Shades of Dragon Lake

29 Nov 2008:

This weekend’s plans were the most nebulous by far. Saturday we drove to Underberg in the southern Drakensbergs, South Africa’s gateway to eastern Lesotho. I had been tempted by Anne Griffin’s stories of biking up Sani Pass into Lesotho – sounded just up my alley, except (a) I’m in pretty bad shape at this point, and (b) I tend to be too conservative to ride trail on my own (even in the US). After long consideration and a check of the weather forecast (scattered showers with lightning – not a small deal above the tree line when riding a metal object), and with some consideration to the incivility of ditching my traveling companion, I wimped out. Instead, we booked a ride up the pass in a Land Rover for the next day, the more traditional way to get into Lesotho.

After making these reservations, we headed to nearby Cobham nature reserve for a simple hike. The trail map was the first I’ve encountered here that cost money, and also by far the worst one I’ve seen. There was no map at all, and only a very crude description of what one could see on certain trails that neglected to mention the starting points for most of them. Shortly after we set out on an unmarked trail that looked pleasant, it started to rain lightly, then briefly heavier. After maybe 45 minutes it stopped, but we were both pretty wet by this point. Anyway, we kept at it, and I’m glad we did. The hike was a gently sloping stroll on mostly imaginary trails through broad grasslands, the sort of trail that was suggested only by a slight thinning in the thigh-high grass when the wind blew a certain way and would be all but impossible to find once it was lost. This worked, though, because the landscape was so open that we could see for miles in any direction, so even if we went off trail, it would have been easy enough to find our way back. After a little while, the grass became a bit lower, the trail easier to follow. All in all, it reminded me of one of my favorite places growing up, Dragon Lake forest preserve in little ol’ Naperville IL. Except there were mountains, which is nice! It was a pleasant hike, all told. At one point, we saw the back of what looked like a wild dog or perhaps a jackal (or, worst case, a hyena?) running away over a slope maybe a hundred yards off.