Bannerman Hut Giants Castle Hike.
The Bannerman hut overnight hike is in Giants Castle Nature reserve. This time Peter emailed me because he wanted to take his family on an overnight hike to stay in the comfort of a simple mountain hut. What’s better to do than an adventure in the Drakensberg on the Easter weekend. We met up at the Giants castle office and signed the mountain register. We must always do this as well as pay for the permits which go to keeping the Nature reserve clean and tidy. It also includes mountain rescue if needed. Hopefully not! Click here to see how to prepare for a hike with Drakensberghiker.
Giants Castle Nature Reserve is full of history.
Apart from being the oldest nature reserve in KwaZulu Natal there was also a battle/skirmish between the Zulu’s of Langilibalele and the Natal Carbineers. Yes even though Hluhluwe was a reserve before Giants castle, Giants castle still had a permanent warden earlier. In fact 1901. A long time ago and we love it.
Anyway if you want to learn more about the interesting history of Giants castle, you will have to come on an overnight hike with Drakensberghiker.
Bannerman hut is named after a British politician, Sir Henry Bannerman.
Apparently his face profile can be seen in the patterns on Bannerman face/cliff above the hut. You will just have to come and see for yourself. Sorry, got a bit distracted. More about Peter’s family hike. We met at the office at 8am and got busy walking up the path to have lunch where we met the contour path that stretches most of the way along the Drakensberg at around 2200m above sea level. We only started at 1700m so this took us 3 hours. Sitting at the junction was lovely. The weather was a bit cloudy but we still got to check out the huge cliffs above us. The kids were thoroughly enjoying the outdoors so all good. Having porters is a good idea so the little ones enjoy getting out.
After lunch is a saunter on the contour path for 4 km to arrive at Bannerman hut.
No matter the weather it is nicely sheltered inside and with 8 beds there is lots of space. After sitting at the table, yes a table for supper people were tired so off to bed. Have to wake up to see the sunrise you know.
The next day was a 4 hour walk back to Giants castle office with just a bit of rain near the end. I hope these little chaps appreciated the effort their parents made to get them out on the Bannerman hut Giants castle hike and they remember it for a long time.
