find as most sat navs don't seem to know where the location is, so we managed used the grid reference. You also had to be there before the park gate closed otherwise you will not be allowed to get to your accommodation. We were really surprised about our accommodation, it was a fabulous 2 bedroom chalet with a mountain view which had its own kitchen area and log burner. As we had set out early and driven up from Umkomaas we arrived relatively early so after checking in to our accommodation we spent the afternoon out for a walk in the reserve.
We decided to walk up to the main caves at Giants Castle. This is a short walk that follows the river up through the valley near to the edge of woodland, and up to the large caves, which have now been turned into a museum showing off the Bushman's way of life and the and the rock art created by the San people that once inhabited this area. Its a nice easy walk and when we got to the caves we had to wait a short while as the guides only take small numbers through at a time. There was a guide that explained the history of the caves, the paintings and the san people. The paintings were worth the walk but the highlight was our guide who decided to give us a demonstration of his native language of Xhosa, the incredibly difficult language made up of clicks, we had never heard anything like it. That evening we settled into our accommodation with the wood stove blazing away!
The following morning we decided to walk the Worlds view trail, again this is one of the shorter routes at about 5 miles, but great for a morning walk. So after checking out of the accommodation we found our way out onto the route that takes you across the Bannerman bridge and up onto the higher grassy plateaus that sit below the main mountains. This walk offered us stunning views of the mountains and surrounding area as you are out in the open for most of the walk. We really enjoyed this walk as there were no other people about and the weather was fantastic, however we had to return as we had a 110 mile drive up to the Thendele Camp that afternoon for our next couple of nights accommodation.
