Preparing for a 250 km hike in South Africa (The Drakensberg Grand Traverse)

Hi, I’m Stitches, or you may know me as Jess or Jessica. Last year, I hiked the Continental Divide Trail and the Great Divide Trail combined. The year before, I hiked the Colorado Trail and then the year before, I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail.

And this year, I’m going to hike the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and I’ll be doing it with Trek on YouTube.

It is one of the most difficult hikes in the world. It is in the Maloti-Drakensberg Range, on the border of South Africa and Lesotho. I hadn’t even heard of this hike until a couple of months ago. Someone invited me on Instagram and I said yes, so off we go.

About the Great Drakensberg Traverse

Route overview

Some quick facts about Drakensberg Grand Traverse.

It’s not a trail. It is a route that connects six main peaks of that mountain range, and those are:

• Mont-aux-Fuentes
• cleft beak
• champagne spout
• Mafadi which is the highest peak in South Africa and the locals call it that. I don’t knowwhich means «it makes me slip»
• giant’s castle
• Thabana Ntlenyana, which means “beautiful little mountain”, and is the highest peak in Lesotho.

There are more than 10,000 meters of positive elevation gain, which is about 33,000 feet. You are above 3,000 meters all the time, which is about 10,000 feet. It’s something like 150 miles at the high end, or about 250 kilometers. It’s not really an exact number because it’s not a trace.

Terrain and landscape

It’s all on an escarpment, which is essentially like a giant cliff, and it just goes down. We’ll be in these big, epic, lush, green open spaces, and there will be a lot of caves.

The caves are because it is basalt rock, so volcanic lava flows cover softer sedimentary rocks. The softer sedimentary rock was more affected by wind and water erosion from the freeze-thaw cycles, so we will have a lot of caves in that area. I haven’t done much hiking or slept in caves, so it will be exciting.

That range was created when Pangea, the supercontinent, split into Gondwana (which is South America, Africa, Australia, India and Antarctica) and Laurasia, which is the northern part of the supercontinent.

Difficulty and conditions

It is known as one of the most difficult hikes in the world for:

• Difficult technical terrain
• Navigation challenges
• Remoteness
• Rapidly changing and often violent climate

We will be there during the end of the summer season, so there will be lightning, thunderstorms, all of the above, lots of rain. So yeah, we’ll see. It should be a real adventure. I don’t know, I’m nervous.

About Lesotho

Geography and basic facts

A little history about Lesotho. It is one of the only countries in the world that has no access to the sea within another country, meaning that it is surrounded on all sides by South Africa. It is approximately 12,000 square miles, which is a little smaller than Belgium and a little larger than Maryland. The population is 2.2 million, about the same as Houston, Texas.

History

It does not have access to the sea because it was originally populated by the San people, who later consolidated to form the Basotho people. It was united and consolidated under King Moshoeshoe I. Dutch settlers in South Africa tried to take Basotho lands, but were able to hold out because of the mountainous region we are walking in, and also because there wasn’t really much to mine. The main natural resource was water, which was not as valuable then, but may become more so as climate change takes its course.

They lost a lot of land in those wars, so they sought protection from the British under Queen Victoria and became a protectorate of the British Empire in 1860.

Economy and challenges

They resisted incorporation into South Africa, partly because of apartheid, and became independent from Britain in 1966, when they became Lesotho. However, it remains economically highly dependent on South Africa. In fact, its currency is pegged to the South African rand.

The primary industries in Lesotho are agriculture, livestock, manufacturing and labor in South Africa, such as migrant labor. One of the main obstacles in Lesotho has been the impact of US tariffs, particularly on the textile manufacturing industry.

Another major problem has been the reduction of US aid, which was primarily intended to fund the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS. Lesotho has one of the highest HIV and AIDS prevalence rates in the world, it disproportionately affects women and there is a lot to analyze there. There is social stigma, sexual education, labor migration, gender violence and inequality, lack of access to healthcare due to geography and terrain. All of this contributes to the very high prevalence of HIV and AIDS.

Lesotho faces high food insecurity and more than half of its population lives below the international poverty line of two dollars and 15 cents a day, which is equivalent to about $780 a year.

That’s like a quarter of the value of what I have on my back right now, so I think it’s important to recognize that disparity.

Privilege and perspective

I say all that because I want to recognize the privilege that I have to be able to just decide to come and walk there, because it’s important to recognize that I’m creating in that context and honor that context.

And I don’t think that privilege is about feeling bad all the time, but I think it’s important to recognize that I can come here and enjoy the benefits without necessarily having to deal with the socioeconomic and political challenges of being from that place.

So I’m 100 percent sure I’m going to make mistakes when talking about the country. I’m socialized as a product of our society, so I’m sure there will be all that in what I say and do, but I’ll do the best I can and I’m open to being educated.

I don’t think that not knowing is an excuse for not learning.

That’s why we are also going to hire a guide, a local guide, who will act as our translator.

There will be many Basotho herdsmen in the area we are hiking. It will be nice to have someone there so we can talk to the locals and be part of the culture instead of just exploiting their landscapes.

Our guide’s name is Kaifus Dilizamagugu Mtabela.

What excites me

That being said, I am very excited to do this hike. It’s going to be beautiful. The landscape looks absolutely stunning. Just views for miles of these high cliffs and plateaus.

I downloaded the bird pack on Merlin for South Africa, so I’m looking forward to seeing what new birds I’ll hear out there. And I also really want to be in a new region. I haven’t done many hikes in this territory and I hope to do so with the creators.

It’s the first time I’ve done a hike with other people who also make videos and I think it will be like having colleagues, which will be very nice. It’s very exciting to see four different perspectives from the same hike.

Gear strategy

I’m doing a little different setup with my team.

rain gear

I’m carrying a lot more clothes than I normally wear, mainly because I think it’s going to rain a lot and I just want to keep a layer that’s constantly dry just to keep me warm. I don’t think anything I have is going to stay dry if it really pours torrential rain. And the strategy will be to keep moving, stay warm during the activity and keep a layer that is dry inside my pack and preserve the waterproofing of the most important things like my duvet and my dry sleeping layers.

Shelter

I also stick with my tarp and don’t use a tent. I can renege on that decision. I don’t know. So let’s push the limits of the canvas and see if it works. I might be wrong… It’s only nine days, so I think I’ll be fine. If I have to feel really uncomfortable one night, that’s okay.

Food

And then the other thing I’m doing differently is I have a lot of food left over from when I raised the CDT and the GDT. So I take all those snacks with me. I have 10 days of snacks with 4,000 calories each. So who knows? I might get tired of it. I don’t know. We’ll see.

You may need to make more changes before you start down this path. We’ll figure it out, but yeah, I’m really excited and I’ll see you in the next one.

The above is a transcript. Minor edits have been made for clarity and readability, while preserving the original message and intent. This video is part of a new series about Youtube of the trip. Be sure to check the full video and subscribe to our YouTube channel.