Drakensberg is one of my favorite site in the world. I spent 3 days here and would have liked to spend more but in the end I only though I should accomplish two things:

a) check off the WHS and because I figured it would be mainly about rock art I only planned 1 day for this

b) visit Lesotho and "tick off" a country... kidding I actually wanted to do that trip up the mountains because it you'd get a great view only that there are some reports about road conditions that got me thinking there could be trouble, and it's supposed to have the highest bar in the world (is it though?).

I stayed in a lodge near Himeville. One can visit the rock art on your own which is a bit of a walk and there are guided tours only. The tour is very interested not only about the art but also about the people that used to live here before. In a bit of a controversial statement I will now also say that  black people who live in South Africa now are not actually "originally" from South Africa either. I don't mean it's not their home, but they were migrants at one point just like the Dutch, and whereas this is indeed a tricky subject the tour here taught me that the original people are no longer here and everyone else came from other parts of Africa and settled down later. Hate me all you want this is what you will learn from tours like this and I believe if you see everything as black and white then you wouldn't understand anyway. Anyhow, he trip into the park is better than the rock art tour. You will see wildlife here and there especially fabulous birds. I would have gone to more places in the park but they have bad roads and the tours don't even pick you up so unless you came with a 4WD and want to risk these unknown dirt roads you will just stick to the main area.

On Google Map Maloti Drakensberg isn't marked as part of Lesotho but it obviously crosses political borders and there is hardly any civilization at the western area of the border. In fact the only reason there is the small border outpost is because tourists come up here. The road was under construction half-way when I was visiting and I assume it's done now but he zig-zag after the South African border checkpoint requires a 4WD car (as in, by LAW else they won't let you pass through) so I went on a tour instead. The tours are easily available in Himeville. You won't see much additional wildlife on this track but great views from the top (see mine which is almost identical to the site's main view so I assume it was almost taken around the same spot). You also get a small tour about Lesotho cultural and some horrible singing from the locals which they only do for money but in my case the group had no skill and actually giving them money for nothing seemed extremely wrong (tipping is ANOTHER controversial subject I shall not address this time around). I think this trip should be done if you are visiting Drakensberg as it the only way to get these viewpoints and it enriches the experience a lot. Lastly, the road up to Lesotho isn't as bad as it used to. The ice corner is really puny now thanks to global warming and even a small 4WD sports car went in front of the tour bus without any problems. The rental car companies usually also include Lesotho and Eswatini as free border crossings already.

Came here for the rock art but totally enjoyed the nature instead.