Talk:Drakensberg

Split article into range and UNESCO site?
It occurs to me that the UNESCO World Heritage Site included only the Drakensberg Park, on the South African side of the border, and not the rest of the Drakensberg range itself. As such, there should probably be two separate articles. I'll get onto this when I get some time. -Kieran (talk) 23:29, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Previous unsigned comment
I just changed the wording of the reference to the Zulu people. Talking about "The Zulus" is a sweeping generalization. Someone should probably write something (and link to) the Sotho people, since they are the inhabitants of the area. When I get time, maybe I will.

In a perfect world
Dude, Maluti is the correct spelling for the mountains, as used in Lesotho. Loti is the currency. Please follow Lesotho government link http://www.lesotho.gov.ls/about/tourism.php. Oxford is clearly wrong here. People in South Africa and Lesotho mostly use the Maluti spelling. Some politically correct ANC departments in South Africa seems to start using the Maloti spelling.

Maluti would redirect to a disambiguation page Maloti which would point to Drakensberg and Lesotho loti (see the Oxford Dictionary of South African English entry for Maloti). Also, this article would use "Maloti" for the Sesotho name and mention the fact that "Maluti" is a very common misspelling. "Imagine all the people..." Zyxoas (talk to me - I'll listen) 16:01, 29 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Easily said, easily done. I've changed it as you recommended. dewet|✉ 19:41, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Dude, Maloti is commonly misspelt Maluti - not the other way around! Zyxoas (talk to me - I'll listen) 05:32, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

But thanks a lot for the dab and stuff. Zyxoas (talk to me - I'll listen) 05:51, 30 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Umm, isn't that exactly what I did? On Maloti: "Maloti (or Maluti, a common misspelling)..." &mdash; if there is something I misunderstood, please tell me!  Thanks, dewet|✉ 06:18, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

The mistake is on Drakensberg. Zyxoas (talk to me - I'll listen) 08:28, 30 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Ah, I see. My bad. But why didn't you just switch it around yourself? dewet|✉ 08:50, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Because it's impossible to edit articles on a WAP cellphone. Zyxoas (talk to me - I'll listen) 09:46, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

duplicated Spanish articles
One has it -berg and one has it -burg, I don't know the word for "merge" in Spanish.

Explored by Baden Powell
One interesting fact from those, I'd like to source. "the mountains were explored by Robert Baden-Powell at the end of century XIX, within the framework of the wars in Africa of the British Empire." Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 07:26, 6 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, the article is sadly light on sources. I have other things on my plate for now, but at some stage I'll probably come back and sort it out.


 * It's quite possible (even likely) that Baden used to hike around them, but the sentence is slightly misleading. I would suggest that the mountains were first explored by humans some time in prehistory by San people. -Kieran (talk) 21:14, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Copyright violations?
This article appears to be filled largely with strings of copyrighted text from the sources, without adequate notes to that affect. Would it be possible to have the article rectified? Please see WP:NFC policy, which discourages the use of extensive quotation (and most of the quotes are not properly attributed to the article). Regards, Lazulilasher (talk) 20:54, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry about that. I'll fix what I can as soon as possible. Jor  dan  Contribs  12:25, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Copyright concerns
Sections of this article as of this point were in violation of WP:NFC or WP:C, as they contained quotations, some extensive, of external sites without proper attribution or marking. Where those concerns could be addressed through attribution, I have attributed. Where sections were too extensive or otherwise failed the usage guidelines at NFC, they have been removed. Please do not restore these without revising material in your own words, only quoting brief text where necessary "to illustrate a point, establish context, or attribute a point of view or idea." Wikipedia's contributor may use external websites as a source of information, but, except in compliance with WP:NFC, not as a source of sentences. Thank you. --Moonriddengirl (talk) 13:29, 5 October 2008 (UTC)
 * In addition to sources noted in the article, further sources of concern:
 * "The Drakensberg is one of only two...", parkertours.co.za
 * "The most well-known national park...", to the blacklisted hubpages DOT com/hub/Drakensberg --Moonriddengirl (talk) 14:00, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Boers Crossing the Drakensberg
When the British took over Natal many Boers crossed over the Drakenberg mountains to live in Orange Free State and the South African Republic (The Transvaal). This trek is commemorated by a giant painting inside the Voortrekker Monument. It's notable enough to mention in this article. Invmog (talk) 22:50, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

A map please
A map showing the area would go a long way.--Halqh حَلَقَة הלכהሐላቃህ (talk) 07:40, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Indeed. Junuxx (talk) 19:04, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

I agree entirely: there is a very good map in the Highveld article that could be incorporated here. The fact is that, geographically correctly speaking, the "Drakensberg" is the eastern edge the central South African plateau. Here, in the east, it forms highest part of the Great Escarpment, which looks like a mountain range from below - hence the name Drakensberg (literal translation into English: Dragon Mountains). The portion of the Great Escarpment that is termed the Drakensberg stretches all the way from almost the Limpopo River in the far north to the northern part of the Eastern Cape, as described in the opening paragraph. Unfortunately the rest of the article is actually about the Lesotho Highlands, better known as the Maluti Mountains, and therefore not about the "Drakensberg" at all. See any atlas to see the veracity of this statement. The problem is that many South Africans today think of the "Drakensberg" as only that part of the escarpment that forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho, experienced from the KwaZulu-Natal side of the escarpment.

To call the Drakensberg a "range of mountains" is a misrepresntation of the geographical facts. The Drakensberg only looks like a "range of mountains" from below the escarpment. From above it is clearly an escarpment.Oggmus (talk) 19:14, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Geological origins
Continuing with the theme above (under "A map please"): Since the Drakensberg is not a range of mountains but the eastern edge of the central South African Plateau, and is therefore a portion of the Great Escarpment, its geology is very varied. The section describing the geology of the the Drakensberg in the article is consequently confusing, and very difficult to understand.The Mpumalnaga Drakensberg escarpment is topped by the erosion resistant quartzites belonging to the Transvaal Supergroup which are more than 2000 million years old. The Lesotho-KwaZuluNatal Drakensberg escarpment is capped by very much younger rocks (in fact the youngest rocks of the plateau - only about 185 million years old), which overlay the Karoo Supergroup, in the form of a thick pile of lava, which once upon a time covered most of South Africa. Most of that lava has now eroded away; the last remaining remnant being the Lesotho Highlands. The Drakensberg inbetween (i.e. the portion of the escarpment that forms the boundary between KwaZuluNatal and the Free State) is made up of the Karoo Supergroup rocks: Dwyka, Ecca and Beaufort series. Here there is no hard erosion-resistant cap, with the result that the Escarpment (Drakensberg) in this region is not as impressive as the stretches of the Escarpment (Drakensberg) to the north and south of it.

I'm not sure how this rather dense geological information can be summarized in the article, and remain understandable to the nonspecialist. But if the Drakensberg are seen as part of the the Great Escarpment, it could simply be stated that its geology simply refects the highly varied structure of the plateau, with very ancient rocks in the north, and very much younger rocks to the south. Oggmus (talk) 06:26, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Rewrite of most of the first half of the article
I have provided the map of the Drakensberg requested in 2011, and rewritten the opening paragraphs, as well as the next 3 sections (Geological origins, Appearance, and Composition). These sections are now internally consistent. I would like to have feedback about whether the edits are correct, and easy to follow. If someone feels strongly that I have missed the boat (and can provide evidence that that is so) then it is easy enough to revert to the original version; or, better still, a very much improved version of what I have written.Oggmus (talk) 13:04, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Copied material into the Great Escarpment article
The "geological origins' section has been copied and pasted, with very minor edits, into the Great Escarpment article, the geological origins of the part (Drakensberg) is the same as that of the whole (Great Escarpment). This has been done by the author of the "Geological origins" section.Oggmus (talk) 07:08, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

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Spelling
Is it with a "u" or an "e"? Because I've seen it both ways and am not sure. Please tell me the right one, as I'm doing a map project which counts as part of my grade. - Ramesty

Ukhahlamba is the correct name in Zulu LethuThwala (talk) 21:15, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

Ukhahlamba
Who discovered the the name of the mountain? Snoiled (talk) 08:33, 19 March 2020 (UTC)