Product Description

The story goes like this,  around the 1860s, The Griquas were forced to travel over the Drakensberg into a region earlier devastated by tribal wars and influence of colonialism. On this Jeourney they clashed with  several groupings of tribes including the Sotho’s and the Hlubi’s . Lead by Adam Kok III they crossed the Drakensberg at OngeluksNek and descended along the banks of the Kinira River. When they finally reached Ongeluksnek Pass the sight was both spectacular and daunting. Before them, looking east, were lofty spurs and deep valleys – wild-looking country.

You can retrace this path from the Ongeluksnek Valley, either hike through kinira river banks or take a drive to Mount Frere and Back to Matatiele, on horse back through the nature reserve and surrounding territory using our adventure tourism packages. The Mountain biking terrain is experienced using Route 405 either on mountain  then joining N2 via Mount Ayliff and Kokstad back to R56 Matatiele.  UMzinyathi Group is a private company based in Matatiele with vested interest in local tourism. We are Southern Drakensberg destination marketing company using Route 56. The area we cover is located at the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains between South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho. Endowed with wild life and rich Hlubi, Baphuthi, Sotho and Xhosa cultural heritage, making it an exceptionally rare attractive tourism destination.

There is Ongeluksnek Nature Reserve and Lodge in the area. However we also use village homestays accommodation for our visitors. Self catering is an option, however we wont miss the opportunity to host breakfast and dinner. Evening are usually accompanied by feast of braai, cultural home made dishes from household vegetable garden and poultry farming . Matatiele is essentially a farming community and is also one of the few places in the country where you can find 100% organic red meat from the local farms.