TUGELA FALLS

The second tallest waterfall in the world looms over the Drakensberg. There is some contest between the Tugela and Angel Falls in Venezuala – each have their arguments for being the tallest in the world. These conundrums are not, however, on one’s mind when you’re standing above a kilometre of waterfall. 

Tugela is the Zulu word for “sudden” or “startling.” While a destination on a hike is seldom a sudden thing, the feeling is. Not many can say that they stood on the edge of the world and watched water plummet into the abyss of the valley below. Once you do, we hope that the feeling lingers. Looking at it, one notices that the fall is not one continuous flow. It cascades in five distinct steps, the tallest of which is around 400m high. 

The best place to set out to Tugela Falls is definitely from the Sentinel Peak parking lot, which is but a 25 minute drive from Witsieshoek. If you’re going to go see the highest Lodge in Africa.

For a preview, you can take a look at Google’s street view, which was hiked up to Tugela Falls. We’ve put some links to landmarks on the hike below. To see Tugela Falls raging through, skip to 1 minute in the video below.