Royal Natal National Park - Tugela Falls
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:03 am
Notwithstanding the name, it is actually not a South African National Park managed by the SANParks, but rather a Provincial Park managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. This park is now included into the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area Peace Park.
I took a Hike up to the Tugela Falls over the Easter weekend. Driving up to the sentinel car park 10km from Qwa-Qwa. You drive along a paved brick road for about 4km and then it becomes dirt road, It is recommended that you take a 4x4 up there as the road is very bad, I put mine into low range in a couple places, a 2x4 will make it but it will be a very slow drive, This is also about 4km. Then the last 2km is brick paved road again.
Once you get to the car park you pay your R60 pp park fees and R95 pp hiking fees for the ring ladder hike. You can either do a day hike which takes about 5 hours or you can carry your equipment up with you can you can camp at the top for no extra cost.
Day One going up was very foggy and couldn't see see further than a couple meters in front of us, This actually worked to our advantage as it is quite a tough walk and the fog hid the sun for the climb. once at the top you can walk to the top of the Tugela falls either to view or set up camp, It was quite busy with people and fellow campers so i decided to camp further away at the small falls( I am yet to find the name of this waterfall) where we were the only people there and its only a 45min walk to the main falls.
The fog stayed around for the whole day except for 30min when the sunset, which we had the most amazing view. Night time fell and so the the temperature. The wind blew the whole evening and the temperature dropped even more. Somehow i survived the evening.
The next Morning i got up to clear skies and the most amazing sunrise. We then took the opportunity to view the Tugela falls (2nd Highest waterfall in the world) before our descend back down the mountain to go spend the night in Golden Gate.
I took a Hike up to the Tugela Falls over the Easter weekend. Driving up to the sentinel car park 10km from Qwa-Qwa. You drive along a paved brick road for about 4km and then it becomes dirt road, It is recommended that you take a 4x4 up there as the road is very bad, I put mine into low range in a couple places, a 2x4 will make it but it will be a very slow drive, This is also about 4km. Then the last 2km is brick paved road again.
Once you get to the car park you pay your R60 pp park fees and R95 pp hiking fees for the ring ladder hike. You can either do a day hike which takes about 5 hours or you can carry your equipment up with you can you can camp at the top for no extra cost.
Day One going up was very foggy and couldn't see see further than a couple meters in front of us, This actually worked to our advantage as it is quite a tough walk and the fog hid the sun for the climb. once at the top you can walk to the top of the Tugela falls either to view or set up camp, It was quite busy with people and fellow campers so i decided to camp further away at the small falls( I am yet to find the name of this waterfall) where we were the only people there and its only a 45min walk to the main falls.
The fog stayed around for the whole day except for 30min when the sunset, which we had the most amazing view. Night time fell and so the the temperature. The wind blew the whole evening and the temperature dropped even more. Somehow i survived the evening.
The next Morning i got up to clear skies and the most amazing sunrise. We then took the opportunity to view the Tugela falls (2nd Highest waterfall in the world) before our descend back down the mountain to go spend the night in Golden Gate.
)
