Stocked up on supplies for our trip to the Drakenburg mountain area as we would be staying in places a long way from shops. We drove up Olivierpass and at the top were several people selling souvenirs. They had bottles filled with coloured sand and pretty patterns. We had seen these before in Jordan, but there they displayed camels and complicated desert scenes in the bottles. We cannot buy and carry such things so left this young boy oranges instead. 
We bumped into several people on the trail and they all had guides and we were the only ones without one as Vera Anne had told us we wouldn't need one. She knew of accommodation places that told their guests they had to have them and then organised their tour desks to find guides for the guests. There were a couple of Dutch guys and an English couple on honeymoon so we sat by the waterfalls and watched a couple of gliders flying above us in the thermals over the falls. The only birds we saw were a couple of crows who swooped on an apple core that someone had abandoned near us.
The pastureland we drove through was pretty dry and only the irrigated farms provided a bright green contrast.
We booked into a backpacker place in Kestel run by Vera Ann before we left Pietermaritzburg. Along the way Vera Ann rang us to tell us that we would be sharing the place with about 18 young Americans and hoped we wouldn't mind. We thought that was very caring of her and of course we didn't mind.
Vera Ann is like many other other South African parents who have children overseas. Some of her children are in Germany and the UK. She tries hard to get to see the grandchildren whenever she can save enough money.
She moved from Johannesburg to Kestel which is a tiny village with an enormous brick church featuring a huge steeple in the centre. She doesn't fit in with the community because she is not religious and lives a lifestyle that they think is too alternative for the conservative residents. She has ducks and chickens wandering in the yard along with a couple of cats and dogs. She had been busy putting a load of manure on to her vegetable garden so she could be self sufficient. The almonds trees were in blossom but they didn't produce much else as the frost affected them. Vera Ann makes all kinds of jams and sells them to restaurants, stores, and to backpackers who pass through. At this time of the year she cannot keep up with the orders as there is not much growing in her garden and she tries to produce organically grown jams.
With a group of local women Vera Ann has started a smocking business. She has taught the women how to smock and they make girls' dresses which they sell under the fair trade campaign. The fabric used in the dresses is cotton and features traditional African patterns that the women wear everyday and would look great on kids any where in the world.
We learnt a lot about life for Vera Ann in South Africa. She worked as a secretary when she left school and some of her earnings went in to a retirement fund. With the change of government she can no longer get any money from the fund so she has to find ways to earn an an income and save for her old age by herself.
There was a lot of roadworks going on in the streets around the backpackers and Vera Ann told us that the local parliamentarian owned a brick factory so he was paving all the streets. She saw this as a waste of money as she was not on a main thoroughfare and there were dirt streets near the town centre that needed attention before her one.
We passed a lot of farm land as we headed for the northern end of the Drakenburgs. Some places were irrigated by giant irrigators and the fresh green grass was a huge contrast to the old dry yellow clumps on most of the farms. It was pretty hazy and smoky as the farmers burnt all the dry pasture and all the sides of the roads were charred tufts.
The youngsters at Vera Ann's were in two vans and had stayed with Vera Ann last year. They are on their summer holidays and are part of a group that come to Africa to do some voluntary work. The youngsters came from different socio - economic backgrounds and had to do a lot of planning themselves. They stayed at the backpackers after spending time in Lesotho helping to construct a road for the locals. When they came in it was dark and Vera Ann was worried about them being so late. When they left Lesotho the border guard discovered that the registration on their vans had expired and told them they had to pay a fine of 600 rand or they would all go to jail. They had to call their embassy to get advice and were told to pay it. The border guards on the South African side were not bothered by the registration papers even though it was a South African vehicle. The group leaders were very upset at the way they were treated after having helped out the local villagers. They also discovered when they had a flat tyre that the van's spare was flat as well. They were going to take that up with the rental agency too. All in all they had a rewarding time and enjoyed the experience of manual labour and helping the locals improve their roading.
It was pretty cold at night and each bed in the backpackers had a hot water bottle so it was a cosy night's sleep. As Vera Anne's was not too far from the Royal Natal Nature Reserve we did a day trip there and headed out early.
We parked in the Sentinel car park at 2400m above sea level. This was another place that we could use our national park 'wild card' and not have to pay an entrance fee. We hiked to the chain ladders
and then walked onto the Tugel Waterfalls. The walk was graded as challenging.
There was quite a bit of smoke and not such a clear view because they were burning the grass. At one point we had to walk through the flames as they burnt the grass on each side of the trail and it was too boggy to go off the path.
We bumped into several people on the trail and they all had guides and we were the only ones without one as Vera Anne had told us we wouldn't need one. She knew of accommodation places that told their guests they had to have them and then organised their tour desks to find guides for the guests. There were a couple of Dutch guys and an English couple on honeymoon so we sat by the waterfalls and watched a couple of gliders flying above us in the thermals over the falls. The only birds we saw were a couple of crows who swooped on an apple core that someone had abandoned near us.
We passed below the summit at 3165m asl. The river leading to the falls had a layer of frozen ice on top of it and there were lots of patches of snow in the grass and a huge pile at the bottom of the falls that would have made a thunderous noise as it fell from above.
We returned via the gully and expected it to have a bit of vegetation but it was stony and there was no sign of ice. Some of the rocks had a turquoise blue fleck in it. It took us 6 hours to do the hike and we spent a bit of time yakking to the other hikers as well. It's a pretty spectacular place.
Back at Vera Anne's we were able to wash and dry our laundry in front of her wood stove as our socks and pants' legs were black with ash from the grass. The Americans had left so we had the place to ourselves.
