The Phatt Chef

Thu 19 May 2016 - Northern Drakensberg, Amphitheatre area

After farewells to our Airbnb hosts, Jude and Johann, the dogs and their quirky cottage, with several items of railway carriage paraphernalia for furniture, we headed off reasonably early to drive the 200 km to the Royal Natal Park (although this area is known as the Drakensberg Mountains there are actually several parks along their length), home of the famous Amphitheatre a 8km long 500m vertical basalt escarpment that forms a gentle arc between the peaks of ??? and Sentinel peak. The journey was straightforward enough and we arrived at the park around midday just in time to pull over at a grassy picnic area and eat our lunch in the sunshine looking over the Amphitheatre and not a baboon in sight.

Hunger abated we reached the Visitor Centre and looked through the various pamphlets to find a suitable hike for the afternoon - not too short nor too arduous - the Cascades and Tiger Waterfall trail seemed to fit the bill. A short drive to the car park and a few things stuffed into Glenn’s rucsac (these walks always go much more smoothly when Yvonne doesn’t have to carry her own backpack) we were ready to go.

The first part of the walk has been made wheelchair friendly i.e. a gentle concrete patch, so our progress was swift. The cascades themselves were beautiful - a small river gently tumbling over progressive sandstone shelves eroding them into smooth shapes. We lingered a while taking artsy photos and paddling in the cool water. Alas we had to move on so we found the path and walked on winding up through bush until we came to a steep section of concrete steps. Actually quite a long, steep section of concrete steps that seemed to go on forever, quite a slog in fact - not quite the easy tourist path the pamphlet had described so Yvonne constantly reminded Glenn. Eventually we reached the summit at Lookout Rock and sat awhile admiring the view.

After Glenn had convinced Yvonne that the rest of the walk was going to be downhill we set off for Tiger Falls where, according to the pamphlet, we could walk behind the falling water, however, this is dry season. The falls were a trickle and whilst we could walk behind them it was not worthwhile so we set off down the long, steady descent stopping now again to look at the Amphitheatre as more and more of it came into view.

Once back at the car we stretched, changed and set off to reach our B&B before nightfall. The Phatt Chef B&B is an old sandstone building situated in a former border post at the top of a mountain pass on the border of Kwa Zulu Natal and Free State. The R74 road had been in a terrible state and become almost impassable due to problems between the state and the contractor but fortunately it had recently been repaired and we were able to get there without trouble.

Simon, the Phatt Chef, and his wife Megan showed us to our room and we arranged to have dinner in the bar. Simon had been a chef in famous resort restaurants and two years ago they had bought the Border Post to branch out by themselves. It had been a hard slog, especially with the road condition deterring much of the passing trade, but they had got a steady trade going now especially, oddly enough, with Spanish tourist groups.

At 1800 we met them in the bar and after Glenn turned his nose up at the major South African beers Simon disappeared out the back and produced a pack of six bottles that he’d been given as a sample by a local craft brewery. Glenn was much happier now and soon necked the stout before moving on to the IPA.

We ordered our meals and chatted to Megan while Simon worked his magic in the kitchen. And what magic, the food was fantastic and we sat in front of the log fire, Glenn with his beer, Yvonne with an enormous G&T, enjoying the delicious meal, Then it was off to bed in preparation for another early start tomorrow.

A lunch time view of the Amphitheatre

The beautiful cascades

At the top of 'Lookout Rock'

Our last view of the Amphitheatre