Amphitheatre (Drakensberg)

The Amphitheatre is one of the geographical features of the Northern Drakensberg, South Africa, and is widely regarded as one of the most impressive cliff faces on earth. The cliff face of the Amphitheatre is roughly three times the size of the total combined area of all the cliff faces in Yosemite's famous El Capitan, and more than 10 times the size of El Capitan's most famous (South Western) face. It is part of the Royal Natal National Park.

The Amphitheatre is over 5 kilometres in length and has precipitous cliffs rising approximately 4000 feet along its entire length [ [http://www.drakensberg-tourism.com Drakensberg-tourism.com] ] . The bottom of the valley floor, from where many photographs of the mountain structure are taken, is over 6000 feet below the highest point of the amphitheatre (the summit being over 10000 feet above sea level - with Mont Aux Sources just over 10 678 feet above sea level). The Tugela Falls, the world's second tallest falls, plunge over 3110 feet (948m) [ [http://www.drakensberg-tourism.com Drakensberg-tourism.com] ] from the Amphitheatre's cliff tops.

The spectacularly beautiful mountain hiking trail to the top of Mount-Aux-Sources starts at the Sentinel car park at Witsieshoek, over 2500m above sea level, via Phuthadjhaba from where it is a relatively short climb to the top of the Amphitheatre. Via two chain ladders one can can gain easy access to the summit. The trip takes only 5 hours return, not including time taken on top of the mountain. This is the only day hiking trail which will take one to the top of the Drakensberg escarpment, and the view from the top is reputed to be amongst the most beautiful in the world.

Another trail to the foot of the Tugela Falls starts at Royal Natal National Park. The easy seven kilometre gradient up the Tugela gorge winds though indigenous forests. The last part of the hike to the Tugela Falls is a boulder hop. A little chain ladder takes one over the final stretch from where there is a stunning view of the falls rushing down the Amphitheatre in a series of five spectacular cascades.

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