Explore the rugged, intensely beautiful mountain ranges of South Africa

FFor serious hikers and nature lovers, KwaZulu-Natal's uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park Mountain Range is a destination in itself. The area is a World Heritage Site and is the highest mountain range in SA at around 3000m. The range runs for 150km and is therefore diverse, with steep river valleys, sandstone cliffs, and flora and fauna you won’t find anywhere else. The range also has the largest collection of San rock paintings in southern Africa. Enjoy all the mountain activities, and when you’re done head to the rivers in the valleys for trout fishing, tubing and swimming.

If you’re up north, the Magaliesberg Mountain Range is 120km from Joburg and forms the ridge between the grasslands of the Highveld and the game lands of the bushveld. Here, quartzite cliffs tower above with deep gullies, plunging pools and waterfalls interspersed down the mountainsides. The area is great for day, weekend or week-long outings for people of all ages. The oldest range in the country (and one of the best examples of Archean Earth) is the Barberton Greenstone Belt, dating back 3600 million years.

IIn the middle of the country, the incredible Maluti Mountain Range is world-famous for its golden sandstone cliffs. In Clarens in the Free State, there are dinosaur sites and San caves.

The Roggeveld Mountains is a mountain range situated mainly in the Northern Cape, forming the western escarpment of the eponymous Roggeveld plateau, and separates it from the lower lying Tankwa Karoo to the west. Its highest peak is Sneeukrans (1,739 m), situated northwest of Sutherland. It occupies an extensive but remote part of the Northern Cape and is seldom visited by tourists.

The Blouberg (formerly "Blauwberg"), meaning "Blue Mountain" in Afrikaans, is a range of mountains in Limpopo Province, at the far north of South Africa. The mountain is entrenched in the history of the local Tswana people, and they have different names for its various parts. The Blouberg forms part of the 'Vhembe Biosphere Reserve', named a biosphere reserve by UNESCO since 2009.