Back to the Berg (at last)

It seems like an age since I have been back in the Drakensberg with a photography group. It made this last trip seem like a homecoming as I and a group from African Impact made our way to Royal Natal and Cathedral Peak sections of the Drakensberg Mountains. Cold clear skies meant stable weather for once (winter is considered the most stable time of year in terms of weather - barring the odd blizzard of course). This meant for less clouds in the sky sadly, but it did mean for star trails (for once - we've been thwarted by overcast skies of late).

A crack in the rock below Cascades forms a waterfall at the back of a cave.

Despite the dry cold, there was still a fair amount of water in the streams. I've seen some of the river beds essentially dry at this time of year. Thankfully this wasn't the case and we were able to spend a fair amount of time photographing streams and waterfalls...albeit in freezing cold water. Highlights of the trip were then being able to enter both the Tunnel in Royal Natal and Rainbow Gorge in Cathedral Peak.

The stream running through rainbow gorge. This particular image is a composite of two shots to at different focus points to enable front to back sharpness - focus stitching in other words.

Just before heading out to the Berg I was also sent a series of articles relating to the department of tourism's idea to build a cableway to the escarpment top ala Cape Town's Table Mountain Cableway. I'm in the process of putting together a compete blog post on this. To say the least this ambitious plan is concerning. Otherwise I'm keeping this post brief to keep up with work. Thanks to a wonderful and very easy group who joined me in the Berg.