April is full of South African holidays,¹ and all parties (from our guidebooks and the internet, to guesthouse hosts and kindly strangers) warned us to book our accommodation during and around these dates well in advance.

We intended to follow this advice (honest, we did), but we have been enjoying planning our African adventure as we go, oftentimes only booking a hotel room an hour or two before arrival. Not having everything planned out allows us the freedom to stay longer in places that are unexpectedly amazing, duck out earlier than planned if there’s bad weather or the area turns out to be overly touristy, and make use of advice from fellow travelers we meet along the way.

And it’s also how we found ourselves heading for the Drakensberg,² an UNESCO World Heritage site and, more importantly, a popular vacation destination, on the Thursday before the long Easter weekend without any accommodation arranged.

We called a guesthouse near the Central Drakensberg (the area in which we were most interested in visiting), and they basically laughed at us when we inquired about same-day accommodation.

Slightly discouraged but still optimistic, we called Injisuthi Camp, a camp run by the provincial park service located in the Central Drakensberg. Although none of the camp’s cabins or safari tents were available over the long weekend, there were campsites available. No problem, we thought, we have a tent.

Let me pause here and tell you about our tent. When we graduated from law school in 2008, Marc cashed in his Westlaw Rewards points (earned for using Westlaw, a legal research service) for a two-person backpacking tent. That tent remained in our closet – unopened and unused – for almost six years, until, while packing for Africa, we tossed it into our backpack, almost on a whim.

Armed with our tent and a pair of summer-weight sleeping bags (spoiler: these would not be warm enough for the Drakensberg during South African fall), we left Durban and made a quick stop at a mall for some other camping supplies: a pan, bowls, plastic silverware, a collection of tinned food and chocolate hot cross buns (you know, just the necessities), and an air mattress that we purchased at a placed called, I kid you not, The Crazy Store.

Considering ourselves now ready to camp, we arrived at Injisuthi Camp around half past five. We found the camp’s office already closed and keys set out for the guests who had planned far enough in advance to reserves themselves one of the cabins, but no mention of reservations for specific campsites. We drove over to the camping area, most of which was occupied by a large group that had planted a flag reading “South Africa Camping Club.” Some members of the club helped us select a campsite not far from the building in which the communal restrooms and showers were located.

We parked our car in the space for our campsite – a wonderful stretch of grass surrounded by tall wildflowers – and unfolded our tent for the first time as the sun started to set. Tent assembly went off without a hitch, and the air mattress was a perfect fit. So far, so good.

Our plan for dinner had been to heat up some of the canned food over a fire we would construct in our fire pit. Alas, since we had arrived after the camp office had closed, we couldn’t purchase any firewood.

Luck was on our side: the couple in the campsite next to us were incredibly warm and friendly, and they invited us over for dinner. They were much more experienced campers than us,³ and had a much more professional setup, including a separate tent for their kitchen, much less some the very basic things that we lacked, like chairs and a table. We gratefully accepted their offer and enjoyed visiting with them around their campfire.

The next morning, our new friends led us on a hike up the side of one of the mountains that encircle Injisuthi Camp. The hike started by winding through tall grass on the side of the mountain, and then became increasingly vertical. It was at times challenging, as we had to scramble up steep, narrow paths using rocks and fistfuls of grass for support and twice use a ladder to reach the next level. (One of those ladders included a section of just chain.)

The view from the top was well worth the climb, as we could take in the peaks from all of the mountains in the central Drakensberg range. We never would have attempted (or completed!) that climb on our own, and we were so glad to have experienced hikers to show us the way.

The following day, Marc and I enjoyed a lazy morning before setting out for a hike on our own. Because it was much later in the day and because we were alone (and a little bit because our thighs were tired from the previous hike), we chose a less strenuous path. Our route didn’t have nearly as much elevation change, but it did include crossing the river a few times, two of which involved wading knee-deep through the river as it rushed over rocks. (It was on the last of these crossings that I slipped on the rocks and gashed open my shin. Cue the violins!)

The one downside (other than my shin injury, of course) of our Drakensberg camping adventure was that we were ill-prepared for how cold it would be at night. Our sleeping bags were only rated to 55°F, and the nights were colder than that. Each night, I climbed into bed wearing three pairs of socks, one pair of leggings, one pair of yoga pants, one pair of Marc’s jeans, one t-shirt, one long sleeved t-shirt, one button-down shirt, one fleece jacket, one windbreaker, one pair of gloves borrowed from our neighbor, one scarf around my neck, and one towel around my head. It wasn’t the most ideal situation, but the scenery more than made up for the cold nights.

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¹ This year, there were three public holidays and three school holidays in April.
² We had initially been tipped off to the Drakensberg – which means Dragon Mountains in Afrikaans – by this BuzzFeed list of 16 Astounding Backpacking Trips To Add To Your Bucket List.
³ Full disclosure: Camping in the Drakensberg was the first time that I have camped anywhere not my own backyard.