Is it moss?

I wanted to get a couple of photos of moss during our stay in the Drakensberg and zoomed in on these two pieces untill the one on the right moved...

Yes, it moved.  It was walking along like a worm by moving (pulling in) its back and then pushing away with its front.  If that makes sense. Very unusual indeed.  I haven't been able to find it on the internet yet, so if anybody has info I will update the post with it.

Royal Natal National Park

We spent 10 days of our two week summer holiday in the Drakensberg camping in the stunningly beautiful Royal Natal National Park.  The 8000 hectare park was established in 1916 and received its name after the Royal family visited it in 1947.  Unlike the name suggests the park isn't a National Park run by SANParks, but a provincial park managed by the KwaZulu Natal Parks Board.  The majority of the Drakensberg mountains photos that I have posted and will be posting was taken inside the park.

The main feature and attraction of the Royal Natal is the awe inspiring Amphitheatre.  The 5 kilometer wide 1220 meter high rock wall towers above the rest of the park and on a clear day is a stunning site from both inside the park as well as from the surrounding areas.  Mont-aux-Sources (3282 meters above sea level) is the highest point on top of the Amphitheatre and was named such as the area is the source of both the Orange River running west and the Thukela (Tugela) River running east. 

The main activity in the park is hiking with a number of excellent short and medium trails criss crossing the park taking in the mountains, rolling hills, streams and waterfalls.  The most popular walk is the trail up the Tugela Gorge.  The trail leads you up the river and into the gorge right up to the Amphitheatre where the Tugela Falls, the second highest waterfall in the world cascading down five free-leaping falls for a total of 948 meters.

During our stay we camped at the stunning Mahai Campsite with its beautiful mountain views.  The best part of staying at Mahai is that you don't have to get into your car to reach the start of most of the hiking trails as they start right outside the campsite's gate.  All the trails and sites of the area as well as a separate post on Mahai will still be covered in future posts.

The Tooth Mouse

Drama Princess lost one of her front teeth yesterday morning and put it out in a slipper last night along with a piece of cheese for the Tooth Mouse.  Now that's where a father with a photo blog and curious followers come in.  I set up the camera with a motion censor *wink* and when I got to it this morning *wink wink* there was a picture of the tooth mouse caught at the moment just after dropping off the money and ready to have a bite of cheese.  HA! I hope this will serve as proof for all those folk who think its parents that take the teeth in the depth of night. The Tooth Mouse revealed!

UPDATE: There seems to be a bit of confusion that I probably need to clarify.  Although English speaking people normally refer to the Tooth Fairy, Afrikaans folk refer to a Tooth Mouse.  On this occasion I snapped the Tooth Mouse, but who knows, with the next tooth it may be the Tooth Fairy coming for a visit.

Mountain Proteas

Whenever we went for a walk on one of the trails around the campsite and started climbing up the mountain side across the rolling hillsides, we would pass through a protea belt.  I was always under the impression that proteas, being a plant in the Fynbos (Cape Floral Kingdom) biome, only occurred in the Western and Eastern Cape, but quite clearly there is a protea specie that thrives at high altitude in the Drakensberg.  I'm not too sure what the specific specie is as most of the flowers have dried already, but I can imagine that the mountain would be even more beautiful when they are in full bloom.

UPDATE: As said in the comments below, this protea is a Sugerbush.

uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park

We spent our two week annual summer holiday in the magnificent Northern Drakensberg and although we had buckets... no truckloads of rain during our stay, it was a stunning holiday in an awe inspiring environment.  By the time I get to post all the pictures I have taken (well, those worth posting at least), I would probably have run out of adjectives to use to describe how awesome the place is.

The Drakensberg is South Africa's biggest mountain range and is mostly situated in the province of KwaZulu Natal bordering the provinces of the Eastern Cape and Free State as well as Lesotho.  The mountain is divided into three main areas.  The Southern Berg, the Central Berg and the Northern Berg, which is the area we visited.  The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park which covers these areas has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site which spans 150km over 243 000 hectares at an average altitude of 3000 meters.  

The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park was selected as an UNESCO site for two reasons.  Firstly for the fact that the Drakensberg has the biggest concentration of rock paintings in Africa south of the Sahara which was left behind by the San people and shows off their way of life and believes.  The second reason is the exceptional beauty of the area with its soaring buttresses, dramatic cutbacks, high altitude rolling grasslands, rocky gorges and steep river valleys.  The Berg is also home to many threatened endemic species of birds and plants.

I have to be honest and say that I would have selected the park a World Heritage Site for exactly the same reasons if it was my call to make.  The area's beauty is breathtaking, the mountains are magnificent and there is nothing like the sound of a river or stream running through the mountains.  Most areas in the park can be accessed by hiking trails, some short half day trails while others are longer overnight ones.

As I said at the start of the post, we had a fair amount of rain to say the least.  This didn't just mean that all the rivers were just about coming down in flood, but also that the waterfalls of the Drakensberg showed off its full glory.  At the end of our stay we could actually see waterfalls on the mountainside which wasn't there when we got there.  All in all our stay was a memorable one.  Have I mentioned that the area is awesome?

Rain drop beads

I found these rain drop beads clinging to this particular plant on a morning walk up the Tugela Gorge after lots of rain the previous night.  It was quite amazing how it clung to the plant in perfect beads even though it had fallen off most of the other plants by now.

Mountain holiday

Last night we got back from a two week holiday in the magnificent Drakensberg.  Two weeks during which we got thoroughly wet but also saw some of the most beautiful and stunning scenery the Berg has to offer.  I still need to work through all the pics I took on the trip, but I promise you that there are lots to show.  Stay tuned...