The Mnweni Hike (3 Days)
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The Mnweni 3 Day Hike
Intermediate Drakensberg Hike
The Mnweni 3 day hike is in one of my favorite parts of the Drakensberg. My porters also live here and love showing their home to visitors. We stay at the Mnweni cultural center before the hike and having a nice braai.
Day 1 starts with a drive up a dirt road where we leave our cars at my head porters home. You will be impressed with the views from his home. From here we head out into the mountains.
On the way we cross a crystal clear mountain stream. Maybe a quick little dip.
Then up the valley for some lunch among the Protea trees. From here it is an uphill saunter following the stream to arrive at our campsite for the night.
My porters call this place ‘the station’. When the Basotho’s come down into South Africa loaded with dagga they swop their loads onto other donkeys. All around us are huge mountains up to 1000m above us. Just incredible. You can read some of my reviews here.
While enjoying dinner we can look up Rockeries pass where we will be walking the next day.
We started day 2 at 2200m and after 4km we arrive on top of Rockeries pass at 2950m.
Rockeries pass is one of the easier passes in the Drakensberg but we still take up to 4 hrs to get to the top. Once up there you will see the effort is certainly worth it. We are actually in Lesotho up there but don’t worry, no need for a passport.
By now everyone is starving so time for lunch. Another 40 minutes and we can also visit a huge Cape vulture colony.
Also quite amazing is we can look all the way down and see our campsite.
After all this fun we head back down Rockeries pass in time for afternoon tea at our campsite. Luckily there is a lovely stream nearby so good for a swim. Then another dinner while looking up at where we just were during the day. Helps with the feeling of accomplishment.
Day 3 is waking up with the sun and having breakfast. Then a 3 hr walk back down the valley to our cars waiting at Sdudla’s home. This hike is not only great for stunning mountain scenery but also plenty of bird life and of course my Zulu porters culture. We can see their homes and if you are lucky they will sing a few tunes.
