words from the world

Since we came back in South Africa, our route mainly criss-crossed the Kwazulu-Natal province. This area, the Zulus are native from, collects inestimable underwater and inland jewels. To complete our Zululand panorama, we leave the coast to the Drakensberg heights, a mountain chain overlapping the Lesotho border. A country entirely encircled by South Africa. The Sani Pass in the south part sounds good. We drive to meet it but for the occasion we leave our car downhill and hop on a more suitable 4x4 vehicle. The hairpin bends draw a track which zigzags upwards the valley. The proeminent rocks dot the road. The car swings. 40 minutes to cover 8 kilometers. The Lesotho border closes the ascent. A barren land swept by a wind which lashes our faces.
We begin our short hike up to the Hogson peak. A 360-view promontory. At the foot of the hill, the track which splits the valley up to the Sani Pass, all around the desolate and serrated rock of the Drakensberg. Plain, massive and motionless. We feel far from the profusion of colours, the vivacity and delicacy of the coral reef we had as background a few days before. Thus, we can sum up the ends of Kwazulu-Natal. One day sunbathing close to the ocean and the next one wrapping up warmly to struggle against the cold of the mountain.