Treverton takes on daunting Drakensberg hike

Submitted by Shaun Robertson (Treverton College teacher)

The Drakensberg Grand Traverse is the highest, hardest and longest hike in South Africa. It stretches along 250km of the Drakensberg escarpment from the Sentinel Car Park in the north (near Harrismith) to Bushman’s Nek in the south (near Underberg).

Hikers climb over 11,000 vertical metres, ascending as high as 3480m above sea level and sometimes descending below 3000m; the average altitude throughout the walk is 3000m/a/s/l. They will also summit the five highest peaks along the escarpment, namely Mont-aux-Sources (3281m), Champagne Castle (3377m), Mafadi (3450m), Giants Castle (3319m) and Thabana Ntlenyana (3489m).

Last year, Treverton College had the first school team to complete the Drakensberg Grand Traverse. Jarred van Alphen and Kai Broom managed to finish in 10 days. This year, the aim is to have the first girls’ school team complete the traverse from March 25 to April 8.
Karijn Kooy and Georgie Thompson are both Grade 12 girls with a number of years’ experience walking in the Drakensberg.

They will form part of a 10-person team made up of three school boys (Alexander and Konstantino Giokos, and Daniel Jonck), Mr Kean Broom (headmaster), Mr Derek Brown, Miss Chanelle Oosthuizen, Mr Shaun Robertson and cameraman Ethan Lundy. The goal is to complete the traverse over 15 days.

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Having enough food for 15 days is a challenge and necessitates two ‘food drops’. The first will be hiked up the Organ Pipes Pass by a separate team of Treverton College hikers on day 5. To reduce the weight of this food for those bringing it up, the Treverton team has chosen to go with dehydrated food provided by the Trail Food Company.

The second ‘food drop’ will be driven up to Sani Pass Pub on day 12, where the hikers look forward to having a hot meal. You can follow their progress on this link: https://maps.findmespot.com/s/GM5H

Although Jarred van Alphen and Kai Broom are not part of the Drakensberg Grand Traverse trip this year, they are taking part in a 100km run from the Northern Traverse, accompanied by experienced trail runner Pierre Jordaan. Carrying their supplies, they hope to do the 100km run along the escarpment within 30 hours, starting at 05:00 on March 27. The group will be unsupported; however, using a tracking device, they can be followed. The link for this is: https://maps.findmespot.com/s/842Y

Altogether, this trip promises to be a physical and mental challenge. They will need to rely on each other in order to navigate the many challenges they are likely to face. One of the main factors will be the mountain weather, which is often temperamental and adds to the adventure and difficulty level.

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