Scaling SA’s HIGHEST PEAK

The dome-like crest of Mafadi lies several hundred metres from the edge of the Drakensberg's escarpment, with the border between Lesotho and South Africa running right through it. The summit is a humble one – more of an insignificant flat-topped hill than a peak, 20 metres long and 100 metres wide, full of cairns built by jubilant hikers and peppered with the scars of lightning strikes from millennia of passing storms. Despite its unassuming appearance, this high-lying hill is important for one notable reason: at 3 451 metres above sea level, this is the highest point in South Africa.

For many years,