Planning and preparing for the Drakensberg Grand Traverse

How do you plan and prepare for “one of the most difficult hikes in the world”, the Drakensberg Grand Traverse? Omakase is the art of letting go and having an open mind. And planning and preparation seems to be … well … the exact opposite. But it is pretty hard to hike multiple days in the mountains without a clearly marked trail, without resupply stations, … without preparation. Preparation and planning often free up time and opportunity to travel with an open mind. And frankly, it is one of the significant parts of the fun; exploring the option, reading up on the region and its inhabitants … anticipation is a big part of the fun in hiking. So, this is my planning and preparation for the Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

Before we start: the Drakensberg Grand Traverse

If you’ve ever been to South Africa, you know the Drakensberg. Or at least, you’ve seen it. The Drakensberg escarpment stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from North to South with peaks up to 3,482 meters (Thabana Ntlenyana) and is therefore hard to miss.

The Afrikaans name Drakensberge comes from the name the earliest Dutch settlers gave to the escarpment, namely Drakensbergen, or Dragons’ Mountains. And it isn’t too difficult to imagine why – the spikey peaks resemble the back or teeth of dragons (depending on your personal preference).

The Drakensberg Grand Traverse is the trail that covers the key peaks of Drakensbergen, in the mountainous region between South Africa and Lesotho. 6 peaks, a collection of sheep- and shepherd trails … making it a route of approximately 210 kilometers. Approximately, as the “trail” is a loose collection of unmarked trails, with multiple options to get from peak to peak. That, the fact that the weather is notoriously unpredictable and fast-changing (the only constant is the fast change), and that the area is remote without options to re-supply make it -as some people say- “one of the most difficult trails in the world”.

Step 1: Settle on the idea for the Drakensberg Grand Traverse

To be honest, the Drakensberg Grand Traverse was not my first choice. And not my second. And not even my third. I had my eye set on the Israel National Trail through the Negev desert in Israel. But then the situation in the region pretty much quite literally exploded. My second option, a third attempt on the Jordan Trail, didn’t land that well when I talked it through with my family (because of the regional unrest). And my third option, Egypt’s Sinai trail, was discarded for the same reasons.

So, then I went back to the (virtual) drawing board. In Notion, where I also keep my digitised packing lists, I keep a separate list of different treks, trails, day hikes and destinations I get tipped by others. On the corresponding pages, I keep track of my ideas and planning. Some plannings are already very detailed (e.g. I have pretty much a finished plan for Torres del Paine, I have been planning some longer hikes in Namibia for a while, …), some are just blurbs or thoughts. In this list, I had been keeping some ideas on the Drakensberg Grand Traverse for a while now.

Finally, I settled on the Drakensberg Grand Traverse for several reasons:

• Remoteness. When hiking the Peaks of the Balkans trail last year, I realized again how much I hate hiking with big groups. My best hiking experiences to date (Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland and Jordan Trail in Jordan) were the ones in more remote areas. Where I would camp alone, where I would be one with nature most of the day, where I would need to rely on my own food rather than over-priced locals. Drakensberg Grand Traverse definitely ticks those boxes.
• Accessibility. It seems contradictory to my previous point, but it is relatively doable to reach the trail. Flying into Johannesburg and a 5h car ride (with the last part being a 4×4) will get you to the trailhead at Sentinel Car Park. I had been considering The Huayhuash Circuit in Peru, but with all my travels and acclimatising to the height, it was just too much. Same for Mongolia (which is still high on my list).
• Safe enough. With safety concerns for Israel, Jordan, Egypt and some countries bordering Russia, plenty of valid options weren’t possible for this year. Although the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and South Africa in general have their own concerns (more on that in a second), it felt “safe enough” to travel with the right preparations.
• Friggin’ beautiful. Just Google Drakensbergen or the Drakensberg Grand Traverse. It is just stunning, otherworldly almost. The terrain for me resembles a bit what I have seen in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. I really can’t wait to wake up with the sunrise over the mountains, camping in the caves, drinking from the streams.
• The challenge. When it comes to trails, I became a bit of a spoilt brat over the years. When hiking things like the Camino Santiago, the flat terrain and trail that makes me think of walking on a highway bores me. I need to at leat experience the possibility that I get lost, get stuck in a hail storm or something else. The Drakensberg Grand Traverse definitely offers that. And the sheer act of preparing for this, going over the trail again and again, optimising the packing list, knowing that all that effort pays off, definitely helps.

So, eventually, it made all the sense in the world.

Step 2: Validate my Drakensberg Grand Traverse plans.

I tend to read up on the trail as much as possible. I tend to follow the Instagram tags well in advance to spot other hikers and their experience and read up on other blogs and forums. In this particular case, the Vertical Endeavour website has proven to be extremely valuable. A forum with years and years of entries on the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and the different areas along the route.

Some key take-aways that were relevant for planning:

• Logistics: With limited time and the need to travel from and to Johannesburg OR Tambo airport to both trailheads, I needed to work out a way to get to the trail, pick up a gas canister somewhere, ideally leave some of my luggage at/near the airport to avoid me bringing it along the way and get back safely.
• Safety: There are some reports of confrontations and theft on the trail, especially in march/april (before the winter season when it seems interesting for thieves to gear up for winter), especially with larger groups and especially around the Giant’s castle and Sani saddle.
• Weather volatility: The weather in the Drakensberg Mountains is notoriously unpredictable. Especially towards December, it gets worse. So that meant not planning too late and making sure to consider this when packing.
• Unpredictability: On a 200+km mountain trail, pretty much anything can happen. From theft to horrible rains or storms and from injuries to illness. Knowing when/where to exit and what to do when things go wrong was/is essential (also read my post on that).

Step 3: Settle on a date for my Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

As some of you probably are aware, I am quite intentional about the planning of my year. I use my quarterlies to review how I’m doing, if I achieve the right things in the right way and how I feel -for example- about my planning of that year.

Last year I realised I didn’t like my summer set-up. I had three shirt holiday breaks, one with my kids, one with my girlfriend and one for hiking (the Peaks of the Balkans). I felt I had a really fragmented summer in which I was either on holidays, catching up after my holidays or preparing my colleagues for me going on holidays.

So, for 2024, I structured this in a way that felt better. I locked in a holiday with my girlfriend early in the year (South Africa in spring), with kids in summer (London) and that left me with the end of year period for my hike. Considering the fact work restarts after summer months in September (suboptimal) and December is full of family holidays, it left me with October and November. A last thing to consider was the weather in Drakensbergen, which can be really bad an volatile from December onwards. So eventually I settled on early November.

Step 4: Lock-in my Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

[to be add]

Step 5: Create a rough day planning for the Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

Based on the dates available, the booked flights, I started drafting and refining my day planning.
Also see the detailed planning in Notion. [to be added later]

Step 6: Create a packing list for my Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

[to be added]

Budget for my Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

I will update my final budget after the hike.