The Amphitheatre - Royal Natal National Park
Trip Start
Unknown
1
19
90
Trip End
Ongoing
Monk's Cowl, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
This morning, the weather was reasonable (not perfect) and so we decided to head for the Amphitheatre in the Royal Natal National Park. By doing this, we will guarantee a reasonable sight of the amphitheatre. Originally we were going to do this on the way to Jo’berg tomorrow, but if the weather was bad on Wednesday......?
It was however a long drive – the best part of 250 km round trip. We got there around 10am and availed ourselves of a coffee in a polystyrene cup. That was the limit of their "refreshments". We also found out that the reason this is a Royal Park is only because our good Princess Elizabeth happened to visit it in 1947.
The visibility up to 2,000 m or so was good, but above that, it was still totally occluded. Visibility of the famous “wall” was nil. Nevertheless, we set off on a 5 hour hike up the Tugela Gorge towards the wall of the amphitheatre.
It was tough going, but it got better and better. Towards the top of the hike, we had to enter and walk up the actual river bed. The walls of the gorge were amazing – totally smooth. This part was not something I would do if there was any chance of rain – a flash flood would spell disaster..
Eventually, we came to the famous “tunnel” section, where the water channel is practically just that. Unfortunately, due to a pool in the tunnel, it had become impassable (without wading at least), and the path therefore went up the gorge walls by a chain ladder. Linda led the way, with Roland coming up the rear. Then we had to climb up a small ravine, using tree roots and metal pitons to assist - having waited a good 15 mins for half a dozen people to climb down. At the top of this, we decided enough was enough, had lunch with a delightful view, and came back down. Whatever lay ahead was too much like hard work. We believe there was a waterfall there, but there was hardly any water in the river.
As we walked back, the clouds were beginning to fully lift off the shear wall of the amphitheatre. Wow, it just kept getting better and better as we walked down. We started out on a cool cloudy day and now it was a clear blue sky. The amphitheatre is so, so photogenic – we took an enormous number of photos.
A good day for flora, especially the trees with huge red/orange flowers (later researched as the Greyia Sutherlandii or Natal Bottlebrush) and the “blue, spiky things” (later researched as Scilla Natalensis). No fauna whatsoever.
On the drive back, we stopped at the Thokozisa Cafe for tea, carrot cake and an excellent wi-fi connection – our first for a few days. Lovely place – a fantastic view of the Draks in front of a setting sun, with weaver birds noisily feeding their young in their numerous ball-shaped nests suspended from the trees. The carrot cake was good too......
