Our First Adventure as Travellers

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Destination: Spioenkop Nature Reserve, Central Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal Province (South Africa)

Dates booked: 25th March to 24th May 2022

No. of nights: 60

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Our great big adventure brimmed bright before us with wide-open wonder and marvellous mystery...

We were really doing this!

After a good, hearty breakfast at my parent’s house in Pietermaritzburg, Dale and I said our farewells and embarked on our very first trip with our trusty caravan towards the Central Drakensberg.

It was such a weird yet exciting feeling to drive off for the first time.

We were still terribly exhausted after all the moving and packing we'd done two nights before, and at least one more night of rest would have been amazing. But, we thought it best to reach our first destination on a Friday morning, giving us more time to set up and get comfortable before we needed to work on Monday morning.  

So off we went...

The N3 highway wasn’t as crazy as we thought it would be with traffic, and as we took the R74 towards Winterton, we began slowly meandering up the beautiful, grassland-covered foothills of the Drakensberg. It’s easy to drift away as you stare out at those undulating grassy plains and the rugged beauty of the bushveld whizzing past your window. One can only marvel at the endless wilderness surrounding you—littered with thorny Acacia trees and a patchwork of diverse grasslands and dry, sandy, soil-eroded crevices.

And the view from the car window just kept getting better as we drove.

This trip from Pietermaritzburg to Winterton was also a very familiar one—one that my Mom, sister, and I frequently made between our old hometown, Bergville, while we were growing up.

Now, about 25 years later, Dale and I found ourselves starting our Great Big Adventure here. Crazy!

Whether one has lived in the Central Drakensberg for a year, three years, or thirty years, one can never tire of its unique and awe-inspiring beauty. The towering, rocky slopes of the eastern Drakensberg escarpment overlooking the lush carpet of rolling hills and farmlands below—it’s definitely one of my favourite places in the world, and has always felt like home.

Soon, we drove through the quaint and pretty town of Winterton—a small, friendly community that forms the common entry point to the Champagne Valley and Cathedral Peak areas. This area boasts some of the most popular tourist attractions in South Africa.

Edging ever closer to our destination, we took the R600 toward Ladysmith and then turned left towards Spioenkop Dam and Nature Reserve.

As the dam sneaked into view, my heart began to beat a little faster.

Okay, we really were about to begin the very first chapter of our adventure here—so I'm not just imagining things!

After entering the reserve gate (picture top right), we made our way to the reception office, where we were greeted by very friendly staff. We paid for our first month's stay and were advised on the route to the dam and where our booked campsite was situated.

Just a side note on the road in the reserve: if you ever venture into this beautiful area—the road is tar up to the park office, but further along, it becomes dirt. The dirt road is fine at the beginning, but it gets worse as you drive closer to the dam. Some sections are very caravan-unfriendly, with some large rocks jutting out in sections and huge ruts to navigate. The reddish clayey soil of the road can get very slippery and muddy when wet.

So, the moral of the story is that it's best to have a 4X4 vehicle, although I have seen some brave souls drive these roads with low-clearance vehicles!

Thankfully, the weather was good on arrival, and Dale’s excellent driving skills in difficult terrain came in handy once again, allowing us to arrive safely at our campsite. Okay, I nearly had a 'heart attack' or two as I had visions of our van being scraped, but alas, everything was still in good condition on closer inspection when we found our campsite.

Note: the ablutions are situated far back on the left of the image (top right pic).

We had finally arrived!

What do you do when arriving at your very first stop on an epic adventure?

Why, you throw your hands up in a cool pose or attempt an elegant jump into the air, of course! Okay, I admit, this did take a few attempts to get it right, haha...

After a few fun photos, we got cracking at setting up. There was a great deal to get through on our very first proper set-up.

However, this would be our second time putting up the caravan’s tent (ever!) and our first time doing so without rain.

Our very first attempt at setting up the caravan and tent took close to four hours when we chose to test the setup at Wagensdrift Dam with some friends over a weekend in February that year (just outside Pietermaritzburg, in 2022). What didn't make it any easier was that it decided to rain while we were trying to figure out which pole went where!? We survived, thankfully, after those long hours in the rain. Let’s just say we needed a hearty beverage to soothe our nerves after that very first ordeal.

The second time around, we felt a little bit more prepared, but instead of rain, we had to deal with the fiery heat of the African sun and a much greater volume of belongings to unpack and sort out. We didn’t just have camping equipment for a little fun, long weekend away with friends—we had our whole lives with us!

A mammoth task to get one's head around, if you ask me…

Firstly, we had to figure out where exactly to set up our new home on our site.

Finding grassy, level ground in the shade with minimal piles of wildlife dung was a challenge, but we soon located a great spot with a magnificent view of the dam.

The next three or so hours consisted of levelling, unhitching, and plugging in the caravan; erecting the caravan tent with all its intricate poles, ropes and tent pegs; setting up the reflective cover and storm net over the tent and caravan, and attaching the storm straps.

We then erected our storage tent alongside the caravan and our new gazebo, which we were mighty proud of!

Looking back as I write this, it sounds super easy, but it took a great deal out of us when we were already so tired.

By this time, the sun was starting to set, and the temperature was dropping fast, bringing quite a chilly bite along with it. March in South Africa is the beginning of autumn, and being in the mountains brings that little extra chill!

While our home was up, all our belongings remained in the caravan and car, waiting to be offloaded and arranged...

At this time, I realised how much more still needed to be done to finish setting up. And to get to more immediate things for the evening, like clothes, toiletries, and food, meant we had to unpack what felt like a 'mountain' of items!

Have you ever had that sinking feeling when everything feels everywhere, and you have no idea where anything is? Your huge attempt (well before this big day) at preparing and organising felt completely wasted.

That was me.

Okay, at this moment, my nerves and exhaustion did get the better of me (I admit), there was SO much to unpack from the caravan still, and trying to figure out where each item would go was causing my brain to freak out. Where is the kitchen setup going? Where will fresh food live so it doesn't get eaten by the local wildlife? Where does Dale's fishing gear live amongst everything? In fact, where does anything go, for that matter? You get the idea...? I was verging on a complete, melt-down!

Dale was way more relaxed than me, which really helped me at this point. To be fair, my nerves and stress levels were higher than usual, and I was still recovering from moving my entire home just two days before. As a result, my brain and emotions weren't at their best capacity, and Dale graciously and gently helped me recognise those factors, enabling me to show myself grace for that moment.

Dale also reminded me that the major structures were up, and the rest could wait until tomorrow. All we needed to locate were our toiletry bags, towels, pyjamas, bedding, and something to eat.

"Haa..." I exhaled in a moment of relief. I was very happy to go along with that game plan.

We quickly offloaded all our crates from the caravan, of clothes, kitchen utensils, appliances, and other belongings, into the storage tent to make sure we could reach our bed and caravan cupboards. Tables and chairs, amongst other odds and ends, were dumped in the caravan tent.

Our cosy bed, which was soon prepared with fresh linen, began to call my name!

After a delightful warm shower and munching on a crispy, overcooked chicken burger from a deli I can’t remember, we crawled under the bed covers, shared our kisses goodnight, and softly drifted into La La Land.

And what a beautiful night's sleep it was. I’ll never forget it.

The night was beautifully still and densely dark, apart from the tiny outside bathroom light far away and the crisp, white moon dangling in the sky above us. We were completely isolated in this stunning, wild paradise. Nothing broke the peaceful silence of the night, apart from the soft crunching from a herd of wildebeest enjoying the juicy grass right outside our tent.

As I drifted away, the elusive jackal calls echoed into the starry night, lulling me into sleep. Zzzz...

As the sun greeted us the next day, we rose, deadly tired. I don't think I've ever felt my body so full of aches and pains.

But that wasn’t a worry at all—with a fresh, steaming cup of coffee in hand, comforted by the rich-yellow glow of the morning sun over the dam, I knew, without a doubt, that we were exactly where we were meant to be.

What would this new day bring?

The beautiful unexpected, of course.

Our Next Adventure