The Blue Grotto - Drakensberg Hike

The Blue Grotto trail starts in the grounds of the Drakensberg Sun where we were staying and is the route marked in blue. This is a moderate hike of approximately 3 hours if one takes the full circular route and if you're a fit young hiker.
Route Map

However, running a BnB ever since retirement, literally has us running up and down the stairs to the guest units, so we're not as unfit as the concerned fledglings thought!

Their advice was that we stop at the first waterfall and take a slow stroll back, but we both enjoy a challenge so continued without any mishaps!

Crossing streams with only a suspension walkway, or boulders as stepping stones plus some steep inclines was quite a challenge, I'll admit!

The fledglings thought that their unfit 60 and 70-plus oldies would not even make the halfway mark to the Grotto, but they underestimated our determination...and curiosity as well!

The sound of water running was all around, with birdcalls everywhere; no wonder this is known as a birders paradise.

The son is in a contemplative mood, likely thinking of the perils ahead as he's walked this a couple of times. They're into Geocashing and wanted to check out what happened to their cache hidden at the Grotto as no one has seen it for a while, so this was not only about hiking.

What is Geocashing?

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world.
^Source

The hike traverses through a stunning indigenous forest with easy paths but every so often there would be slightly steeper gradients, followed by some very steep sections with wooden logs placed securely to act as steps, but no handrails!

Ferns grow everywhere, even on old fallen tree stumps. The base of an interesting cliff in the bottom right.
These were the easy sections which we could walk through at a nice pace, but when it came to the steep sections, us oldies slowed down, but the young ones were very patient!

Sadly some graffiti!

A gigantic Lemonwood Tree that strangely is joined at the base, almost makes it look like a pair joining hands :)

We had to cross a couple of streams; one had a short suspension walkway while two others had nothing but boulders to use as stepping stones.

The last one was quite long and a tad treacherous but there was a rope to hold onto for balance, although it was not taut, so we had to cross one by one!

We had forgotten to take our walking sticks, so the fledglings managed to find some natural walking sticks in the forest and they worked just as well as a commercial walking stick.

I was fascinated with this tree and the twisted branch growing around it.

This black fungus which is commonly known as Coal Fungus is called Daldinia Concentrica and grows on dead wood branches.

Gigantic Mushrooms also growing on a fallen tree stump, thriving here in the forest.

This creeper is known as the Delairea Odorata and also does well on dead tree branches.

This was the second waterfall and it was soothing sitting there listening to the sound of the water cascading down into a deep pool. The water however still is not flowing as strong as it would during the rainy season which has not started properly.

And finally the Blue Grotto...but I have to confess, we stopped at the last waterfall and let the younger generation walk further as it was getting late and we did not want to slow them down.
The last section is steep with a narrow path, way more treacherous with a sheer cliff to the side of the pathway and nothing to hold onto, so if you slip, there's only one way and that's all the way down to the stream full of boulders!

What a sight though, and next time we visit that area we will leave earlier, or perhaps join the guided walk arranged by Drakensberg Sun, as it does the circular blue route as per the map and passes Barry's Grave. I'm sure we will learn a bit more from the experienced local guides as well!

A short way past the Blue Grotto, one finds the grave of Dick Barry, one of the early mountaineering pioneers.
Dick tragically fell to his death in 1938 at the very young age of 22 while making an attempt to reach the summit of Monk's Cowl.

^Source

The blue route then takes one along the road back to Drakensberg Sun and ends up at the lake.

We made our way back along the same route which was much easier going as it was mostly downhill, but the fledglings caught up with us at about the halfway mark.

We also met up with a family of Egyptian Geese who had their own little fledglings impatiently going ahead of Mom and Dad!

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