Sani Pass Hike in the Drakensberg

“Why did you walk up the pass?” was the question asked by the young Lesotho border post official when I filled in my entry permit at the top of Sani Pass.

“Because I’ve driven up many times before and this time I wanted to do it on foot.” was my simple reply, but the look on this man’s face indicated that I was perhaps daft. He wasn’t the only one who thought that. Somebody passing us on the way up called out their 4X4 that they had "pills" we could take to rid us of this madness.

Like many people from KwaZulu-Natal I’ve always been drawn to the Berg. I’ve hiked the foothills in the Underberg district (and other sections) many times with new residents of Underberg Bill and Lydia Bailey and our friends. We’ve slept in caves, done the Giant’s Cup trail and camped at Cobham. I was visiting them about a month ago and saw the Sani hike on their hiking calendar and decided that this was one of those “have-to-do” things in my life.

And so I joined a group of enthusiastic hikers on what turned out to be a very memorable hike. The weather was kind to us, with a bit of mist as we set off from the South African border post. The lower section of the road is relatively easy, and the steady incline gradually eases one into the walk. Only at the hairpin bends in the upper reaches of the pass does the pace become slow with a bit of a rest at the bend, followed by gradually longer rests at the remaining corners. It becomes a matter of one foot in front of the other until one reaches the crest of the last straight at the top - 2874 metres (9400 ft) above sea level.

Giant's Cup or Hodgson's Peaks
 from Jeff's microlight

After border formalities were over we headed for Sani Top Chalet for a well deserved drink and lunch. Our overnight accommodation was at Backpackers and was simple but very comfortable in a very well converted old trading store building about 100 metres from Sani Top Chalet. I opted to remain there for a shower and a sleep while the others headed off to Black Mountain for some more exploring, by vehicle, not on foot. While they were out one of those sudden Berg storms broke over Backpackers. The others commented on the huge dark clouds and beautiful rainbow they saw from Black Mountain Pass.

The sun greeted Sani Top on a cloud-free and surprisingly mild morning. There was much scurrying around as Sue our leader had planned a hike to Hodgson’s Peaks of the Giant's Cup before we descended from Sani later in the afternoon. We sloshed through very wet ground across the wide valley behind the escarpment on the way to Hodgson’s. Then the land began to rise and the legs took strain again. A shepherd with an oil tin guitar came past playing “The Lesotho Song”. Whenever I hear one of the Basotho’s playing a guitar it seems to be the same song – an eventually monotonous five or six notes after hearing it for five minutes as he stopped to pose for photographs. I don’t think people should offer money for doing that. In my opinion that action may at some future time have a possible negative reaction. Think about it.

Anyway, my opinions out the way, we reached the crest of the saddle and beheld the breathtaking view of the valley dominated on the horizon by the north and south Hodgson’s Peaks. Our intention was to climb the south peak first (the right peak in the pic alongside) then do the north peak (left in pic). We walked on with the sound of sheep bells in the valley below. Stopping and looking down into South Africa  at the Masubasuba Pass was inevitable. This pass by the way which goes down between the two peaks, is said to be one of the major dagga routes into South Africa. This was another breathtaking view which was only slightly spoiled by low cloud in the Polela valley below and rapidly rising mist at our level. Sani Pass is gentle compared to this foot path descending down the mountain side, although I wouldn’t mind giving it a go some day.

We pressed on up the very steep slope of the south peak, each step harder than the preceding one because of the altitude - we were just over 3000 metres or 9800 ft here) and stopped for breakfast just below the final rocky transverse to the top. It was warmer in the lee of the mountain and the rest felt so good that I almost decided to skip the final assault on the summit. Perhaps I did need those "pills" that passer-by offered! No… when reaching the top and looking back over one of the flattest parts of Lesotho and seeing as far south as Drakensberg Gardens and Bushman’s Nek it was all worth while. The icy wind had suddenly ceased and the mist rising up the face of the escarpment was amazing to see.

After soaking in this beautiful sight for a while we headed for the very precarious little chimney gully and a rather exposed climb down off the 3 256 metre south peak and head for the slightly lower 3 244 north peak of the Giant’s Cup. If one thought the ascent was hard, the descent took its toll on the knees and quads.

The mist was rolling in quickly now around the north peak, so a unanimous decision was made to leave it for some other time. Quite honestly, I don’t think my legs would have liked to climb up another mountain, so we headed for the saddle and back into the valley of one of the tributaries of the Sani River which would lead back to the lodge.

Walking back, one of our party, an incredibly fit 82 year old man took a tumble off a rock and remarkably the only damages were his ego and a few cuts and grazes on his arms and legs. This turned into a very welcome lunch stop while 2 IC Ian attended to his wounds.

As we arrived back at the border post a group of leaderless (or so it seemed) Belgian  tourists with day packs were eagerly, and in our opinion, foolishly, heading off in the direction from which we’d just come. It was already past midday with a lot of mist rolling over the edge onto the Sani plateau. This is how incidents happen in the mountains.

After another well deserved supping in the pub at Sani Top Chalet we decided that the 3 hour walk down the pass would also be left for another time. Nobody admitted it, but I think we were all too exhausted.

When driving down the pass I’m always amazed at the engineering feat that went into building the road all those years ago when David Alexander first took supplies up by truck to Mokhotlong in Lesotho, and wonder what huge construction would be necessary when they eventually get round to tarring the road as is proposed. Whether it be good or bad is debatable, but the erosion will have to be curbed very soon before it all washes away and the mountains once again becomes an impenetrable barrier of spears.
Update 2016: The tarring of the pass road has stopped at the Sani Pass Hotel for now.